Great news from J-List! 2021 anime calendar season has begun, and J-List is going to bring you all the most gorgeous calendars from Japan as possible! The COVID-19 crisis has put pressure on a lot of anime-related companies, and the various companies that print and distribute calendars, and J-List will be working closely with these companies to ensure as many customers can get the awesome 2021 anime calendars they want!
For 24 years, J-List has brought the incredible glossy printed calendars from Japan to our customers all over the world. We sell amazing anime calendars featuring your favorite characters and shows, beautiful traditional photo and art calendars capturing the natural beauty and art of Japan, plus beautiful sexy idols from Japan. We also have desktop calendars and high-quality art calendars from Japan’s top artists, though most of these aren’t finalized yet. New calendars will be added to the J-List site when they are announced, so check back weekly, or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
How has COVID-19 Affected Japanese Calendars?
Basically, the crisis has delayed many aspects of the anime industry, causing series to be bumped to the next season, and generally making it difficult for all companies to function as they normally would. Anime calendar season got off to a late start this year, arriving in October rather than September this year, but we’ll do our best to make sure all the best calendars get uploaded to the site as soon as they’re available. Since preorders for calendars will close in late November, you should not delay in ordering any calendar you want.
Why is J-List Having a 2021 Anime Calendar Earlybird Sale?
Every year, we have a 20% sale at the front of the calendar ordering season to encourage customers to get their orders in early, even though we know from experience that people don’t think about next year’s calendars until the year is nearly done. It’s a catch-22, but we always do our best. While we sometimes carry stock of popular calendars to sell, we will be carrying very little extra stock this year, which is why it’s best to preorder any calendars you want on your wall during 2021.
What 2021 Anime Calendars are Available?
So far, the lineup of anime calendars is awesome! We’ve got Kaguya-sama: Love is War, Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out, Hamefura: My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind, Attack on Titan, Yuru Camp, Made in Abyss, Dragon Ball Super, Quintessential Quiptuplets, Fruits Basket, Girls und Panzer, Vocaloid/Hatsune Miku, That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 and of course the smash hit Kimetsu no Yaiba. Most of these shows have upcoming seasons in 2021, and it will be great to watch them with the calendar looking down on you from your wall.
We’re also stocking two calendars from Kyoto Animation, the new Hibike! Euphonium and Free! Iwatobi Swim Club calendars for fans and collectors who want to own these awesome calendars and support Kyoani, which does not ship internationally from their company store. Preorders for these will close early than normal, so get your orders in quickly!
Other calendars will be added to the site — we’re hoping for some good calendars by artists like Kantoku — but they’re not announced yet so we can’t give you any information today.
What are Japanese Anime Calendars Like?
If you’ve ordered them before you’ll know that Japanese calendars are nearly always
- Huge, with large printed sheets that are A2 size (23.4 x 16.5 in).
- Generally having 7 pages, meaning the large cover sheet and six calendar pages, with two months to each illustration. Some calendars will have 13 pages, with a cover page and one sheet for each month.
- The illustrations will be gorgeous, and will be original works of art created for the calendar, or occasionally illustrations published in magazines like Megami Magazine, but printed in larger, more awesome quality.
- Desktop calendars exist, but most of these are not on the site yet. Also, the large art calendars by artists like Kantoku aren’t announced yet.
How Much is Shipping on Anime Calendars?
J-List is currently able to ship products via EMS to certain countries (mostly in Europe and Canada) and DHL to other countries (mostly Asia as well as the U.S.) An example of DHL shipping is the $31.66 flat rate, which should be what you can expect to pay for shipping. While this is expensive, your order will be fully trackable and will be lovingly handled by the staff of DHL and will reach you in 2-3 days. EMS is slightly cheaper.
Note that, since calendars all arrive at different times and customers obviously want to have them before January arrives, we’ll ship each calendar out as soon as it comes in to us. Rolled calendars are shipped in secure tubes and (for EMS or DHL) are insured in case of serious damage, which is extremely rare.
Also note that we’ll be stocking desktop calendars, which are much smaller and easy to ship, as they can be placed in a box with other products. Most of these are not finalized yet but will be added to the site over the next month.
The complete list of countries J-List can ship to is here.
Can You Show Us All Internal Calendar Pages Before We Buy?
One of the sad realities is that this is impossible, as the complete internal artwork isn’t released by the publishers, though some internal pages are distributed (see above). By the time the calendar comes in, they’re generally already sold to preorder customers. You have to trust in the anime studios to create nice calendars with fun internal images, which they always do.
How Long As J-List Been Selling Anime Calendars?
For 24 years! We founded J-List in October of 1996, and our first hit product was the exotic glossy printed calendars, which our customers were happy to be able to buy. The top 1997 calendars were if I recall correctly, were Rurouni Kenshin, Totoro plus popular porn stars Akira Fubuki and Madoka Ozawa.
What’s Peter’s Favorite Anime Calendar?
While there are always many great calendars to choose from, one I always make sure to grab for myself is the Studio Ghibli wall calendar. This is a huge calendar that’s shipped flat (not rolled up in a tube) and which is especially awesome because it always features newly created artwork from all of Studio Ghibli’s films, rather than reusing frames from the films themselves. Eagle-eyed fans can scour the artwork for story details not included in the actual film, which can add new material to your favorite Ghibli creation that becomes canon because they’re made by the studio’s artists.
Thanks for reading! Browse the top 2021 anime calendars now, and start making plans for the ones you want to buy!
2021 anime calendar season is coming, and the best time to get your preorder in is now since we’re having a 20% Earlybird Sale on calendars to encourage customers to order early. This lets us get our orders in to our distributes more quickly, and ensures smooth and speedy delivery to you. Browse all our Japanese calendars now!
