-Cosplay is only something that I've done for three years and neither year was any good cause I never knew what the best way to obtain good cosplay was. That and I want to know how good/bad the cosplaying world can be when it comes to noobs like myself.
As someone said already, there really is no certain "good way" of obtaining a cosplay outfit. Buy it, make it, piece it together... There are many ways to go about doing it, and there is no "best way".
You can make it yourself if you have the sewing and construction skills, which not everyone does. This can also take a long time, so if you go this route give yourself at least a year (depending on the complexity of the outfit and your skills) to get it done.
You can buy it pre-made, which is the faster way to get it, and you can often find some fairly good prices if you look around... However, sometimes they're not always too accurate. Sometimes they are, though, so again... look around. There's Ebay, Amazon, Google (good place to find shops), Moon Costumes, Cosplay Magic, and numerous others.
And you can always piece it together from various outfits and other things you find at department stores, Good Will, ect.
Of course you can always do multiple things. As I've been known to do in the past, you can buy part of an outfit online and than modify it from there. I've bought a few online in the past to get the hardest parts out of the way and to get a head start on it, than I've modified it, changed it, and added to it from there to make it look better and look more screen-accurate.
No matter which path you choose, however, don't expect to be able to find everything you want all at the same time. And don't expect it to be cheap. -My dialect it either out the window or down the toilet. I end up just staying out of a discussion cause half of what people are saying just goes from one ear and out the other. It's disappointing.
Try talking about something you do know about, and from there others will join in on the conversation. You'll also learn more over time. Not everyone knows everything about every anime series out there. In fact, most of us just have ones we "specialize in"... So find a conversation that suits you, or start one. It doesn't even have to be about anime.- More and more anime is appearing right in front of my eyes and I'm surprised that I never get a chance to see them cause I'm always stuck on a certain anime that almost 99% of the anime population already knows. It's not the same with manga cause for many years, I've been collecting manga that I probably know manga that people haven't heard of.
Does it matter that you're watching an anime series that most people already know of, or have seen? I really don't think that matters. Just because you're watching a more well-known series like Naruto, Bleach, or any the numerous others it doesn't make you any less of a fan. Assuming that's what you meant, of course...
But you can always watch more. If you have Comcast, try searching On-Demand... The Funimation Network has a lot of anime currently playing, and they change roughly once a week. And the series are free; most of the movies aren't.
Besides that, there are numerous places to watch it online (try the Funimation channel on YouTube, they have quite a bit; there's also a Bandai channel).
You can also keep checking around these forums... Quite often people are getting together for one event or another, and fairly often they're getting together to watch anime. If you can't find one, you could always start your own and invite people to bring over their favorite series and everyone could watch one episode of each or something.
Besides that, if you're in college see if yours has an anime club. If it does, stop by. The members will most likely be more than happy to help you get going!-My artwork has always been stuck in one place: people. It's never changed. It's always the same people always the same pose and always the same face. I've never tried animals or perspective drawing cause I'm afraid that I'll have to work on it more than I did with anatomy of characters. Not once have I made a comic. I want to, but I have so many flaws that I don't think I will like what I draw.
Don't worry about your flaws and just have fun. That's what art is all about anyway! Just do what you enjoy doing, and don't be afraid to explore and try new things. We all fail sometimes, and we all struggle. Getting past those things is all part of life.
Though I consider you lucky... I can't draw my way out of a wet paper bag, though I'd love to be able to draw anime... 
