The Charm of Collecting Ancient Video Videos: A Mysterious Discovery

As a once mainstream audiovisual storage medium, although video tapes have long since exited the mass market, they still attract a group of loyal collectors.

These enthusiasts are obsessed with searching for precious video works that have never been released on DVD or digital, because once the video tapes disappear, these works may be completely buried in people’s memories.

Unexpected discovery of mysterious video tape

Recently, a Japanese collector accidentally discovered an unmarked videotape in a closed video store. Many collectors have an irresistible curiosity about these old videos that are full of unknowns and mysteries. The collector decided to bring back this unnamed videotape and try playing it to see what kind of content was hidden.

The Treasure Hunt Journey of Collectors’ Families’

This Japanese netizen, nicknamed “Chenghu”, is active on the X (formerly Twitter) platform all year round and is a passionate video enthusiast. He often searches for video rental stores that are still in operation throughout Japan, and finds some particularly precious videos, especially those rare images that have never been digitized.

His recent collection experience came from a bankrupt video store. He bought dozens of videotapes from this store, one of which had no labels or notes at all. This sparked his curiosity, so he decided to play this mysterious video carefully and share the entire process online. This process quickly sparked heated discussions among netizens.

Mysterious unlabeled video tape

There are no markings on both sides of this video tape, which makes it particularly mysterious.

With a nervous heart, Chenghu inserted the video tape into the player.

Firstly, he flipped the tape back to the beginning and was surprised to find that the video duration had reached 3 hours and 44 minutes.

Next, with some nervousness and anticipation, he pressed the play button.

Unexpected Content: The Return of Childhood Memories

As the screen gradually appeared, Cheng discovered that the video was actually playing the famous animation “Prince of Tennis”.

This discovery made him breathe a sigh of relief, and the previous tension instantly dissipated, with a smile appearing on his face.

This animation used to be a childhood memory for many people, and seeing this scene, it feels like returning to that era.

Subsequently, he carefully watched the entire video and found that these images were not rental tapes, but rather TV broadcasts recorded by someone. The household speculates that this tape is likely a video tape for personal use by a certain household, rather than a professional rental source.

The pursuit of old times

The video tape unexpectedly discovered by Chenghu in the closed store did not bring the expected rare images, but rather a nostalgic animation called ‘Prince of Tennis’.

Although this is not a rare work, this experience undoubtedly allowed Chenghu and many netizens to relive the beautiful memories of their childhood.

For those who still insist on collecting videotapes, they carry not only images, but also dusty memories. As time passes, many precious visual works may gradually disappear, but it is these loyal collectors who give us the opportunity to revisit these forgotten moments.