A Guide To Buying Gifts For Anime Fans
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Price: $6.95 a month
Crunchyroll is an anime website that allows viewers to watch current seasons of new anime in HD. However, if you update to Crunchyroll Premium for $6.95 a month, you can watch everything with ads, which is a huge convenience and an awesome anime watching experience. This is a really simple gift to give, especially as an afterthought or a little bonus present.Buy at
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Price: $30-$120
Let's face it- DVDs are not nearly as popular as they used to be. However anime boxsets are fairly collectible, as they usually come in beautiful packages with lots of extra goodies. Take the Cowboy Bebop Funimation Exclusive Edition shown in this picture, that comes with both Blu-Ray and DVDs, collectable artwork, and more.Even if they've already seen the series, they'll be happy to have a great box set that they can access and watch any time.
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Price: $15-$50
If you know what shows or characters the person you're giving a gift to likes already, then plush toys are a really simple and fun option for a gift. We'd recommend this for younger anime fans, all the way up to fans in their mid-20's. Search Amazon for the name of the show and "plushy" and you'll be sure to find something great.
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Price: $7 (Single Copy) $120 (Box Set)
If you're not sure what manga is, think of it like the Japanese version of a comic book. Before anime comes to life on TV, it almost always starts as a manga series. Manga is a great gift option because you can gift an entire set to someone if you know they really like a particular anime, or you can give 2-5 different single manga titles as a gift and let your recipient decide what they like best. Before you gift someone manga, try to find out what genres of anime/manga they're into, and what they're already seen and read.
Sometimes even if someone has seen the entirety of an anime series doesn't mean they wouldn't want to read the same series in manga form.
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Price: $10-$30
Posters or wall scrolls are a great gift for young anime fans, and they're so easy to buy. We recommend this for young children all the way up to late teens,. Find out the person's favorite show or character and get a poster of them. Wall scrolls are basically posters too, they're just made of a different material and pull out like a scroll.
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Price: $10-$150
The great things about figurines is that anime fans still enjoy theme even as adults. The age range for a gift like this can be a child all the way up to a man in his 50's, so don't worry about whether it's age appropriate. These figures can be cheap, but there are high end versions that are a bit pricier. If you know someone's favorite a character, a high quality figurine is definitely a great gift for a fan of anime.
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Price: $10-$25
If you don't know Hayao Miyazaki, think of him as the Walt Disney of Japan. His movies are imaginative, compelling, beautiful and thought-provoking, and gifting one of his films is almost a guaranteed home-run. I would recommend his films for all ages, but these movies might be particularly well suited for either young children, or older fans who can really appreciate the art style and execution of these films.
Some good go-to titles include My Neighbor Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle, and Princess Mononoke.
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Price: $40-$70 (For 3-4 days)
If you want to score big with the person you're giving a gift to, then buy them tickets to an anime convention. Examples of great conventions include Anime Expo, Wondercon, Metrocon and many more. Use Google and see if there are any anime conventions in your area, and if there are watch your loved one's face light up when you tell them they'll be going to a convention.
Before you gift someone this, just make sure they're a pretty big fan of anime, as casual fans might not enjoy this as much.
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- Nicholas Moreau
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Price: $15-$30
If you know the size of the person you're buying for, anime shirts are a really easy option that fans will almost always love. You can find anime shirts at places like Hot Topic in the mall, or you can order them from Amazon or other online retailers. Just make sure the shirt you're buying is actually from a show they like!Buy at
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Price: $30-$60
If the anime fan in your life is also a gamer, than this one is a no-brainer. Popular anime games that have come out this year include Dragon Ball XenoVerse, which is pictured above.Buy at
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Price: $25-$35 (Monthly)
One of the most popular business models these days is charging customers a monthly fee, and sending them a box every month with goodies that they'll love. Well, services like this exist specifically for anime fans, including Kawaii Crate, My Box From Japan, Anime Bento, and more. I cannot say which of these services is superior to the others, so maybe read some reviews before picking one.That being said, it does seem like Kawaii Crate is the best one so far- you pay a monthly fee, and get some really cool anime stuff every month in a really fun box. This includes clothing accessories, manga, figurines, Japanese candy and much more.
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Price: $15-$60
With so many elaborate costumes in anime, it shouldn't be surprising that many companies sell replica products that anime fans can wear in the real world. For example, many fans of the series Naruto will wear a headband that has the symbol of the village that Naruto is from (depicted in the picture here). If the person you're buying for loves One Piece, buy them a replica of Luffy's straw hat. This is another gift where you have to know what shows the person watches, but it's a great gift idea for younger anime fans if you know what they like.Buy at
