Collectors: What are your holy grail item(s)?

[koutetsuhime]

I thought it might be fun to have a thread to share what holy grail item(s) we've been searching for, saving for, and wishing for. Or maybe you got lucky and managed to actually get your hands on your holy grail item already! Feel free to add a bit about why this item(s) is important to you

My holy grail search: Fatima's 哀愁の底辺 (aishuu no teihen) tape

Fatima's one of the bands I decided I wanted to collect everything they had released, but this one has been the most elusive. I've found it about 3 times now but already sold, much to my dismay. Currently one up on mercari but it's almost $200 versus the others that were <$50 There's a few other Fatima goods I want but this is the one I'm like I NEEEED, lol

There's also a photobook for the pumpkin head that I'd reeeally love to have, but I only saw it for sale once on puresound- and of course I had no money at the time. Boooo.

And much less of a huge holy grail, but I'd like to eventually re-buy the old aknot only Blitz 5 Days dvd set from Dir en grey. I got lucky and bought it back when it originally released, but I was dumb and sold it a bit later. This one's definitely more a nostalgia thing for me, back when I was super obsessed with Dir and really active in the fan community. Good memories (mostly!)

Share what goods you're after or were lucky enough to get, I'd love to see 'em!

[omochadorei]

It may not be a rational fear, but I'm somewhat worried that if I were to post about what I'm most looking for right now, I'll be making it harder for myself :') The last grail item I obtained for myself was this, though - took years for me to get.

Goku - OTO-ONI

Tracklist & reviews for 「Goku」 by OTO-ONI. 音鬼「獄」曲・情報・レビュー | vkgy (ブイケージ)

vk.gy (ブイケージ) (vk.gy)

[SATAN-GOTH-ZONE]

During the pandemic Kiryu did crowdfunding campaign for their watashi mamire live DVD. The higher tiers you could get a custom concert performance with songs of your choice, that tier alone was over $1,000 USD I think. I wouldn't mind grabbing someone's personal concert DVD but they also put out versions of the concert with member specific angles. Those were also incredibly expensive tier in the campaign and they pop up sometimes on Mercari but always floating around $200-$500.

I've never seen Mahiro's or Mitsuki's versions second hand but I've seen the others and if they ever go below $100 I might consider grabbing one out of curiosity. I would ultimately want all of them but I just can't see myself spending that much to just watch Junji on the drums for two hours or something lol.

Otherwise, I always love getting doujinshi and fan magazines for 90s and early 2000s bands. I love seeing the fan art, especially in that 90s manga shojo style I love. I own a few Romancing Saga and Tomomi Kobayashi artbooks specifically for her that's totally not Sakurai fan art.

[pairdog]

@omochadorei that's such a valid fear lol

I mean someone could see this rare thing you like, check it out, love it (but not as much as you love it), and have more money & good luck than you and swipe it before you on mercari or something

[pairdog]

I have a lot of grails, really ... I don't think I've seen ANY of these on auction:

Luinspear - all demotapes but especially "White Kiss"
AURORA - all demotapes
DuelJewel - all demotapes
Janne Da Arc - all demotapes

or anything by:
狂ばに, 雛罠, Nerv Rituell, 百足, ピンク菩薩, xxGUN/JACKxx, or Act

Arguably my biggest grail, though, is this tape ...

自爆's "精神分裂"
... which has frustratingly been on auction TWICE and I was too late both times.

Somebody on YouTube (a guy in Japan, who makes very questionable data preservation decisions) recorded the tape from a handheld speaker with heavy background noise and that's the closest I've come to hearing the tape, let alone own it! Agghh!!

One somewhat obtainable grail of mine is 眞呼's "Buried With The Light". It goes on auction for around 25k yen so I just have yet to shell out the bucks for it.

[Tokage]

Pretty much all of Guniw Tools' indies era releases, but ESPECIALLY the 'Of the foul' cover album. I don't think I've ever seen any copies of most of their pre-Niwlun material on auction sites. One or two of the VHS tapes very infrequently pop up, but that's about it.

[WhirlingBlack]

@Tokage I remember I asked Full about those early releases some years ago, and he was like "...I don't remember."
He only had one of the tracks from the cover album that he sent to me, but the other stuff he said was "somewhere else". Very Helpful!

[biopanda]

Ø1 COMPLETION 10th ANNIVERSARY MEMORIAL ALBUM 1993-2002 - (omnibus)

Tracklist & reviews for 「Ø1 COMPLETION 10th ANNIVERSARY MEMORIAL ALBUM 1993-2002」 by (omnibus). (オムニバス)「Ø1 COMPLETION 10th ANNIVERSARY MEMORIAL ALBUM 1993-2002」曲・情報・レビュー | vkgy (ブイケージ)

vk.gy (ブイケージ) (vk.gy)

This huge V.A. album/book is my white whale. Limited to only 30 copies (most likely fan club or mail-order), it's existence to begin with wasn't even known until a copy showed up and was immediately snatched up on mercari for a criminally low price. Many of the songs on the CDs were only ever released on demotapes or impossible to find CDs and the book is probably the only way to completely unravel the largely mysterious 01 Completion label. This was something that I would literally spend thousands of dollars to get my hands on, but it's never shown up since. Any of the many, many live VHSes released by 01 Completion are also my holy grails, but I've never seen a single one show up for sale in the past 20 years so...

[Seraphim]

And it comes with a 78-page insert? That’s crazy

[koutetsuhime]

@biopanda woah, that's so cool!! what a huge V.A album wow. Hope you can somehow find it again!!

[tenyards]

I have been very lucky in that weird shit that I want has appeared for reasonable prices, but one of them, LAB. THE BASEMENT'S Sayonara, ningen bokujou Fukanzenban which they only made 50 copies of came with a bad burn on the DVD-R with the full live. Nothing I own can read it :/. I'd love to get my hands on a copy of Ura Archives 2003-2008, but I do at least have the files!