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The Bare Essentials:

1) A Japanese-English Dictionary, such as:

Kodansha's Romanized Japanese-English Dictionary $28 ISBN 4-7700-1603-4

Timothy Vance, ed. Kodansha International Ltd. 1993

This dictionary is based on a Japanese-English Dictionary for junior high school
students and is very easy to use. It has entries in romaji as well as kanji/kana
and has the basics of verb conjugation and counters (argh!).

2) A Verb Book

The Complete Japanese Verb Guide $15 ISBN 0-8048-1564-x

The Hiroo Japanese Center, Charles E. Tuttle Company Inc. 1989

This book explicitly conjugates 306 verbs and lists another 277 "suru" verbs.
(For example: "kekkon suru" "to marry") Hm. "Suru" ("to do") seems to
resemble the French verb "faire". Remember "faire du ski"? Well, in Japanese,
that's "Sukii wo suru" ("to ski")! Uh. Anyway, this book is good for lazy people
like me who don't want to remember which verbs are godan vs. ichidan. It also
has polite and humble forms in it, if you feel like tackling that verbal minefield.

Japanese Verbs at a Glance $12 ISBN 4-77-1985-8

Naoko Chino, Kodansha International Ltd., 1991

Part of Kodansha's Power Japanese Series. It doesn't have as many verbs in it
as the above book, but it tells you what the heck you're supposed to do with
them. It explains a lot of colloquial speech as well. Wonder why Hitomi in
Tenkuu no Escaflowne always seems to end her sentences with "-nakerya"?
This book will tell you. (OK, OK, I can't leave you hanging. "-nakerya" means
"have to" or "must". Hitomi spends a lot of time saying things like: "Van wo
tasukenakerya!" "I have to save Van!" doesn't she? That's why we love her!)

3) A Particle Book (Okay, maybe not sooo essential...)

A Dictionary of Japanese Particles $20 ISBN 4-7700-2352-9

Sue Kawashima, Kodansha International Ltd., 1999

Has about 100 particles in it! Each one is listed in romaji and kana and each is
used in several example sentences. Also has exercises and cartoon drawings
for those of us with short attention spans. I haven't used this as much as the
other books, as the Japanese-English dictionary covers many (but not all) of the
particles I've come across.

If you don't want to spend the $20, the Power Japanese All About Particles
ISBN 4-7700-1501-1 covers much of the same information without the cartoons
for $13. I have to say that this book was much more difficult to pay attention to.
All of the particles started to sound alike -- and they all seemed to mean
"however" or "because"! Splurge. Spend the extra $7 for the other book.

4) The Dreaded Kanji Guide (You must have one!)

Kodansha's Compact Kanji Guide $35 ISBN 4-7700-1553-4

Kodansha International Ltd, 1991

Initially very intimidating to use, but becomes much easier with practice.
Contains the 1945 Joyou or "esssential" kanji in it. (But not "dare", "ude" or
"hitomi", for some reason...) This dictionary is the one I recommend for
absolute beginners. Why is it so necessary? First of all, CD liner notes contain
kanji. You can't escape. Also, much as we may like their voices, some singers
do not enunciate. If you can't hear what they're singing and the lyrics are in
kanji, you're stuck. (Before I got up the nerve to use the guide I'd waste a lot of
time mumbling: "Was that 'doro'? 'Goro'? 'Toro'? Or maybe 'Torou'? Gack!")
To top it off, many words in Japanese sound similar, for example: "koi" can
mean "romantic love", "dark", or "ornamental carp" (yes, the fish). While this
can be entertaining for a little while, it's really a pain in the butt. The kanji let
you know once and for all what the song is about.

As an extra bonus, the Kanji guide has a (tiny) Katakana/Hiragana chart if you
haven't learned them. (Just learn them! Save yourself the pain.) Speaking of
which...

5) A Hiragana Workbook

Let's Learn Hiragana $10 ISBN 0-87011-709-2

(or ISBN 4-7700-1209-8 in Japan) Gack! Does that mean the other ISBN's I
gave are for Japan too? Better check with Borders Books. . .

Yasuko Kosaka Mitamura, Kodansha Internationa Ltd., 1985

You can become passably familiar with hiragana in one or two sessions with
this book. It teaches you how to read and write hiragana, the phonetic alphabet
used to write Japanese. (Katakana is used to write foreign words.) Expect to
confuse them a bit at first! Translating manga can help your recognition skills.

(I recommend Ranma 1/2 Vol. 36 -- it's not too hard, and Nodoka finds out!)

A Little More Advanced:

Japanese Verbs and Essentials of Grammar $8.95 ISBN 0-8442-8406-8

Rita L. Lampkin, Passport Books, 1995

I loathe grammar. However, I love this book! It's clear, simple and useful, and
goes beyond the boring Desu/Masu Japanese. Covers verb endings (including
informal forms -- which are most commonly used in anime), basic grammar (A
wa B, etc.), demonstrative forms (ko-so-a-do), particles, adjectives, adverbs,
the list goes on and on. . . Highly recommended. Plus, it's cheap!

The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary $42 ISBN 4-7700-2335-9

Kodansha International Ltd., 1999

This dictionary is larger and about ten times faster to use than the Compact
Kanji Guide, but in order to use it you need to know how to count strokes, so I
don't recommend it unless you are currently learning how to write kanji.

There are many, many more books on the Japanese language, but these are the
ones I've found most useful so far. And, no, I don't work for Kodansha -- I just
buy their stuff! ^_^;