There won’t be many dissenting voices when I state anime is an expensive hobby- depending on your level of dedication. If anime is a serious hobby, as in buying collector’s sets, purchasing figures of characters from fave anime, etc,- anime can cost upwards of $300 a month depending on what’s been released and what a person’s tastes are. That’s not even counting con season, which’ll tack on an extra $600-700 a month, on average, if three out-of-state cons a season are attended- just for the hotel, transportation and food. Buying merchandise at cons is another story all together.
The occasional anime fan most likely spends far, far less on their hobby. If anime is “free” on the internet, and cons are avoided, but the occasional fan is still buying merchandise, the cost of being a fan will be dependent on what merchandise, if any, is purchased.
I figure that my investment in anime runs, on average, about $150 per month, mainly because I don’t buy much merchandise aside from anime-inspired art. I’m fairly, shall we say, frugal, and I only buy merchandise that I can actively use or has extreme aesthetic value to me. But this is my hobby, and I would spend more if the need ever arose.
Do you figure that anime is a hobby and spend according to your hobby budget? Are you a die-hard, devoted fan who shores up the industry with your hard-earned dollars? Perhaps the “occasional fan” label suits you better and limits your anime spending. How much money do you invest in anime per month?
all my spendings are only for manga and usually i buy all the vols i want once a month
Lets see… ill spend about 50 bucks on manga. Sometimes more but only what I like I dont just grab stuff. Every couple months ill buy a couple dvds so 40 dollars. So I spend about 80 bucks a month.
I’d say somewhere between $60-100 on average.
I buy manga every now and then (though after I bought a ton at one sale, I haven’t bought much since, since I haven’t finished it all yet), DVDs for shows I REALLY want DVDs for, and I go to around 3 cons a year, but they’re all in state (therefore hotel, food, and merchandise are the only expenses, and I usually split a hotel with friends, so that cost is a lot cheaper…).
So really, some/most months it’s flat out 0….but when I’m at cons I sometimes spend like 100-200$…so I’d say the average is still around 60-100.
Generally under $50. I was never big in the merchandise and had to stop buying DVDs because they cost so much (although they appear to have come down in price which is good). I plan on joining Netflix eventually or some other renting service, so that’ll be a small monthly fee.
I would have to say that my spending is around $100-200 per month, this number can vary according to many things, good sales at sites like animenation and rightstuf can make me spend more.
But my main consideration now is space I have over 1000 legal (not HK or Chinese) DVDs, in a spare room in my house I have build 80 feet of custom shelf space for these DVDs. Now all I have to do is organise the DVDs in proper order.
While many people consider this a large expense it’s really not, I go out with my girlfriend and other people to dinner, movies, and drinks on average 3-4 times a week and spend anywhere between $30-50+, so that works out to $300-800 per month just hanging out.
well I don’t get to spend that much money on anime and manga very often but when I do I spend up to at least 30 dollors when I’m there
Usually about $80 a month but more at cons. I’d say I buy over $500 during a con month.
Well, I spend more on manga than anything else– about $40 a month. I don’t tend to purchase any anime that I haven’t seen and, being as busy as I have been these past few months with grad school, I haven’t really purchased any anime. If I do, I try to buy it cheaply or on sale, so I probably end up spending $50 a month on average. Also, I’ll ask my family to buy me an anime flick as a present, so it doesn’t “cost” me anything.
When it comes to con season, I only attend one and it’s in town, so there’s only the expense of my pass ($50 last year), transportation (parking at $20 a day or train pass $16 for the entire con), and some food (I try to bring as much with me as possible to avoid paying for expensive food at the con or downtown). So, averaging it out over the entire year, it’s about $60 a month…
@dood, Which titles do you read?
@Andrew, manga can be just as pricey as anime; especially if the entire series is collected.
@dkong, out-of-state cons are what really sock it my wallet; airfare, food and hotel are murder on the con finances.
@griever, I highly recommend Netflix as a way to preview anime before investing in it. They have an amazing surfeit of titles.
@Chris, …in a spare room in my house I have build 80 feet of custom shelf space for these DVDs. see, that’s doing it right. An anime room in a house is something I would probably have when I get my dream home.
@Zack, do you spend your cash on manga, anime or merchandise when you do spend $$?
@ waffo, it’s those cons that run up our spending…
@Rena, anime is a great gift and we’ve routinely exchanged anime as gifts in our house.
The cost matters very little at the time of purchase, but when I look at how much I have spent I have to say wow. Just the Rurouni Kenshin manga alone is 28 volumes x 9 dollars. Add in the occasional dvd and all of the other series I buy thats a lot of money, however, its money well spent.
@Andrew, yeah looking at anime/ manga spending on a per monthly basis doesn’t look nearly as scary as taking into account all past and future investing in the mediums.