Availability of anime soundtracks in the US?

[Chaos Butterfly]

How hard is it to find anime soundtracks in the music stores in the US? Am I better off to try hunting them down over the net and having them shipped instead. I really want Noir vol.1 & 2 soundtracks.

[Ski]

Depends on Where in the U.S. in texas I could find then at any comic shop. In Michigan I'm lucky to find one C.D. (and it's almost always the "akira" C.D.) online is real easy to order stuff like that. and most of the time cheaper as well.

[Shadowcat]

Chaos, I would strongly suggest buying soundtracks online, unless there is an anime store near you. More often than not you can get stuck with a SonMay copy when you think you've finally found the real thing, or get shafted over the import price. (Or just have a really bad selection.) The trick is to shop around. If you do find something in a store, make sure it's not going for more than you could get it online.

Of course, that also depends on if you're looking for the SonMay cd. Let's face it. Unless you're a diehard fan of something, a $40 import pricetag is scary.

SonMay is an HK ripoff company, BTW. Their cds are copies of the original disks, and usually go for about $10-15. Because they are copies, the company that produced the originals gets none of the profit. Blah blah blah. What it really boils down to is 1. How fanatic are you about owning an original disk, and 2. How much money CAN you spend? There have been some cds that I absolutely had to get the original of, and there were others that I just wanted to try out, so I settled for the SM copy.

I like to think of SonMay as samples. They're cheap enough that you can get a few of them for a reasonable price, so you can listen to OSTs you might not have tried otherwise. If you like something, you can always go and buy up the original disk. It's sort of how reasonable folks view MP3 sharing. This is only my opinion, of course. There are folks who are diehard SM supporters, and there are those who feel it a crime to ever purchase them.

Anime soundtracks very rarely have a US release, and when they do they are easy to find. You can usually go to a major music store chain and at least order the disks from their catalogue if they're not on the shelf. Noir is NOT an American released OST. Your options are to either buy the original Japanese disks for about $30 each (they're on Animenation.com), shop around for a better deal (maybe on ebay), or go for the SonMay rip. Remember, if you don't want the SonMay, make sure the listing says it is an original disk, and not SM!

The SonMay disks can be found here.

The originals are here.

While I usually can't stand AnimeNation, their selection has really exploded over the past few years. They have some hard to find disks. Hell, they have a Maria-sama ga Miteru cd! Marimite! That show just ended a couple of months ago in Japan!

OH! I almost forgot. My absolutely favorite place is Right Stuff International. They have fantastic weekly specials, and great discounts. Their regular prices are kinda high, but the sales make up for it. Nearly every week, they have 30-40% off merchandise put out by different companies. As far as I know, all the cds they carry are American releases, but it's still a better selection than I bet you'd get at Barnes & Nobles.

I hope this helps. [img]smile.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ May 25, 2004 01:06 PM: Message edited by: Shadowcat ]</font>

[Chaos Butterfly]

Thanks heaps Shadowcat! The rightstuff link doesn't work but I found the anime nation site very helpful as far as finding out what's available and tracklistings go.

I have discovered the only place that gets OSTS here is Graphic Novel Cafe who specialise in Manga and anime and they don't have a great selection of OSTS but will order them from Japan. I got quoted about NZ$55 for the CD which is the same or probably even cheaper than anything online I've seen so far by the time I change currency and especially if you take into account shipping it to the 'ass-end' of the planet.

So I think I'll order Noir thru them but I will have a look in a few of the big music stores/comic shops that I find when I'm over there and see what they've got, with anime OSTs being hard to find i think I'll just end up paying premium no matter which country I buy it in (unless I go to Japan).

P.S. Is it just me or (out of its original context) does Shadowcat's signature sound rude. [img]wink.gif[/img]

[crazy a]

That's probably why she put it there.

[Shadowcat]

I fixed the link to RightStuff. They do international shipping, but have to go through third party shippers. I'm not sure how that works, but it's worth looking into.

BTW, you should all see Azumanga Daioh. It is the most hilarious, stupid show, and will always hold a place in my heart. Osaka is a genius.

To put my sig into context, Chiyo-chan (the 10 year old super genius who skipped 5 grades and is now in high school) was talking about her upcoming birthday. She mentioned how she'd always been the shortest one in class. Then they turn to Sakaki (who is tall and very developed for a high school student), and ask her if she's still getting taller. She agrees. There is silence. Osaka stares at Sakaki, then shouts out "I bet she's sucking the growth outta Chiyo-chan!"

Of course, Chiyo-chan then turns to Sakaki and gives her an uber cute look. "Is it true? Did you steal my height? You stole it, didn't you? Please! Please give it back!"