Joined: 05 Jun 2023
Posts: 46
Location: Columbia, Mo.
Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2023 9:38 am
With the inundation of Streaming services and the exodus of content from broadcast television to the internet I ask what is the current state of the Manga industry?
With no Internet access I have to order physical copies of my favorite Manga. I have a subscription to Otaku USA, and will often make purchases based off of their recommendations. Luckily I have family members willing to order books for me from Amazon and I am able to enjoy storied that I otherwise wouldn't have access too.
Now that I am approaching the end of my sentence and will have the option to view Manga online I find myself still wanting to hold and read a physical book so I ask: are Manga still readily available out there?
What do you prefer physical or digital? Where do you find the Manga of your choice? I'd love to hear recommendations for stores or sites to check out as well as any series you would consider a "Must Read".
A favorite series I have read recently is "City" by Keiichi Arwaii. (Apologies for misspelling Arwaii san's name I'm going off of memory right now.) Does anyone know if this has been made into an Anime or if there are plans to do so? Thanks.
[EDIT: Made thread title a little more specific. Moved the thread to the Manga sub-forum, but left a shadow of the thread in Anime, since hardly anyone posts in Manga anymore. -TK]
Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9872
Location: Virginia
Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2023 7:49 pm
State of the industry? Hot, really hot. Volumes of manga routinely show up on monthly top ten lists of graphic novel sales. It is one of the few areas of book stores that is growing. You can get manga from most sources that sell books. Many comic shops also carry a selection.
You can get manga online from Amazon, Right Stuf! and Roberts Anime Corner Store. They carry most titles with some limits on Hentai (X rated) stuff from Amazon and Right Stuf!. Right Stuf! and Roberts publish lists of upcoming titles for pre order and both list each weeks arrivals on Tuesday.
Comic shops get volumes through Diamond's Previews Catalog. Each shop will have their own policies about what they carry, special orders, pre orders etc. My local shop is my primary source as I get a 30% discount from MSRP because I pay when I order and buy a lot. To give you an idea of the amount of titles, the July Previews Catalog manga section had about 40 pages of listings with six to 10 titles per page. So two to three hundred volumes a month.
Of book stores, Barnes and Noble have a large selection. Books a Million used to but they left town and I can't confirm they still do. Bookstores do tend to get picked over for new releases rather quickly. Unfortunately, physical book stores are dying out.
Most publishers and online shops keep a reasonable backlog of earlier volumes. If a volume had gone out of print there Amazon and E-Bay have a lot of third party sellers that can get what you want. May be costly for some volumes. Almost every long running series has one or two volumes that are hard to find.
I can't tell you much about digital manga because I don't buy them if I have a choice. There are several companies which supply digital copies in addition to the physical ones and some that sell manga not available otherwise. Someone else will have to jump in on that topic.
I don't know if you have encountered Japanese light novels. They are an expanding source of IP for anime. Most of the sources listed above carry them along with the manga and they come from the same publishers. I do have several titles in digital form as they are not available in physical copies. I use Amazon Kindle for these.
Last I counted, which was a couple three years ago, I had over 4000 volumes of manga. It has gotten a bit out of hand since then and lack the energy to count currently. Add to that a couple hundred volumes of light novels.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Mysterious Disappearances' first volume probably won't blow you away. But how it plays with urban legend and classic Japanese literature hopefully hints at more interesting usages to come.― What does the original manga version of Mysterious Disappearances offer that the anime does not? Nipples. Specifically, Sumireko's nipples, in both adult and child forms. (Notably, in her youngest form, they're l...
We're taking the age-old argument and updating it for the simulcast era! Is getting a dub now a mark of an anime's overall quality? Are sub-only fans gatekeeping?― We're taking the age-old argument and updating it for the simulcast era! Is getting a dub now a mark of an anime's overall quality? Are sub-only fans gatekeeping? Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this c...
Manga's 424th chapter released on Monday― Editor's Note: The second paragraph of this article discusses spoilers for the previous chapter of My Hero Academia manga. Kohei Horikoshi's My Hero Academia manga entered its "epilogue" with the 424th chapter in this year's 27th issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on Monday. Horikoshi additionally mentioned in the author comments for this latest...
Ryōma Takeuchi stars as Kazuma Kiryu in 6 episodes debuting in batches on October 25, November 1― Amazon announced on Tuesday that it is producing a six-episode live-action series based on Sega's Like a Dragon (Ryū ga Gotoku) action game series titled Like a Dragon ~Beyond the Game~ (Ryū ga Gotoku ~Beyond the Game~). The episodes will debut on Amazon Prime Video in over 240 countries and territories...
Manga launched in November 2013, final arc started in November 2020― The July issue of Shueisha's Jump SQ. magazine revealed on Tuesday through a comment by manga creator Yoshiaki Sukeno that his Twin Star Exorcists manga will end in three chapters. If there are no delays, the manga will end in September. Sukeno had stated in October 2020 that the manga was starting its final arc in November 2020. S...
On the surface, there's nothing remarkable about A Returner's Magic Should Be Special, but somehow, the execution manages to rise above all its basic tropes and clichés.― Writing off A Returner's Magic Should Be Special would be very easy. On the surface, there's nothing remarkable about it: a standard magic academy, a basic time loop story, and characters whose names are way too on the mark. But so...
Inside this massive new area are locations pulled straight out of Ghibli films.― Late last year, we went down to Ghibli Park in Aichi prefecture to explore its recently opened Princess Mononoke area. This year, we see the addition of a new area to the experience-driven theme park: The Valley of Witches. Inside this massive new area are locations pulled straight out of Ghibli films Howl's Moving Cast...
T・P BON embodies the spirit of classic sci-fi adventure like almost no other recent anime.― I adore classic sci-fi, especially when it involves time travel and grand adventure. T・P BON embodies the spirit of classic sci-fi adventure like almost no other recent anime. Based on a 1978-1986 manga by Doraemon co-creator Fujiko F. Fujio, this ultra-shiny modern adaptation from studio BONES and director M...
I can't recommend the series, nor think that any hypothetical viewer would enjoy it, but it is the kind of trash TV that's rewarding to dissect.― Have you ever wondered what Baki would be like if it had a conservative bent instead of queer undertones? Well, look no further because the answer is Kengan Ashura! While Kengan is trying to convey the same spectacle and white-knuckle action of the long-ru...