I hope not.

Wow that's awful.

I always buy Manga where I can, and anime too. In England there isn't many places that sell either of those, though. I wish they sold more here and I would definatly buy them! If I can't get hold of them I usually buy them on Ebay or something but shipping can be expensive.

I'm not a big anime/manga fan to be honest, so nearly every anime or manga or seen has actually been a bought one [which is actually not that many anime's or mangas.]

There is a lot of talk about unlicensed material. What does unlicensed mean? Internet publishers say it's okay to publish unlicensed material that has been fan translated, but as soon as it becomes licensed they take it down.

OMG! I'm going to go crazy! I've been waiting a year for one volume of one of my mangas that has caught up to the author's chapters and the next volumes neeeeed to come out! Damn it!

Unlicensed means the Manga publishers in your country are not allowed to publish it. They need to acquire the rights from the Japanese company to translate and publish it first, then it becomes licensed.

Oh my god.....I will be sooo upset if TokyoPop closes down!!! I love their mangas sooo much....that if they go away i might have to take up a bad habbit like smoking.....

I think I'm the only one who really mentioned unlicensed materials.

Most of the mainstream stuff shown over in the US, I've more than likely seen before it was licensed by a company to be dubbed into English over here. Deathnote, Inuyasha, Bleach, Naruto, etc., comes to mind for me. These are some series I watched before it was thought of overseas. The only way I'd been able to buy any of these, was through Japan's releases of them since they weren't out in other places yet. Of course now these series are available to those outside of Japan and can now be purchased since it has a dub now.

An example of an unlicensed anime is say, Hunter x Hunter, although, its manga has a license and can be bought here in the US and other countries as well, I'm sure.

Same goes for some manga series, just like with anime. For me, there are some series that are only available in Japan that I really like, or is rare, like:

Gokusen
Code Name wa Sailor V
Zelda no Densetsu: Kamigami no Triforce (ゼルダの伝説神々のトライフォース)
Zelda no Densetsu: Fushigi no Kinomi~Jikuu no Shou~ (ゼルダの伝説 ふしぎの木の実 ～時空の章～)
Zelda no Densetsu: Fushigi no Kinomi~Daichi no Shou~ (ゼルダの伝説ふしぎの木の実～大地の章～)
Zelda no Densetsu: Toki no Ocarina (ゼルダの伝説 時のオカリナ)
Zelda no Densetsu: Majora no Kamen (ゼルダの伝説 ムジュラの仮面)
Zelda no Densetsu: Fushigi no Boushi (ゼルダの伝説 ふしぎのぼうし)

These are all manga series I wish had a license and official translation to be brought to the states or overseas in general, because I'd definitely by them, especially the Legend of Zelda series and definitely Gokusen. Gokusen's anime has been licensed and shown (I saw it on television), but its manga, which I'm more interested in, never has, so I've only read scanlations of those and even anything higher than volume 9 is rare to find.

For the longest time, I was reading Hunter x Hunter scanlated, mainly due to its anime ending so prematurely, but once it got licensed over here, I started collecting it. I'm still behind with collecting it, since I've been into other series more so and more interested in keeping with those as opposed to HxH right now.

The Sailor V manga, as far as I know, has only had one official non-Japanese release, but it's in French, and I think it got a release in Canada years ago.

So...anything unlicensed, is more than likely something that's not available for purchase outside of Japan due to lack of rights.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that anime distribution on DVD is ridiculously over priced? You pay more for a single "volume" of an anime series than you would for a full length box office movie for less content.

I am not sure if the why anime is priced the way it is. I know box-sets tend to be better deals than single volume purchases.

If it's any consolation, anime is just as expensive in Japan as it is in North America.

It's rare that I come across an anime series that I actually want to buy. I know I'd definitely buy Ronin Warriors (Yoroiden Samurai Troopers) boxset, but I've yet to find it still, outside of seeing bootlegs on EBay.

I'd buy Cowboy Bebop too. I only have scattered volumes. I wish I had the entire series.

I'd also buy Endless Waltz from Gundam Wing.

If there was a Samurai Pizza Cats/Kyatto Ninden Teyandee boxset (with subtitles), I'd definitely buy that.