Yes, by 'get my hands on it' I meant 'test it out via (legal, hopefully)
streaming first and then see if I want to buy it.' I remember back in the
day when the only anime you could find was bootlegs or imports, both of
which cost $40 to $60 per VHS tape (yes, VHS) at the local nerd store, and
there was no way to preview it first. I lost a couple hundred to comic
stores to 'try out' anime that turned out to be hideously male gazey -
because I had no idea what a harem story was.
In other words, I'm still really bitter that Oh My Goddess! turned out to
be about something other than Belldandy, the actual goddess whom the story
was named after. Plus some story about mermaids, but I can't for the life
of me remember the title, I was that disappointed. I think that my
frustration with that (and several other purchases) made me abandon anime
for a number of years.
On the plus side, my local nerd shop did have the Vampire Princess Miyu
OVA, which I now recognize was pretty amazing, and Devil Hunter Yohko,
which I enjoyed a lot even though it was a bit male gaze-y. (Not that I
knew what the male gaze was at the time. I had no name for it; I just knew
I didn't like it.) Both of which Amazon tells me are on DVD for half or
less than half of what I paid for a single VHS tape. (Which I still have,
and one solitary, lonely VCR to watch them with. But not for long now!)
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branchandroot
Re: F/F in anime/manga
Date: 2013-06-12 01:11 pm (UTC)Yes, by 'get my hands on it' I meant 'test it out via (legal, hopefully) streaming first and then see if I want to buy it.' I remember back in the day when the only anime you could find was bootlegs or imports, both of which cost $40 to $60 per VHS tape (yes, VHS) at the local nerd store, and there was no way to preview it first. I lost a couple hundred to comic stores to 'try out' anime that turned out to be hideously male gazey - because I had no idea what a harem story was.
In other words, I'm still really bitter that Oh My Goddess! turned out to be about something other than Belldandy, the actual goddess whom the story was named after. Plus some story about mermaids, but I can't for the life of me remember the title, I was that disappointed. I think that my frustration with that (and several other purchases) made me abandon anime for a number of years.
On the plus side, my local nerd shop did have the Vampire Princess Miyu OVA, which I now recognize was pretty amazing, and Devil Hunter Yohko, which I enjoyed a lot even though it was a bit male gaze-y. (Not that I knew what the male gaze was at the time. I had no name for it; I just knew I didn't like it.) Both of which Amazon tells me are on DVD for half or less than half of what I paid for a single VHS tape. (Which I still have, and one solitary, lonely VCR to watch them with. But not for long now!)