That said, I love having the physical paper tankobon or physical figurines! I’ve even bought blu-ray boxes of anime series I love, so that u can actually have/own my own copy of the episodes and support the creators as well!

It may sound strange coming from a programmer and gamer, but streaming or even buying digitally just isn’t the same thing.

Online friends of mine from Japan often feel the same way, too. I really get the feeling that, at least among Japanese otakus, physical copies and merch is still something they value a great deal more than Western otakus/fans.