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Weirdest reason for a purchase.


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The King of Harts



Joined: 05 May 2009
Posts: 6712
Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 8:16 pm Reply with quote
Some people buy a show because of a director they love, a voice actor they enjoy, a dubbing studio they like, they liked the manga, or because a reviewer they agree with gives it a good review; all justifiable reasons. However, sometimes people buy a show because it has a cool art box, has a catchy OP, the lead character is hot, it was really cheap, it's rare, or because the cover art was pretty; all not-so-justifiable reasons.

And so I ask you all now: What are some of your not-so-justifiable reasons for a buying a show and did turn out well?

I'll start us off with just two examples of my own:

Tenjho Tenge- There are two reasons I bought Tenjho Tenge. Reason 1. Reason 2. That's right. All it took for me to throw down $45 on a show I've never seen and doesn't have the greatest of reputations was the sexy cover art and the kick ass OP. How did it turn out? Well, let just say that I've own the shown for about eight months now and I've only seen 11 episodes. I'd say that's not too good.

Slayers- About 7 years ago I remember catching one single episode of this whacky, zany show in a language I didn't understand that happened to come on right after Dragonball GT on the International Channel. Flash forward to March of last year to the time where I had learned that show was called Slayers. Now, I don't know what my exact words at the time were, but if I had to guess, it'd be something like, "Well, I did kind of like one episode 6 years ago when I was 12, so that's MORE than enough reason to buy this". So I headed on over to Righstuf and threw in the three remasted collections by Funi, the OVA collection, and the Movie Thinpak, and didn't think twice about dropping $106 for it (my most expensive blind buy to this day). This story, however, has a happy ending since I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE Slayers and still watch a random OVA/Movie every now and then.


I actually fulfill every not-so-justifiable reason, but I'll just leave it with these two for now.



Now it's your turn.
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7995
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 8:27 pm Reply with quote
I've bought a few series for the gorgeous girls on the covers/boxes (Kannazuki no Miko, Tenjho Tenge) or because it was dirt cheap (Magikano, Neia_7), but that's about as weird as it gets for me. If I buy it, it's usually because either:

a.) I've already seen it and know it's good
b.) Because I read the plot description on the back and it seemed interesting


Last edited by Kruszer on Thu Jul 15, 2010 8:35 pm; edited 2 times in total
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GloriousMaximus



Joined: 11 Nov 2009
Posts: 138
Location: North America
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 8:27 pm Reply with quote
I have bought so much anime that people have recommended to me. The weirdest was probably when I sunk $90 for the Macross boxset. I remember hearing some old-school anime fans in a panel saying that Macross was really good. I didn't even really know what the show was about. All I knew was that people thought the show was really good, and it was somewhat old.
Result? Definitely not disappointed. Loved the show, loved DYRL and Flash Back 2012. Looking forward to watching more Macross too Very Happy
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Levitz9



Joined: 06 Feb 2007
Posts: 1022
Location: Puerto Rico
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 8:39 pm Reply with quote
I bought Kiddy Grade after a review on this site for the Veridian set of it mentioned that Eclaire's body was well-proportioned.

I didn't hate Kiddy Grade, but damn, was that pacing terrible...oh, and despite loving Eclaire's figure, I didn't exactly warm up to her one nude scene, for some reason. I guess I don't like being overly-pandered to...
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7360
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 8:57 pm Reply with quote
Hmm, I suppose I do have a few

First thing that comes to mind is Blue Submarine No. 6, which I bought on the basis that it aired on Toonami (I never got to see it on Toonami) and well, Toonami picked a lot of awesome shows (despite my experience borrowing my friend's Gundam Wing DVDs saying otherwise). I merely thought this one was alright though.

And I've bought several manga just based on the cover, though I'm now smart enough to flip through it, but that was my main basis for buying manga back in the day. Except for Maison Ikkoku which I got on the basis that it was by the same author as Ranma 1/2. Now covers don't mean much to me except for my phase where I only looked at manga with extremely simplistic covers, which is why I got Parasyte who's first volume cover is only mildly interesting to be honest (while the first volume itself was friggin' awesome).
Oh, and Saikano 7 the other week cus I heard it was a rare manga. My friend assures me it's good though so I've decided to collect the series and not sell it. I'm 2/7ths the way there *thumbs up*

I still think the winner goes to some games I've bought though. Let's start with Dual Hearts on PS2, which I got because I thought the main character was cute because I was like, 13 years old. Bit of a strange infatuation, today I still like his character design but in a normal way. It's a pretty fun game too, good early action-adventure game for PS2 so at least I lucked out with enjoying the game.
And then Steambot Chronicles, which I bought once I got more info on the Mass Effect like dialogue tree system. Of course I found out that you can charge a nun rent to use an abandoned building that you don't own as a makeshift orphanage. What can I say, I kinda needed the money for my trotmobile when it came down to it (that and it was hilarious that I could even do that to begin with). The gameplay itself is like a more broken Katamari Damacy though, so it's kinda annoying.
Then I bought my first Zelda game, Minish Cap, when I was on vacation and got pissed off when the hotel lied about having a PS1 in every room (what they had was a controller directly put into the TV that you had to pay to use and I complained to them that that isn't the same as having "a PS1 in every room" 'cus I brought a game and my memory card in anticipation!), so I got my first Zelda game to appease my extreme displeasure of this. Sometimes nothing makes you feel better than spending money.

I think those are my 3 weirdest ones for games.
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Teriyaki Terrier



Joined: 26 Mar 2008
Posts: 5689
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 8:58 pm Reply with quote
I bought Kujibiki Unbalance disk one simpy because of the Genshiken OVA. But not just any OVA though, this episode had a ton of humor and giant amount of conterversy.

Needless to say, I probably could never watch this OVA with anyone who was easily offended. I personally don't think it was that bad, but then agian I just like Genshiken.

Do I wish I didn't have to have Kujibiki Unbalnce with the Genshiken OVA, yes and again seriously yes. The OVA is grade A+ (but masterpiece in terms of how the subject was handled), but Kujibiki was beyond bland and boring.

Not to bash the actors, but I paid $20-25 dollars for the dvd. If Media Blasters is going to dub a show, at least have actors that put some effort with dubbing. Or at the bare minimum, at least pretend to show effort.

I bought Lucky Star because Wendy Lee was in it as well. The series was better than expected, but I wish the cast was more expansive.
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zgripţuroicǎ



Joined: 17 Nov 2009
Posts: 140
Location: Newburgh, NY
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 9:32 pm Reply with quote
I bought the Mirage of Blaze boxset because I had received a $50 gift card for Best Buy for Christmas, and it was the only thing I could afford from the anime section that would wipe it all out without me having to pay anything out of pocket. So I basically bought it because I hate Best Buy, didn't want to have to go back again, but didn't want to just hold on to the gift card until it got deactivated.
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KanjiiZ



Joined: 28 Jun 2009
Posts: 661
Location: Central Coast
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 9:35 pm Reply with quote
I bought Tokko because the manga was made by the guy who created the manga for Great Teacher Onizuka. One of the worst anime I've ever seen, but it was 20 dollars.

Madlax cost me 40 dollars and it was the most boring anime I've seen to this day. I literally fell asleep watching this show. The cover looked amazing and I thought "Maybe this girl kicks ass".

What do these two anime have in common? They're not on my shelf. Out of all the bad or mediocre anime I own, these two are the only anime I refuse to put on my shelf. They were huge disappointments.
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Errinundra
Moderator


Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 6611
Location: Melbourne, Oz
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 10:01 pm Reply with quote
I bought Fate/Stay Night because of this:



It was love at first sight. I hadn't even heard of the series when I first clapped eyes on Sabre. I still love the figurine; the series is mediocre (except for Rin Tohsaka who, sadly, hasn't yet inspired such a memorable figurine).
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DuelLadyS



Joined: 17 Mar 2006
Posts: 1705
Location: WA state
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 10:31 pm Reply with quote
Oh, geez, where to start?

I bought Trigun becuase the Todd Mcfarlane figure was cool.
I bought Magic User's Club for a free poster.
I bought Kodocha boxset 1 to get the Babbit purse.
I bought Rurouni Kenshin becuase it seemed 'popular', so I figured I needed to know what it was about.
I bought Yukikaze becuase it was at Big Lots and cheap.
I bought the Area 88 OAV becuase the guy on the cover had Trowa Barton hair.

I'd buy anime for just about any reason in the earlier days of my fandom... most of my blind buys worked out, so it it caught my eye it was probably 'worth it'. I'm picker these days- I'll watch an episode before acting on a silly reason... like wanting Toradora just becuase of the low print run.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24552
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 10:50 pm Reply with quote
Cool topic! Sadly, I don't have anything cool to add to it. I've certainly been sucked in by hot chick artwork before (Divergence Eve and Misaki Chronicles, par example) but that's not really weird - especially for a horndog like myself. I have recently purchased a few cheap DVD sets (Jinki:Extend, Venus Versus Virus) purely because I want to have at least one TV title for each letter of the alphabet and I was missing titles that began with "J" and "V". (I'm still missing U, Q and Z). That's not really weird, though. Dorky, yes. Weird, no. Plus, I didn't even think up the idea in the first place. Somebody else mentioned he was doing that and I thought to myself, "Ha ha, that's so stupid! ... Guess I'll do it, too."

I'll continue to wrack my brain, but I honestly don't think I've ever bought something for a "weird" reason.
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Maryohki



Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 526
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 11:34 pm Reply with quote
The story of how I bought Kyo Kara Maoh is pretty..special.

"Oh hey, isn't this the series where the main character gets flushed down a toilet? How does that even work? Oh, this disc is only $15! Let's find out!"

...

"...........this series is 70+ episodes long. FML"

I ended up loving it, though!
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poonk



Joined: 05 Jun 2008
Posts: 1490
Location: In the Library with Philip
PostPosted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 12:57 am Reply with quote
If I remember correctly, I started buying Yukikaze (as singles, even!) because I thought Rei, the main character, looked especially cool (read: hot) in the magazine promos, specifically the ad that used this colored pencil (?) sketch (and, well, the premise sounded good too). Later I found out (via the AWO review) that the character designer does a lot of BL stuff, so mystery solved. Yet I still haven't watched that last OVA, six years later...

I nabbed the entirety of Aura Battler Dunbine (2 artboxes, 12 singles total) because I mentioned in the Retail forum that I spotted them used for $16 per box ($32 total) and other forumers said it was a deal and v11 & 12 were rare. Haven't watched this yet, either. Sensing a trend?

I leapt upon Mirage of Blaze, surprisingly not because of the cover art (this was the dark cardstock artbox with the cross cut-out) but because I was fresh off of Gravitation (and all that implies) and the blurb on the side must've been like catnip to me. This one I did watch though, and I have no regrets. Laughing

zgripţuroicǎ wrote:
I bought the Mirage of Blaze boxset because I had received a $50 gift card for Best Buy for Christmas, and it was the only thing I could afford from the anime section that would wipe it all out without me having to pay anything out of pocket.
As an aside could I ask what type of artbox it came in? This has always confused/irritated me-- the box I have is the flimsier "cardstock" type but the art is as I described (dark, cross), not bright like the 2006 re-release (I definitely bought MoB before then). I already checked the Mania cover art forum (thanks KoH!) but they only show the latest version w/the OVAs, though they discuss a "premium" artbox. So is my flimsy, dark brown box the "premium" one, or is there a nicer chipboard one? Because then I've got to start looking around for it.
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Agito∞



Joined: 15 Jul 2010
Posts: 24
Location: Vegas
PostPosted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 4:33 am Reply with quote
I bought 2 extra copies of the same volume of Duel Masters because I loved the dub. But that was when I was like...10.
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Truered



Joined: 11 Apr 2007
Posts: 515
Location: Uni
PostPosted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 5:39 am Reply with quote
I already owned a boxset of the complete galaxy angel season 1, when I decided to import the first DVD of the first season from the US. My reason? The DVD was a special edition containing a set of gashopon of the five characters. Luckily they were actually quite good quality, and they currently guard my bookshelf Razz

I did also blind buy all of Gundam seed and Eureka 7 purely because the sets were £15 for 26 episodes Razz
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