Of course you can! In fact, I highly recommend you do so! When you contribute to Project ISOwned and/or Project Rewritten, you’ll be helping me and yourself give all those anime streaming services a run for their money for their lackluster efforts at media preservation, and ensuring that many anime, no matter how old or obscure, will continue to be enjoyed for generations to come. However, more info regarding ways to contribute to these projects are still being finalized and thus there isn’t anything you can do right now. Please stay tuned for updates regarding this matter. I can assure you that once the details are published, you can start contributing to the greater cause of preserving the anime you and I enjoy.

In the meantime, a live preview of the Contribute page is available for all visitors to see what guilds/clubs they can learn more about and can join in the future.

Nowadays, my go-to site to buy anime for Project ISOwned is Robert’s Anime Corner Store (RACS for short) for new, recently released, old, and/or pre-owned Sentai Filmworks, Funimation/Crunchyroll, Eastern Star (Discotek Media), NIS America, Media Blasters, etc. titles/limited edition sets. As far as I know, RACS is also the recommended site to buy X-rated/adult anime (most are from Kitty Video (the adult anime division of Media Blasters), while some adult titles are from Adult Source Media (ASM) and other lesser known adult anime publishers) so if you’re looking for some spicy anime, RACS is your go-to site. Meanwhile for any out of stock/OOP (out of print) or 2000s (and older) titles/limited edition sets that aren’t available in RACS (or any other online anime store for that matter), I go to eBay and search through various listings to find the best copy or set in terms of its condition, contents, shipping time, and overall value. With eBay however, I only buy anime from known good sellers with a lot of good user reviews.

Other alternatives to RACS include:

• All The Anime, which is based in the UK and is a great source for English subbed anime and/or sets that are exclusive to the publisher/site and/or UK/EU. However, their titles are region-locked (region code 2/B) but if you have knowledge about playing/ripping region-locked discs then this shouldn’t be an issue.
• Sentai Filmworks’ online store for Sentai and (rarely) other publishers’ titles/limited edition sets, which includes publisher/site exclusive sets.
• Crunchyroll’s online store for Funimation/Crunchyroll, Sentai Filmworks, Eastern Star (Discotek Media), NIS America, and most recently Right Stuf Anime titles/limited edition sets, which includes publisher/site exclusive sets.
• Media Blasters’ online store for Media Blasters and Kitty Video (18+) titles. Note that their home site is strangely not secured so proceed with an abundant amount of caution when browsing there but their online store is secured.

Online Anime Store and Reference Links (for English-subbed/dubbed anime):

• Robert’s Anime Corner Store (RACS)
  • RACS Adult Section (18+)
• Sentai Filmworks Online Store
• Crunchyroll Online Store
• Media Blasters Online Store
  • Media Blasters Adult Section (18+)
• All the Anime (UK)
• eBay (for OOP or 2000s (and older) anime/limited edition sets)
• AniDB (for reference only)

When all else fails, you can resort to any brick and mortar store, library, or thrift store that sell anime, and other online stores not mentioned above.

My go-to site to buy anime for Project Rewritten is CDJapan. The vast majority of anime in their store are JP localized and thus don’t contain English subtitles/dubs, with very few exceptions (which typically applies to limited/collector’s edition sets only) like CLANNAD, Kanon, Oreimo, Shuffle!, Your Name, Weathering With You, and others. Note that even if you find an anime on CDJapan that has English subtitles and/or dubs, it’s likely that any bonus content included in the disc(s) are not subtitled/dubbed (only the main feature is subtitled/dubbed) unless stated otherwise, while physical goodies that might also be included in limited edition/collector’s edition sets (such as art/key animation booklets, cast/staff interview/commentary booklets, mini novels, etc.) aren’t translated. CDJapan has a vast catalogue of anime (and anime-related goods) so it’s a great reference point to have when looking for OOP/old anime, anime soundtracks and souvenirs, JP-exclusive sets, and/or limited edition sets that typically include bonus content and/or physical goodies not seen in their NA counterparts. Because most of the anime in the store are JP localized and/or exclusive, they’re also presumably not subjected to any kind of censorship unless stated otherwise. Majority of CDJapan’s anime aren’t region-locked but there will be some that are (region code 2/B) so double check the disc(s) information before buying, or if you have knowledge about playing/ripping region-locked discs then you can safely ignore this. Lastly, CDJapan also offers proxy shopping (after submitting a request form), allowing you to purchase sets and/or anime-related goods from JP-only 3rd party sellers through CDJapan when the site no longer has any more stock of the set that you’re looking for.

ZenMarket, which is a JP proxy shopping site and is a great alternative to CDJapan, offering worldwide shipping. This is my alternative go-to site to buy anime for Project Rewritten when CDJapan doesn’t have any more stock of the anime that I’m looking for (which happens more often than you’d think). ZenMarket lists new/open box/pre-owned items from various JP sites like Rakuten, Amazon JP, JDirectItems, ZenPlus, Rakuma, Mercari, minne, Digimart, Luxe Auctions, and many others. You can also take a URL to an item that you want to buy from any JP site not listed here and let ZenMarket handle the rest (checking stock, purchasing, etc.). Because of this, it allows you to purchase items from various sites and pool them into one package, saving you on shipping costs and time.

• Tip: To save yourself some hassle searching for your anime (or any other item) on ZenMarket, you should properly identify and list the item(s) you’re looking to buy ahead of time. In the case of anime, note the full JP and/or EN localized title and you can refer to AniDB for proper identification. Skipping this step may lead to frequent irrelevant and/or inaccurate results, even with search filters applied. My recommendation is that you should search whatever item you’re looking for in Japanese first for improved search results before switching to English.
• Tip: When browsing Japanese sites that don’t provide or have limited English translation, Google Translate is your best friend. By default, Chrome will auto-translate upon loading any site/page outside your set region/language. If the page doesn’t auto-translate, refresh the page. If that doesn’t work, click on the three dots on the top-right of the browser to pull up additional options then select “Translate”. When the pop-up appears, toggle to English (or another language by clicking the three dots in the pop-up then selecting “Choose another language”) to translate the whole page. Do note that Google Translate can’t translate words on images, icons, site banners, and other image-based elements (unless you use the mobile app where you can use the phone camera to snap an image to translate anything that resembles text on the image, or similar tools). Lastly, ZenMarket does provide English translation on all listings when searching for any item through their site.
• IMPORTANT NOTE: Not all JP web storefronts are compatible with ZenMarket using its “search/add item via URL” option, presumably because they’ve blocked ZenMarket and proxy shopping sites in general (it might hurt their business in some way though that can be debatable), or their website just doesn’t support this option due to the way it is designed. An example of this based from my personal experience would be Sofmap/Sofmap★Akiba, after previously trying to add item URLs from their site to ZenMarket (this might change after time of writing). Therefore, try to stick with the sites listed on ZenMarket when shopping (see the list below) before resorting to other sites not listed.

Online Anime Store and Reference Links (for non English-subbed/dubbed anime, anime-related items, and other Japanese goods):

• CDJapan (JP)
• ZenMarket (CDJapan alternative, proxy shopping for buyers from any region except Japan)
• ZenMarket Shopping Guide (for first time buyers and to learn more about how proxy shopping works)
• ZenMarket Recommended Stores (curated by ZenMarket, see the Anime & Manga section for all listed sites)
• ZenMarket External Store Links (not curated by ZenMarket but all sites listed are popular and reputable, which includes Animate, Surugaya, KADOKAWA, and Aniplex; see the Anime & Manga section for all listed sites)
• AniDB (for reference only)

All anime sets I personally purchase for Project ISOwned and Project Rewritten are bought from genuine online stores/third-party sellers that are highly reputable and/or are highly recommended by online communities. You can see a list of them in the previous FAQs. I do not and will never make purchases from sites and/or sellers that do not have the qualities aforementioned or if insufficient evidence is present to prove the site or seller is genuine and/or reputable. All purchased anime sets are visually inspected for any kind of damage or physical tampering upon delivery, and digital tampering when ripping/inspecting the content in the discs. Any anime set purchased from RACS (that are pre-owned), eBay, ZenMarket (using its partner or external links), and other JP online storefronts (using ZenMarket) will undergo the same process but more time will be spent on the inspections, ignoring any damage that’s been disclosed/acknowledged prior to purchase and delivery during the visual inspection.

I do not encourage myself to pirate and/or own pirated anime unless I’m forced to do so if (AND ONLY IF) I believe that [insert anime series/movie/OVA/other content here] is at risk of being lost or forgotten to either time or neglect, and/or there are no more legitimate sources left where I can get a physical copy of that anime. This will be more evident if I’m very interested in [insert anime series/movie/OVA/other content here]. If I (in the very rare instance) happen to own pirated anime, they’re NOT SHARED with anyone and they’ll be deleted immediately once I own a legitimate physical copy of that anime. In the case of Project Rewritten, after creating a RAnISO, I will immediately find and purchase a legitimate physical copy of that anime in question so the subtitle recreation process can begin. After successfully recreating the subs from the RAnISO on the original AnISO and validating the final sample(s), the RAnISO will be immediately deleted and the original AnISO (now with subs added using the RAnISO as reference) will take its place. Honestly, if anime media companies did a much better job at preserving media and/or catering to their customers here in North America (or any other country/region for that matter), the issue of anime piracy would be much less relevant. Unfortunately, reality is a cruel mistress so it’s up to ourselves to navigate through uncertain and dangerous waters these media companies have created. Remember, two men did say that:

“Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem.”

Gabe Newell

“If buying isn’t owning, piracy isn’t stealing.”

Markus Persson (Notch)