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How do you organize and display your anime?

If your anime storage is a box under the bed or in a closet, or if all your shows are on your hard drive, this question is not intended for you. If, however, your collection is on shelves or otherwise stored or displayed where it can be seen, has it been “organized”?

It was stated in a thread attached to a shelf life column that “the only proper” way is alphabetically. I disagree which is why I’m asking. My opinion is that whatever works for you as an individual collector is best. But I’m curious as to how many forms that takes.

If you have a very large collection, you may need some form of organization just to find something. This would be a requirement if you store stuff in notebooks or replace the DVD cases with uniform cases. However, I have about 500 titles and have no trouble finding individual items in spite of my organization, or lack of it. I suspect a lot of organization is done on the basis of what you as an individual feels is fit or proper and not out of necessity.

My collection is in five different cabinets in three rooms. It is currently organized by publisher but that will probably change. In the past I have organized by appearance (it is a display), by the amount of shelf space it took and by what was most convenient (new items near the TV and older titles in another room). I am considering reorganizing it by age, that is, the original release date.

No matter what system used to organize, there are always exceptions, things that either are or should be placed out of order. Most obvious are the odd sized collector sets that won’t fit the shelves. My NIS limited editions sets are in the same book case as “The Complete Calvin and Hobbes” in a different room from everything else. In addition there have been wooden boxes, tin boxes and sets that shelve sideways (the Beck amplifier). Also second seasons, spinoffs and related series frequently do not share the same title, packaging or publisher even though they should be shelved together.

So how do you organize? If by alphabet, what title do you use? Is “Utena” filed under U or R, or perhaps F or L? Do you use the official R1 title, or the Romanized Japanese title? Does anyone put all the titles by a given director in one location?

I have a large collection and I have always tried to keep it organized alphabetically so I never have trouble finding what I want. It's hard to be consistent on titles though. The last time I reorganized I did move some things but forgot others. I've always kept Revolutionary Girl Utena under "R" and I moved Genesis Climber Mospeada from "M" to "G". I still need to move The Irresponsible Captain Tylor from "T" to "I" and Le Chevalier D'Eon from "L" to "C" (le=the). On the other hand I will continue to keep Macross under "M" rather than "S" (as in Super Dimensional Fortress Macross). I don't concern myself too much with appearance as I live alone and don't get many visitors (I even keep Blu-rays amongst DVDs). Unfortunately my anime collection has even outgrown the huge (6 ft. x 6 ft.) unit I have and I don't have room for another that size in the living room. I was thinking I would get a smaller one for the rest of the anime so I could at least keep all that in the living room but now I think I'll just get another big one and put it in another room, hopefully it can hold not only the anime overflow but my non-anime DVD/BD as well.

Part of the problem is that since I am now a homeowner I have become something of a hoarder in that I don't want to sell/trade anything even if I don't think I'll watch it again.

Last edited by Kruszer on Mon Sep 05, 2011 8:08 pm; edited 2 times in total

I use floor to ceiling shelves that I built myself.

As far as organization I use a slightly modified alphabetical order because it's so much easier to locate things since I own over 400 various series, movies and OVAs. Everything is arranged alphabetically but chronological order of series in the same franchise supersedes alphabetical. For instance Banner of the Stars and Banner of the Stars II are not with the Bs they are placed after Crest of the Stars because they are it's sequels and take place after it. I also put all the Gundam stuff under G despite most of them having the Mobile Suit prefix. Usually they were with the Ms but I was running out of space at one point and they fit better space-wise in the Gs. I just have bothered to rearrange it back. I usually go with the full title listed on the box/case to determine where it goes.

Additionally, I gave all my OVA series their own shelf just for the heck of it and my anime movies are intermixed with all my live action and non-Japanese animated movies.

Book & Media shelves are how I store my anime.

There is no real organization, but I do have a kind of "genre" separation going.

One bookshelf is for Romantic Comedy, one media shelf is "action" (Mecha, Guns, etc), and the other media shelf is "fantasy" (kind of mixed stuff).

I have 2 other bookshelves, one is Giant Monsters (Godzilla, King Kong, Gamera, and some others).

The other is "normal" movies/TV shows.

Man, I know it works to my brain, but trying to describe it to anyone else? Well, here goes!

First off, let's start with anime. I consider there to be three types oh boxes which determine my organization. There are chipboard boxes, thinpacks and thickpacks, and single case wide size. Now, this still messes some stuff up, like where does Twelve Kingdoms go since my first set is a chipboard and my second is a simply thickpack? It was the cheapest way to get them, so that's how I got them, wasn't expecting that problem...but for all other series with this problem (like FMA then the FMA movie), it goes based on majority rule, usually by disc count (of course 12K is also equal in number of discs, lol). If there's an alphabet dispute between related series (like Crest and Banner of the Stars), whichever one came first takes priority (so yeah, like Kruszer, Banner is right next to Crest for me under C). So whenever "The Last Airbender: The Legend of Korra" comes out on DVD, it's going next to Avatar: TLA (and the M. Night movie is not allowed in my house, naturally).

So, I have not exactly a shelf, but plenty of room above my manga shelf. I can't put more manga there because there's nothing to hold them up on the sides, therefore the best option was for me to put things with artboxes there. Yes, some artboxes are paper, but I put them there anyway. There are also a couple of strays in there, namely the Gurren Lagann movies (which are standard edition cus I got them used for $3 a piece), and even though there's no anime (now) in the LE boxes 2 and 3, I keep those there too, all nice in a row! It actually ended up bleeding onto another shelf when I got Macross in. I keep all the Robotech stuff together, simple as that, and when my AnimEigo Macross set came in and they came in three small boxes + that big box on the side, I used the boxes designed to hold 3 singles to put the Robotech things in so I didn't have to throw them away. So those go where they need no sides because they're very stable on their own.

Next is the thin and thickpacks. Some of thinkpacks that had chipboard boxes went to the artbox shelf simply because there was room. Now, the way my shelves are set up, they are double deep. Since I needed more room, I also put non-anime cartoons (and Firefly) in with these guys in their own little section. But the way I split the double deep isn't A-K in the front, the rest in the back or anything, it's based on which series I like the most. Yes, seriously. So back shelf is "other" on the left, less favored thin/thickpacks on the right which are then alphabetical. Then the entire front row is series I like better also in alphabetical order (and Avatar: The Last Airbender, that always goes in front).

Then there's another row above that and that's all single disc case size (even if it's a litebox with like 6 discs in it, as long as it's not thickpack size, I count it as single size). Movies and OVAs are alphabetical on the front shelf on the left (with all the Satoshi Kon stuff together cus why not?), actually takes up most of the shelf, then the rest is single cases with at least 2 or more discs in them. The back shelf is series that are all single disc, one per case, but with no artbox, so stuff like my .hack//Sign and Trigun series go back there. No favorites preference here, it's just if I do it this way, I can display more in the front. Yu Yu Hakusho is also back there despite me having the first half in the half season sets then the second half in the full season sets, it was just a matter of room. This shelf and the thickpack shelf take up the top two shelves of a big shelving unit and is the main shelving unit for anime (the third and fifth shelves are manga and the fourth is games. Has to do with weight limits, manga is on the ones that can hold more weight)

Onto my manga! Even more confusing!

Well, first off, I actually have names for the shelves. There's the main shelf (which is not the same main shelf as the anime has, above the manga main shelf is where the anime artboxes shelf is), the oversized shelf, auxiliary, bedside, side, collecting and ancillary. Trust me, if I don't name stuff, it'd be a mess.

For the most part, it's then a free for all. Obviously, the oversized shelf is there to hold the oversized stuff because no shelves on the main shelf can accommodate them very well (despite all other shelves being able to just fine, I still find it easier to try and put them all together). Collecting shelf is clearly where ongoing series go because I'd found in the past that moving stuff around every time a new volume comes in is a massive pain. They can leave the shelf when they have 1 more volume to go (with room made for that volume).

But as for the names on all the other shelves? Main, side, bedside, auxiliary and ancillary? Location is the only thing that distinguishes them, there is no difference as for what type of books can go there. Except for the auxiliary shelf, all of the shelves are capable of being double deep. I've been trying to come up with themes, but I only have a few so far:
First, the side shelf currently houses Robotech and the SOS, the Shelf of Sorrow. It's a shelf of creator or publisher abandoned series. So it's not quite a happy shelf, but there's damn good stuff on there anyway.
Next is the Fumi Yoshinaga shrine. Since most of her books are oversized, it cannot go on the main shelf, so it takes up two shelves (of four) on the auxiliary shelf. That's all Yoshinaga in alphabetical order, first by size, then by alphabetical order (it just looks better).
Third is the Osamu Tezuka shrine. No real order here, just make it all fit! Cus you damn well know Vertical isn't done trying to make me overload that shelf by a long shot! Also put the "Art of Osamu Tezuka" book there, cus why not? Part of the bedside shelf, double deep and I got it with as much headroom as possible to stack stuff higher.
And last and most recently, the Reincarnation shelf. Also on the bedside shelf, it's all manga that involve reincarnations. So far 5 series are there, but it's 1 full row deep and half of the second, so there's more than you think.

Beyond those four themed shelves? Well you know how I mentioned the "double deep" thing? I honestly can't remember what's in the back rows anymore because it's not by publisher or my alphabet, nothing. Therefore I've written the titles on a post it note. It's still a popularity contest here, favorite series are in front, then everything else must fit around them. I put my four favorite series on the main shelf, always in the front (and annoyingly enough, they are long enough that I cannot put two next to each other on one shelf). I don't like stuff bleeding onto another shelf so one series will be only on one shelf and only in the front or back row, never both. If there's a series I also like a lot, I'll try and get it into the front row as well and there's always some smaller series to fill in gaps. Although one shelf is all white spines except for Parasyte (which is ordered in a rainbow pattern because I can!), but they're not exactly bound to a shelf like my other shelf themes are.

Honestly, I try to come up with more themes, but I just can't! Either I'll think of them or I can't, but due to my not liking the splitting of series, alphabetical isn't exactly an option. Unlike an anime, where you usually just have one thick/thinpack, the end, even for a longer series like yu yu Hakusho, that still doesn't take up a lot of room these days if you got the season sets, but manga can very often take up a bit more than half a shelf if it's a longer series. And putting them into omnibuses doesn't really cut back on much room like a season set does for anime. Right now, FMA is about to become my longest complete series on the shelf, but Kekkaishi is going to be 35, I might just have to break my splitting rule for that...I can't imagine where it'll go when it's done...
But I can still find stuff just fine somehow, though the sticky notes sure help!

Oh yeah, my games...PS2 RPGs in the front (alphabetical), Wii games in the fornt (all 5 of them), PSP games in front, Pokemon boxes in front (stacked), DQ DS game boxes in front (stacked) and PS1 RPGs in front (also stacked). All other PS2 games in back (by genre then alphabet), GCN games in back (by genre then alphabet), all other DS and GB/C/A game boxes in back (stacked). Yeah, suddenly got all those damn boxes, had to find room for them, eh?

Hope someone found this long post interesting, eh?

@ classicalzawa
I found it interesting. It is sort of nice to see that someone else makes the sort of distinctions I do based on packaging.

I was trying to keep my initial post from getting too long so I didn't go into a lot of detail. I'll post a better description of my setup later when I have a chance to compose it offline (I need time to think when I write and work better in Word).

I didn't even get into manga, mine is organized by publisher, it looks better that way. Most of it is in deep storage unfortunately.

My Manga is organized into two categories. The main location has the titles I'm currently reading and my backlog of owned but unread series, which I have on shelves. The series I've finished, I, unfortunately, have piled in a corner since I have no shelf space for it. Crying or Very sad

Let’s see if I can describe my setup.

My wife and I live in a three bedroom ranch style house. The middle bedroom is the anime/manga room (my wife’s doll collection occupies the small bedroom, the lower level family room and display cabinets in the dining room and living room).

One side wall of the anime/manga room is covered by a bookcase that is floor to ceiling and 12 feet long. This is in 6 sections of 2 feet wide by 8 shelves high. Half of this is current manga and half is anime. This used to be 4 sections manga and 2 anime, but recently I put in storage all of the CMX titles, some of Del Rey and most of Tokyopop. This left additional space for anime and I actually have some free shelves.

About 2 feet in front of the shelves I have a display cabinet that is a former counter from a teddy bear store that closed. It is a bit over waist high, 6 feet long and 20 inches deep. The top half is glass with one shelf. This is crowded with anime figures both inside and on the top.

On the side wall opposite the shelves I have a chest of 5 drawers that I use for posters. I understand that this came out of an architect’s office and was used for blueprints. The drawers are 42 inches by 32 inches and 2 inches deep so even the large 1000 Edition posters are able to lay flat. Three of the drawers are for anime/manga posters and calendar sheets. Under this is a couple of bins for miscellaneous storage.

In addition I have a low bookcase with tall shelves that I use for art books with a couple of small display cases on top. The available wall space is covered with posters, calendars and small individual shelves with anime figures and dragons.

In the upstairs den there is a display area consisting of three rows of cubes on a raised platform (former hearth) with a shelf (former mantel) with a couple of small sets of display shelves on it. There is a working fireplace behind this but I decided I would rather have the display space. I use this for some books, plush, Japanese dolls in various costumes, some action figures (US Civil War) and a lot of anime figures. The room was part of a remodel this summer and all of the figures are not put back up yet. The den also has a small tower a foot wide and a foot deep that holds my NIS limited edition anime boxes, the Garden of Sinners box, and a number of cartoon books.

In the living room there are three small shelf units. One is a former CD case converted to DVDs by removing a couple of shelves. It is 21 inches wide by four shelves high and currently holds my Bandai and U.S. Manga Corp. DVDs. Another shelf unit is 30 inches wide by 4 shelves high and carries my Funimation, Sentai and Nozomi DVDs. A smaller 15 inch wide unit has 6 shelves of anime related CDs on one side and 4 shelves on the other side which hold my Bluray discs and some overflow Nozomi titles. My remaining DVDs are in the anime/manga room in the shelves previously mentioned. At the other end of the living room is a furniture type display cabinet approximately 3 feet wide by 6 feet high. This had 8 shelves of figures behind glass. They are mostly anime figures with a couple of Buffy and Sandman figures. Anime figures are also on the end tables, on the DVD cases and in front of the anime TV. There are unfortunately doll cabinets on either side of the TV.

The lower level family room is large, about the size of the living room and den combined. The display space is mostly dedicated to my wife’s Barbie and other fashion dolls, but I do have an additional display case that I got from the teddy bear store. It is narrow but has tall shelves that I use for a couple of large Shirow statues that I have. It was originally intended for video games and has “Atari 5200” on the top.

We have a large storage area (about the size of the three bedrooms combined) this is also mostly devoted to my wife’s dolls but about a fourth of the space is mine. This includes heavy duty shelving (paper is heavy) for manga and undisplayed figures (also books, board games and comic books). One shelf unit is mostly manga in comic book “floppy” format and three others are graphic novels in boxes. I’m about to fill up a fourth. Each box has a large post-it on the end which shows what series are in the box. About 2/3 to 3/4 of my manga is here since I don’t have room to display it. I have over 6oo series, about 35oo volumes.

That is about it, though I probably forgot some stuff. One of these days (if I ever get a round TUIT) I’ll submit the mess to Shelf Life. Have to finish the Den display and figure out the camera first though.

I only collect Blu-Rays these days, so on a shelf suits me. A 26 series only takes up 1 or 2 discs, so I can fit a bunch on it.

Since I recently started collecting, my collection is only about 30 items at the moment, so it's not really that huge. It's all stacked up on top of each other and such in a drawer with no real organization. However, I wanted to get a bookcase and possibly get it all into alphabetical order. The only issue with that though is that when you start getting a huge collection, putting new things into place becomes a pain. If you have 200 anime, and you buy for example "Princess Mononoke" then you have to literally move everything (possibly even move stuff down entire shelves) just to fit one anime into place. Definitely looks nice when it is all said and done, it's just that getting there can be a real hassle.

I organize my anime shelves strictly alphabetically, as that is the only proper way to do it. Wink

Seriously, the only exceptions that I allow to alphabetical order are cases where a title has changed names between release versions (as happened with Kannazuki no Miko, aka Destiny of the Shrine Maidens) and cases where a sequel's main title is technically just a subtitle of the original; Divergence Eve (the original title) and Misaki Chronicles (the sequel title) are an example of this. I do treat .hack//SIGN and .hack//ROOTS as being "h" titles, but I don't see that as a violation of alphabetical order, either. This makes filing new hard copies a pain (and being almost totally out of space doesn't help), which is why I usually only do it 2-3 times a year.

Actually, there's one other exception that I do make: series sets which come in funky boxes that don't fit well on shelves with DVDs and Blu-Rays, such as the ones for Gantz, My-HiME, Toradora!, and some of the metal box sets that ADV put out in the mid-2000s.

Manga I'm much more cavalier about. I have limited space for it (and a lot less of it), so it goes in however I can fit it and still keep a whole series together.

Warning. This might drive some people insane

I have been collecting anime since the mid 90's, and rarely let go of many titles, though I have given away a good bit of VHS. Most (but not all) of my VHS fansubs are packed away. For instance my purple barney VHS copies of Macross 7 still are shown on my shelves. (The ones that came from Kodocha Anime, this site's predecessor, if I recall)

I keep my DVDs VHS and my Blu Rays separated, I use bookcase shelving that is mostly in my Den, but sometimes wanders to other parts of the house, like the living room. I currently need a new set of shelves as I am our of space and having to doublestack my anime, in some cases.

As to organization. First I sort by Media type (Blu ray DVD combos that are DVD sized are driving me nuts... my Eden of the East are not all the same size!)

I tend to keep box sets that have no additional extras by themselves, or as shelf enders.

I tend to sort by genre (for instance, all 20 volumes of Card Captor Sakura share the same shelf as Fruits Basket) Also, other things my daughter likes will be found on that same shelf.. like Marmalade Boy and Nadia, Secret of Blue Water.

I definately sort by series, and by director or studio, by theme, and by release date. So, for instance:

My ADV and Animeigo Macross are side by side with Macross II, Macross Plus, ect, and Mospeada, and Robotech. Other space opera like shows like Gene Shaft and Stellvia might be found in the same area.

Evangelion, Wings of Honnamiase, His and Her Circumstances, This Crazy but Beautiful World, ect are found together.

Voices of a distant star, 5cm a second, the place promised us.. together.

All Ghibli and Miyazaki related films are found together, by release date. I tend to group other GOOD anime movies (by my estimation) with them, like the Girl Who Leapt through Time, that are not grouped elsewhere.

All Gundam series are grouped together, by release date. Series like Saber Marionette are grouped by the order they should be watched (J, J Again, J to X.. and R at the end so it is easier to find.. because it is my favorite of the four.)

Then there are the individual DVDs. I group them alpha by title, if I didn't feel they belonged on a particular 'high' shelf that is easy to see. Lower shelves are alphabetical!

I have never sorted by publisher.. though a lot of my Animeigo stuff is close to each other. Some isn't. It might be interesting to do that once just to see how it breaks out when I do that, plus it is always fun to sort your anime and trip down memory lane with it. Sometimes you stop right there and watch all or part of something. It can make for a great way to spend a rainy day.

I can't seem to let go of my VHS, I especially love my Saber Marionette Clamshell box sets, and still miss my Escaflowne clamshell box that I gave to someone else long long ago when I got the DVDs.

My Manga is shelved wherever I can find the space, and then by series. I do keep related series and authors together. So Karekano is next to Teen Weeny Monster, and Baby Birth and Gundam Ecole are next to Macross 7 Trash.

The disks I do not have cases for (it happens sometimes when you pick up used or other) I keep in CD folders, no real organization, there can't be much more than a hundred or so of those, mostly former rentals.

Funny thing is.. I never, ever, have a problem finding a single thing. I doubt anyone else will have much luck unless it is something large, like Card Captor Sakura. But hey, it is all for my pleasure, isn't it?

I do love how blu rays take up so little space, I group my non anime blu rays with the anime, and my PS3 games, just for aesthics.

Oh.. edit add: I think I have close to a thousand titles, or somewhere in that neighborhood. Individual volumes, I really have no idea. I have pretty much watched everything I have owned.

Oh, and I keep my old "Movie CD's" separate from everything else, as well!

Well, I have a somewhat effective organization plan. On my two huge DVD shelves, I keep to alphabetizing as much as I can, except in two situations.

1. The series are part of a group (all Gundam is together, etc.) OR

2. The show won't fit in the respective shelf or the size and number of discs make it impossible to go alphabetically ( for example my Goldenboy DVD comes before GaoGaiGar, since I don't have room to put it after on my shelf space.

The other locations are in a massive pile at the foot of my bed that goes from the floor to just under the top of my bed (about 5 feet wide and 2 feet tall). This is my stacking pile, since I have no other room to put stuff, it just get stacked higher and higher. I also have an empty dresser drawer that is packed full of discs as overflow, but that's filled to capacity now. My manga is in a plastic tub in my closet, with another huge pile on top of it, and my figure overflow (along with manga overflow) gets thrown in plastic tubs and sits in my balcony storage area. Oh, and recently, I have a just under five foot pile of figures and manga sitting next to my computer in a corner. Yeah, I really am not that messy, I just lack an extra room to pile everything into. I know roughly where everything is at though, but most of the time I barely have time to do anything but sleep and eat here anymore, so who knows....

@ Key
Having to move everything to add new titles is a problem for any strict organization unless you have excess space on every row. I ran into this problem at the office where I worked. The file clerks had to try to keep space in every drawer of the file cabinets. Otherwise they had to constantly move files to add new ones.

How do you handle situations like Oh My Goddess (OAV) Ah My Goddess (TV) and Adventures of the Mini Goddesses (spinoff) alphabetical or kept together?

@ Moonsaber
I agree that reorganizing your collection is a good way to remind yourself of things you have forgotten. Reorganizing by company worked out sort of cool. It is interesting to see where it puts things and nice to see all the Genon or Bandai Logos in a line. I only have a handful of VHS tapes left. Stuff that I wanted but couldn't replace with DVDs, like the live action bits at the end of each Hyperdolls tape. I simply did not have enough space to keep them.

I have bookmarked crunchyroll, and have my computer on the same desk as my writing is done.

I know that is incredibly lame. But it is better than "I use GNOME and put them on my USB stick."

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