Day 11 - Personal Rambles

As someone that has been collecting mangas more extensively of late, I recall some things people have asked me and I thought I may just ramble about it today. 

I get asked a few questions, mostly by family, such as “How can you afford all this?”, “Where can you put them?”, “Why are you buying so many?” and the short answer is “cause I can” but where is the fun in that, so here is my long answers. I will start with the why? 

Why am I buying so many?
I started too many series and I wish to either keep them up to date or finish the series. I am a collector, I want to have a large set that I can read and enjoy. Manga is a sanctuary for me, they give me joy as well as an escape from a reality I am not happy with. I have a negative view on myself a lot of the time and reading, escaping to someone else’s reality helps me put mine in perspective. The other reason is, sometimes I enjoy finding deals for mangas, especially rare and out of print ones. I am starting to develop a knack for finding series for cheaper and basically buying whole sets for a fraction of the price. I sadly bring my partner into buying them and I feel bad but at the same time, I have someone to show off to someone at digging up a great find. A recent buy I have is the five volumes from Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days, which has become a pain to find, I got it for 30aud with shipping and the fourth volume that wasn’t included, got it from AbeBooks for 11aud. Which makes the six volumes under 50aud which, is a steal for a complete series, is hard to find normally. I will talk about this series more extensively once I have all six volumes.

Old Shelf but a good idea

Where can I put them all?
I have a tiny arse room and, in that room, I managed to fit in a double bed, glass cabinet of figurines, several shelves, plushies, a gaming system complete with giant arse TV and at last count, 669 volumes of mangas and this doesn’t count the 60 volumes of Naruto I borrowed off my partner. I always organise them into better shelving ways, just so I can fit them in there. I value my mangas a lot and I always want them under constant watch. I want to make sure nothing happens to them and if anyone touches them, I know who does and when. This does sound intense, but I have this same attitude when it comes to all my gaming equipment and games, my novels, plushies and figurines. I am very protective of my stuff. It’s in my nature to want to protect them from damage since I am known for an aggressive and destructive moods which I do best to keep under wraps. That’s also another reason I buy mangas, when I am in a mood, they sometimes help to quell it.

Recent batch, 7 has been ordered

How can I afford this?
This one I got a lot until my sister started complaining about her lack of money and I reminded her that even though I buy manga, I budget to make sure I still have funds until the next pay. She has stopped asking but I know it bugs her. So, how I can afford this hobby, I search, and I try and buy mostly in bundles of complete sets for most series. For the newer stuff, I keep an eye on certain websites and pick them up when they are at it’s lowest, mainly on Book Depository and AbeBooks, or I exploit sales, especially with Kinokuniya when it has the 20% for members. I also lurk on sites such as eBay, Gumtree and Facebook Markets. Mainly with eBay, I have buyers I frequent because I know what I am getting off them and they are reasonably priced and very transparent with me. I appreciate that from a seller and in turn, I sometimes find out what’s for sale before they are on eBay, same price but I can plan to see them without going to the site. I do plan to write more about the people I frequently buy off since they are worth buying from. 

The other way I can afford mangas is because of my partner, he enjoys manga himself and occasionally indulges me in buying them with the intent of reading them for himself. I really appreciate it so much since I am happy to be sharing a large hobby with someone I love very much. Though, recently, he started to buy a few series for himself or even finish off the sets he has started. I really enjoy that since I want to enjoy reading them with him as well. I sometimes think he has better tastes than me. But that’s just me though.

Recent Manga Mail

Also, I do admit my cat loves them too, means more shelves and boxes for her to claim as her own and she spends a lot of time sniffing the new mangas.

I been asked, if I would ever sell any and the answer is no. Even if I hate the series, I won’t sell them because it’s part of my collection and I’d only really sell doubles to those who need help finishing their sets. I think I am just that sort of collector that is very attached to their series and couldn’t part with them, I am even like that with my games because I want to see the changes that occurred in my collections.

If there is more, I wish to discuss on a personal level, I will do so at a later time since manga is a huge part of my life and it helps allow me to indulge in my desire to organise, catalogue and watch the progress of things and it makes me happy on some deep level. Hope this was a somewhat interesting read for some of you, I also hope this gives you more of an idea about me as a person and a collector.

Day 7 - Weekly Reads (1-7 Jan)

In the first week of January, I barely read seven books!

As much as I like the themes of K-On, I didn’t love it as much as I assumed, and it took me days to read all four of them. It’s not like they were heavy reading material, quite the opposite, light, fluffy and very cute. It had moments where it felt like some things were being repeated over and over but I still love reading it. Very glad I’m finished it and I do eventually plan to get the College and Highschool arcs and thankfully they are both a volume each and cannot wait to see what they contain.

Weekly Read (1-7 Jan)

The other two, Ao Haru Ride 1 and Kobato 5, they took no time to read and I absolutely love them to bits. It’s hard to say how I feel about these two.
I cannot wait to continue Ao Haru Ride but that may be some distance away, the story amuses me, and I simply adore the characters. It seems like there is about 10 volumes, which makes me super happy cause I forever have a weakness for shorter series.

Kobato is one away from the ending and I cannot wait to see how this end, I feel like so much is going to happen and knowing it’s going to end shortly, I feel so sad. It’s such a sweet series and the art is just gorgeous, considering Clamp is one of the most distinctive art styles in the manga world. It’s funny, I bought this series since the first two books was going for very little and I never knew I would love it so much and I how Kobato gets what she wishes for.
I really do hope it ends well, I am fond of this series.

Now Naruto on the other hand, is something I have started reading recently and I am a bit into it since I have read the first few books previously and I am not usually so slow with reading in them, but I guess I am having a reader’s block. I plan to review this series at every five books since it is one of the larger series I will be reading, I do admit, I am not a fan of long series. I only really exempted Food Wars and The Wallflower for now. I do hope it’s as amusing as everyone makes it out to be but it’s nice to finally read and finish this series. Just have 72 books to go.

My final conclusion, out of the stuff I have read this week, I recommend Ao Haru Ride and Kobato as must reads, they are unbelievable good. They have beautiful art and an enticing story that it’s something all manga readers should give a gander to. I cannot wait to see what new mangas that will be read and obtained this week. I can confess one thing, a beautiful series will be gracing my life soon and I cannot wait to share it here and read its stories, the characters and see where it all leads me.

Also, presenting Kel, my new wallet Owl, it carries all my important stuff and a D20. It's a gift I got from my dad that I simply adore. Until next time!

Day 5 - Manga Procurement Squad #1

This may be a small update since I am half asleep and unsure on what to post.

Naruto 1-60

Me and my partner finally procured some mangas from someone for an amazing price. My Partner managed to get 60 volumes of Naruto, a few is a bit sun damaged, bit warped, a few had a stain on them, some even laminated and contain bonus content, but they are in amazing conditions and they were well worth the money. This has inspired me to eventually roam more often on Gumtree and eBay for good manga deals, seems like a lot of people want to sell due to space. That means more for me eventually. Then again, procuring these mangas was like a form of nostalgia since these were very popular when I first started and remain very relevant at this time.

My plans, after reading K-On and Kobato, is to read the Naruto volumes and eventually hand them back to my partner. I did start reading them ages ago but never got further than volume 5, I think but glad that my partner nearly has the whole set for us to eventually read through. Soon, obtain the final 12 volumes and we can put that baby to rest.

Death Note minus 2

I mange to get a boxset of the older Death Note collection, it had 13 missing but I’m glad to find book 13 second hand before procuring this box, considering I had the complete set and it lacked 13 too, either way, it now has a spot in the box to fill. I am kind of glad to finally obtain and finish this set, since I started it years ago, never finished and sadly gave it away to someone when I went through my bad time.

Bread Top 

The only issue I had is they didn’t quite mention that volume 2 is missing but that’s okay, it’s easy to get and I am glad that I had procured volume 13 previously but the main pro is that I got the boxset with the exclusive booklet in it and that makes it worth it. It also can’t close properly but a little glue and love goes a long way to fix this baby. Now, just waiting for two to come in and I can binge read this again.

Newest darlings

Also, on the other items procured today besides delicious bread from Bread Top, me and my partner got some Pop Vinyls and I am pleased to have a little Pusheen Dragon, Chuchu and Legolas on my bookshelf protecting the manga.

I am no connoisseur of goods and figurines, but I do enjoy the look and feel of these new Pop Vinyls and they are being added to my collection that is inconsistent at best. My partner got his first one in the form of a little T-Rex with its tiny body and big head, it’s hard to not fall in love with it.

Again, I do apologise for the short update but hopefully tomorrow I have a review for K-On.

Day 1 - Manga and Goals

In a previous post, I stated that I started collecting in the early 2000’s and my collection has been small ‘til I started recollecting in 2016, where my last count was at 152 mangas. I took a picture during mid-2018 and its final total was in the 232 area, meaning I only went up about a good 80 mangas. Now, I have 626 physical books which is about 735 manga volumes to this date.

Collection about 2016

At that time, I started a manga-based Instagram where I felt so self-conscious about my collection due to being so small. This may have influenced my huge jump in mangas within the 6 months. A side of me is ashamed that such a shallow thing influenced me so much, but I really don’t regret it because I got both old and new series I always wanted to read and found a list of things that inspired me to post and eventually blog about since it brings me so much joy.

So, today’s post is more about my goals for this year and a good look on what I have ended the last year as.

I have a few goals in mind when it comes to my manga collection.

Mid-2018 

The first being to reach or at least get near 1,000 volumes.
I have a few sets lined up to procure in the next few days and waiting for a few to come in the mail.

The second goal is to finish at least 10 series I have started in the last year.
One of my main series goals is Fruits Basket, since it is a near and dear series to me. 

I will list the ten most likely to be completed this year, I hope.

• ·        Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition
• ·        Behind the Scenes
• ·        Princess Jellyfish (hopefully the boxset)
• ·        Your lie in April
• ·        Sankarea
• ·        Pita-Ten
• ·        Anything by Junji Ito
• ·        Kamisama Kiss
• ·        Dreamin Sun
• ·        Ghost in the Shell

I also hope to find and finish Battle Royale Ultimate, X and Hellsing since they are indeed much older and rarer compared to the above titles. I also hope not to start too many new series since I have so many ongoing series that I wish to get up to and stay up to date with. I shall share the top ten series 

I want to keep up to date within the new year.

• ·        The Promised Neverland
• ·        Platinum End
• ·        Magical Girl Site
• ·        Vampire Knight Memories
• ·        The Demon Prince of Momochi House
• ·        Machimaho
• ·        The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• ·        Danganronpa 2
• ·        Food Wars
• ·        Gantz Omnibus

End 2018 1/3

This is going to take a lot of effort and time considering that this is only 20 out of about 37 series that are either ongoing or ongoing with final chapters and not including series I hope to one day buy ‘cause either short or very interesting series going for cheap.

The third goal is simple, it’s a mix between reading manga a day and writing a small post about it and so far, I am behind. I plan to write up a small review about K-On 1 and 2 to cover the missing days. I really hope to make a habit of this where I just talk and share my love and enjoyment for manga. I may also do this about other hobbies including gaming and novels.

As mentioned before, the Instagram I started was because I wanted to share my love for manga with others and stumbled into the community. Then I saw all these people with amazing and huge collections, even if a lot of their main titles were recent manga I never heard of cause of my huge break from associating with manga. I do admit I got jealous cause I only had old and obsolete mangas compare to all these new, shiny and super popular manga and I wanted in. I felt at that point, I lost myself to it and it took me stepping back to realise that I was trying to appeal to others for the wrong reasons and so I just posted what I liked, and I am much happier with that.

End 2018 2/3

I also started making challenges to meet and bring new people to myself because I am a wuss when talking to new people and it helped in starting conversations. I honestly believe no matter how long I will do them, I will always be an amateur at it and it will forever be my own title.

During the new year, I posted a few people I enjoyed following and out of that, I found out that in one way or another, my Instagram had been either an influence or a source of enjoyment and that meant more to me than I realise cause it told me that people enjoyed what I shared with them to the extent that they either picked up the manga or gave them a smile. It’s things like that which made me happy I started it. I hope this continues and I hope to one day do giveaways as thanks for still following a potato like me.

End 2018 3/3

On other news, I plan to add more about my gaming and other hobbies as notes within each review since I want to, in a way, use this as a diary as well. I want to share what I like as a person since I feel that is more interesting than my personal issues. I can admit that my next four posts may be about K-On, which is the series I am currently reading or even manga mail because I ordered a lot in December and they are slowly making their way to me. Though I cannot wait to post about Magical Girl Site and finish another review I been delaying since last year.

I hope this wasn’t a boring post since I really wasn’t sure what to write and I hope that all who reads it has a happy and wonderful new year and can’t wait to see what new adventures are in store. Hopefully I don’t triple my manga amounts again, otherwise I won’t have a room to sleep in anymore.

Manga Mumbles: musings of a collector

I been collecting mangas on and off for years. In a way, I use to collect when I was trying to fit in with certain people. Then when they left, I was stuck with things that reminded me of them.

So for a few years, I would look or read them from time to time but never bought more cause I felt alone in this hobby and so I ended up focusing on collecting video games.

In the last three years, I went to buying mangas again, once every few months and I rediscovered the joy in it. I may have regreted the hiatus in collecting and missing out on a few series or being able to replace the stolen volumes but that gave me the incentive to buy the omnibus volumes of the mangas. Mainly Neon Genesis Evangelion and Death Note.
I also plan on rebuying series I gave away during my down times, like Ouran High Host Club, Kingdom Hearts and Millennium Snow.
There are also a lot of incomplete series but they are now put in an order of most desired/shortest to first and so forth.

Heck, the most exciting part is finding out about new mangas and deciding which ones to buy.
While at the same time, I made an Instagram account based purely on manga to try and talk to more like minded people, see what they like and recommend and possibly one day buying them too. It's kinda exciting.

I feel kinda glad to rekindle my love for manga and taught myself that I am able to buy a bunch once a month and I can start new series once I finish one. So, next may be Food Wars but that's after I finish Evangelion and one other series lol. It's only cause Food wars is a current manga and a long series.
Guess one thing hasn't changed since I started, I don't like buying long series. I prefer them under 15 volumes but if they go over, hopefully not more than 30 *coughGantzcough*

Anywhom, the attached images are my current set-up and shelves of my mangas. One day I'd like to have them spread out on one shelf instead of two rowed like it currently is but that's for future Mizu can fulfil one day. If she does, she better come back to this post and show off the success lol xD