I really want to follow it, but the pricing is crazy

I like my cartoons. I especially like my Japanese cartoons (anime). The problem I have is the bloody price that's charged for the individual discs. Last time I was in HMV they were charging in excess of €35 for a single disk containing two episodes of a series (can't remember the name; all I remember is nearly gagging at the price).
When I was in the States I picked up a few Anime series for about $40 each. Reasonable price considering that they were oldish (big fan of the cheaper when older thing).
Tower are better for pricing individual series, but they are still a tax on a person's wallet. Most 26 episode seasons are > €100 for the entire collection. And that's for the Australian imports (which they claim are region 2 but it's all a lie).
which brings me to シゴフミ(shigofumi). It was picked up really early on in the airing in Japan, which means that to be fair, I should be picking them up. The problem is that it's $30 per disc. They are, of course, not available in Region 2. Picking up the original Japanese is a bit of bother (my language skills are not that good; and they generally don't have any subtitles). Decisions, decisions.