A Brief Guide to Collecting Anime VHS Tapes

I go over my experience collecting VHS Anime tapes. I also discuss a brief history of the OVA era and best practices for tape storage.
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[@bartsimpson83]

I got into anime as a broke teenager in the late 90s so almost all of the anime I have on VHS was stuff I taped off of Toonami or taped from late night airings on Encore and The Sci Fi Channel. I still have those tapes.

[@Jubeininja1221]

Do you still have those tapes?

[@kennylauderdale_en]

I've often wondered where I should move specifically to make sure my tapes don't degrade due to humidity. I'm either completely insane or so sane I seem crazy to everyone else. Maybe both.

[@The_Smuggler_]

I wouldn't be a good one to ask. Haha I recently moved from the dry coldness of the rocky mountains out to the coast, all this salty air causes me anxiety. Had get to dehumidifiers before i could sleep at night. xD

[@618thrift]

It’s sad to know that eventually my anime vhs collection is eventually going to go bad and will only be valuable for the artwork. Still super cool to store and have on a shelf!

[@2000four]

im jealous of that golden boy vhs

[@StarHelix-]

Collecting bootleg subbed anime on VHS was an experience. Around the time that DBZ reached the Cell saga in the US, I had gone to a pokemon card shop in my town that had wall to wall anime VHS, most of which being the same three episodes of DBZ, Gotenks vs. Buu. Let me tell you; telling another second grader that Goku has another son, Trunks is a kid later in the show, and all the characters started to cuss, wasn't an easy task. I'm glad people still collect these.

[@DTBluesreviews]

I'm actually just starting to collect anime VHSs and just VHSs in general that never got to dvd or beyond and I just like having them they're really cool

[@NanoMapper]

now..idk if this is a thing but i got Cool Devices hentai 5 vhs tapes in a cardboard box.. was wondering how rare that was haha, i got it for cheap like 10$... guy didn't know even what it was and i just thought it was cool

[@NevsTechBits]

Bruh I remember.

[@SMALLSandJOE]

I'm way too anxious that my tapes will somehow get ruined or eaten in a VCR or something but I just can't stop collecting these bad boys lol. Great video, would love to see another in depth guide to your collection. Some awesome stuff in there!

[@sempcd]

Nice video - I would like to add though, Anime magazines from the 80s catalogued new home video releases on all formats, so that was another way to know about new OVAs. Anime V in particular introduced me to formats I never knew existed recently.

[@LightFykki]

Such an amazing collection. It brings me great joy to see people still appreciating the times of scarcity but love for anime and similar media in general. Take care of it

[@texvelis3676]

Being 43 I remember collecting anime tapes and dubbed bootlegs so much fun. Thanks for this history.

[@The_Smuggler_]

Thanks! :) Im a little to young to have been around so much of the research and anecdotes are articles from back in the day and heresay I've heard throughout the years. Im happy this video hit the mark as far as things go. Ill be posting a video at somepoint discussing the history of fansubs so if you're into that stuff make sure to sub!

[@erootakusensei8394]

Got me a Panasonic AG 500r and I watch all my anime vhs on it and it looks so beautiful 😍 and great collection by the way

[@JTofthedead]

I have been wanting to get into a group of anime vhs trading. I remember going to a local flea market back in the day to get bootleg anime (the only way in my town to get it) I never found any collectors or traders around me back then

[@The_Smuggler_]

You should hop on the VHS reddit page! Theres lots of people on there, aswell theres R/AnimeVHS which has fewer people but still does much of the same!

[@kurisu3000]

7:22 You hit that nail TOO HARD, brother! You explained the truth of why we oldtaku are nostalgia for that time. It WAS the best era. Zoomers know that their era is nothing, but a false reality of social media and constant gratification. This is why they latch on to our era because it was PURE and AUTHENTIC.

[@Zenkyuu8921]

Wow, you just gonna throw a shot at my generation like that? lol

[@endiemid]

old man yells at cloud

[@GreyMatterPlatter]

I'm not even specifically into anime, just obscure media in general, but this is incredible info for someone wanting to get into vhs. Great job

[@Badusername2000]

i kinda wish my experience finding anime was through vhs in the 90s, my intro to anime was in the early 2010s through netflix, and now i do far too much research before i ever start watching a show, wish i could just pick a random tape and watch it with reckless abandon

[@The_Smuggler_]

I was in the same boat! I didn't actually start watching anime until around 2014. It's never too late, lol As much as I love the shows from the 90s and 80s, I've found my favorite anime are Visual Novel Adaptations from the early 2000s. Best thing I found for finding new shows is picking a random year and season on MAL and doin the 3 episode rule for everything I can find. Thanks for watching! o7

[@arandomcrow3768]

do you have those 6tbs of amvs uploaded anywhere ? im kinda curious

[@The_Smuggler_]

If you go on nyaa or other public trackers you can search AMV and then sort by size. The 6tbs I have is a compilation of all the largest collections.

[@EDP2000]

Nice insight, dude. I’ve been collecting tapes since I was a kid, and I actually just started collecting anime tapes a year ago. Nice titles, by the way.

[@AlextheComicHoarder]

I have 99 VHS Manga from the early to mid 90s if you’re interested and or want to trade.

[@steve5123456789]

Do you have this VHS anime called Dragon Century? Never seen a copy in the wild before.

[@The_Smuggler_]

No I dont, Ill keep an eye out in my travels n let you know if i find it. I do have some pretty old stuff though that's basically dead media. Im currently working on digitizing and remastering some anime laserdiscs I picked up recently, once i finish making a video about that and encoding techniques i plan on making some reviews for this dusty stuff xD

[@steve5123456789]

@@The_Smuggler_Yeah I've been debating if it even exists. Also sounds good. I look forward to it.

[@Elaxkun]

@@The_Smuggler_ you should try and digitize the very hard to find VHS you may have to archive them so it doesn't get lost.

[@Harucardiel]

Beautiful detail and run down with collecting anime back then lol also the fact that yea it was difficult to do back then but yet somehow had a casual feel to it all lol but i would like to talk to you about a couple questions i have about the VHS format that i cant find any accurate info about that i feel like youd better info about i hope you can DM in some way as the info would be helpful for a lil video essay im doing on another account. If not then my apologies for bothering

[@The_Smuggler_]

Glad you liked it! N yea, if you go to my channel, in the banner I got links to my MAL n Twitter. You can DM me on either of those.

[@SailorMoonFan92]

The only anime I have on VHS are the first three Pokemon movies and the three original Sailor Moon movies lol

[@donaldcollins753]

this was very cool and informative! its very relaxing to watch also thanks for taking the time to share and make this video!

[@The_Smuggler_]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@The_Smuggler_]

Subscribe to get notified about the upcoming Laserdisc video. Additional Reading: www.archives.gov/preservation/formats/video-storage.html www.archives.gov/files/foia/directives/nara1571.pdf s3.cad.rit.edu/ipi-assets/publications/acetate_guide.pdf www.clir.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2017/02/pub54.pdf www.digital-scrapbooking-storage.com/vhs-tape-rewinder.html www.retrorgb.com/videocapture.html cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/removable-media-care.pdf www.nedcc.org/assets/media/documents/dman.pdf

[@DeadJazzArchive]

It's always humbling to think that _you_ might be the last person with the means and care to preserve a piece of media.

[@jd-py5nm]

I really wanna collect VHS and laser disc. Thankfully some of the otherwise lost stuff is here on youtube

[@Zenkyuu8921]

My thing is that it’s perfect to have some physical media of things that remind me of my childhood before the internet really took over, so as a way to detox, it’s fun to do things and be around people that make you forget you have a phone, so you enjoy it more when you actually use your phone and find something interesting.

[@DTBluesreviews]

Quick question do you know if there's fixing to a tape that keeps getting caught in the VCR

[@The_Smuggler_]

When the tape gets caught in the VCR a small amount of the tape can get damaged and there isn't anyway to fix that psychical damage. But if the VCR is eating certain tapes it could be a couple things. 1. The Tape is stretched or damaged from improper tensioning or storage. 2. The VCRs Pickups or Idler wheels are not tensioned properly or are worn out and need replacing. I usually find the problem is with the VCR and not the tape, My Panosonic VCR used to eat tapes. here are some Video guides that helped me out. kzbin.info/www/bejne/g52toYWZqphkkMU&ab_channel=GrantsPassTVRepair kzbin.info/www/bejne/hHe3lamPabR1j7s&ab_channel=GrantsPassTVRepair kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4G9YnaLp9l0nZo&ab_channel=VWestlife%27sCamcorderTests%26More

[@DTBluesreviews]

@@The_Smuggler_ I'll give those a try thanks damn thing also doesn't rewind it just ejects the tapes

[@The_Smuggler_]

Hmmm thats a weird one. If you cant get it working and end up having to buy a new one look for ones built in the early 90s. Theyre generally more reliable n if you get it working comment back here with how you fixed it. Might help someone in the future whos having the same issue.

[@DTrux-v8f]

i have a dvd-vhs combo player that has the capability to record vhs to dvd directly on the player. So I just used that method

[@jd-py5nm]

Been through several vcrs and tapes can't seem to repair the vcrs and tapes keep getting ate so frustrating

[@The_Smuggler_]

Trick I find is to find a good unit thats already working. Clean it out and do basic lubrication before using it. N then as the Belts and wheels crap out over time, you can replace them as needed. Rather than getting stuff thats already beaten up n trying to figure it out. Some VCRs still have the repair technician manuals kicking around online which can be really handy for fixing the really tough issues.

[@retro_anime_gamer_8716]

Hey, just found your channel. I love vintage anime and vhs. Looking to get into trading. Do you know a good place to start? Facebook groups or something else?

[@The_Smuggler_]

Welcome to the club! Lol Reddits a good one, R/VHS, R/AnimeVHS and R/Laserdisc have people buying and selling. Also, they have discord servers. Kenny Lauderdale's discord would be worth a look. The "golden age of animation " facebook group is pretty big aswell.