CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Has anyone else notcied how the manga section in bookstores has become more popular? Or is it just me?

A few years ago, whenever I looked at manga, I never saw anyone else on the aisle as me. Now, I've had to get used to sharing that section with at least one other kid (so far its only been guys that I've seen, though. And by kid, I mean 12+). Its kind of odd. I'm still not very used to having to step around someone to get to the shelf/manga volume I want. And a little while ago, when I checked out (I was buying vol. 15 of Furuba and Vol. 1-2 of Host Club) the lady ringing me up said:

*scans Fruits Basket vol. 15* "This is a really good series!"

*scans Ouran High School Host Club vol. 1-2* "This is too. You'll really like it!"

...I know anime's popularity had grown, and I expected manga's to grow, too, but its still different for me to get used to sharing the manga section at the bookstore. I come from a small town, so the only anime fans I know of here are me and my brother. So maybe sharing the manga section with other people is only a new thing for those who aren't from a big city? Probably... Anybody else feel the same, though?

Actually, in my area, I am seeing the opposite. (thats wha tI get for having an entertainment/book store) I have seen the manga section die out.. more than grow. There was a time about two summers ago where it was huge! It even had the central location in the store...now it's been moved to the back...and it's a miracle to find a volume tha tI have actually been looking for.

You think it's difficult for you now? Think of the many anime/manga fans who've liked it way before mangas were even available in a public bookstore. Now they have to endure the squealing fangirls since the whole genre has become more popular. ;d

As for me, I have mangas in my public school library. There's a regular crowd there every morning and I wouldn't say I live in a big city. :1 Are they more popular? Heck yes.

ew, fangirls... they need to grow up.

Anyway...I guess it doesn't have to be a big city. Just a town with a bookstore like Books-A-Million or Barnes & Noble. My town has no bookstore. So whenever I visit my grandmother, I have to go to BAM or B&N to get my manga. Though now, I travel to another town (45 minutes away) for piano lessons every week. At the mall they have a borders, so I get manga more frequently. But borders doesn't always have the latest volume that's come out! They suck!

I prefer BAM or B&N for my manga... and the bigger the city/town, the bigger the selection.

There's also another town that's only and hour away. My Dad's job takes him there a lot, and sometimes he offers to take me with him. We both love the bookstore... it just he doesn't like maga like I do.

Anyway, BACK ON TOPIC!!!

Well, I noticed that the manga section in my Books-A-Million has gotten a lot bigger. I've also noticed that more people have been browsing them at the same time I have. XD A week ago, I was getting ready to go browse the manga aisle, but there were these two kids that had planted themselves on the floor to play with their Yu-Ghi-Oh cards...which is always annoying. XD But yeah, I think I see where you're coming from. XD

The manga section at my Borders just expanded again - it used to be the bookcases on both sides of one whole aisle, and they just added another half one side of an aisle. If that makes sense.
I'm in a pretty rural community, so the only real manga at the library is Inuyasha.
We have a lot of college kids though, so there's a pretty good market at the stores for manga and anime.

*shakes cane* Back in my day, the manga section was a fourth of a shelf next to the comic books! We had to walk fifteen miles in the swealtering heat to get to the bookstore, and then MAYBE they had what we wanted! And that was a pretty big maybe! And none of those...tiny, right to left manga, no siree! The books were big, we read them the way normal people did, and we liked it!

....uhm, yes. The manga section around here has grown since I started lurking it.

My Border's has a row of manga and that's the one in the mall, so I'm happy XD We have a Barne's and Nobles, Borders, Waldenbooks in one mall, then another Border's in the other mall. Overkill?

This one time, there was a really weird kid at the manga in borders. He was talking to himself and laughing really loud. He was big too. I didn't want to go over there. It kind of creeped me out a little. He might have been mentally retarded, but I doubt it since he was reading manga. Something was wrong with him though, cause he was just WEIRD! I didn't want to go over until he left...

I hate it when people get in the way and then don't care or bother to move. Its like they think others should have to move around them and they should never have to worry about other people in the world. What's up with that?

Well I don't stay much at bookstores but if I do it just seems the same. But now at super Walmart there is a occasional manga volume. Only the newst ones though. But you get it for a little cheaper. Today I got vol. 13 of naruto for only 6 bucks. It's cool.

Florida's full of old people, so I'm basically the only one who ever occupies the bookstore's manga section.

My Manga section, every time I go there it gets a shelf bigger. They just added letter tabs in the maga section. I own 44 volumes of manga ^^ i am proud of my collection.

I live fairly close to a Barnes & Noble and a Borders...actually, I live fairly close to more than one of each of those stores. The manga sections are rather extensive all of them.

I hate it when I have to go in and browse the bookshelves with other people there. XD

Wal-mart here only has manga from Harlequin...

My home towns' Manga selection is as bare bones as you can get. Maybe a dozen series, over half of which are Shojou or Ecchi in some manner or another. Then I travel to all the neighboring cities' libraries and find out they're all overstocked on 49 different titles. I have to drive for decent Manga, can you believe it?

Although when I bought my first Manga, FullMetal Alchemist vol. 1, the chasier lady at the desk went on a tirade "Oh, this is a great series" and started rambling off about the Anime not being as good, but now the original Manga is finally here so good times. I returned later than evening to purchase vol. 2, and she was still there. "Aha!"

And I've never seen her since.

I work in a Barnes & Noble, and as a Lead Bookseller, I get my own section to be in charge of... part of that is the graphic novels/manga section. Let me tell you, I have no room for ANYTHING. Mostly because no one buys anything, but also cause corporate seems convinced that people DO buy it and keep sending me more.

Really, all I get are obnoxious middle school kids and smelly high school boys who just sprawl out on the floor, read a few volumes, then leave. It's annoying for A) me, cause I have stuff to shelve there. Please don't lay on my floor. And B) The people who DO want to shop there.

Aha. My job is so glamorous.

I'm guilty of the sit and read... But I take my books to a chair somewhere to be out of the way. ^^;;

I live in a fairy big city, and there's two different Barnes and Nobles I regularly go to. At one I rarely see people in the manga section, and at the other there's always one or two people wandering around. Surprisingly, it's usually girls. We strike up conversation and suggest titles to each other. XD;; When I was in NYC last year I took my parents to one of those HUGE Barnes and Nobles.... their manga section was enormous and there was a boatload of people there (a bunch of them were on the floor reading which made it hard to get the books I wanted off the shelf >.>;; )

Excellent news. It seems over my months of absence, my local library stocked up on Manga series under where it shelves graphic novels. Decent Manga, that people have actually heard of before. I'm talking Rurouni Kenshin vols. 6-16, if not more presently checked out.

Sweet summer reading.

jorvaa wrote:I hate it when I have to go in and browse the bookshelves with other people there. XD

I guess I'm complaining because I'm so used to having the aisle all to myself. Another reason I could think of as to my selfishness of the manga section is that I'm shy and when I find a manga volume I've wanted I like to go "Ooo!" or "Woohoo!" or something else that expresses my excitement. And when there are people there... I can't because I'm shy. Dumb reason, huh?

Fish and Chips wrote:I have to drive for decent Manga, can you believe it?

Yes, I can believe it. I'm in the same boat as you are, fish. It really really bites, doesn't it? My nearest manga is 45 minutes away. But Borders doesn't always have what I want, so if I want to have higher hopes that the store will have the volume I lack I have to go an hour away to a BAM or B&N. Also, my first manga was Full Metal Alchemist, too!

My library doesn't carry manga (that I've seen). Of course I haven't exactly been there in a while to look, but its probably too old to care. I just don't see this town seeing the need for manga... they don't even have a bookstore, for crying out loud! Don't people read here?

This one time, while I was at my grandma's (she lives in a city big enough to have Books-A-Million AND Barnes&Noble!) I got my family to take me to the bookstore (BAM). It was the first time I'd been to that Books-A-Million, and all of them have different layouts. I walked all over the store looking in places other Books-A-Million displayed their manga at and couldn't find the manga section! (I didn't think to walk to the back of the store ^_^) I went to the customer service counter and asked the lady,

"Where's the manga section?" She smiled this, "Oh, one of them!" kind of smiles and said, "This way." (it was a nice smile though, not a dreading/exasperated smile). She took me all the way to the back of the store where they put all the magazines and there was two whole, long shelves set up full of manga! And on the other side they had American comics and stuff. It was like an anime/manga fans haven! I could have stayed and looked at all the pretty manga for hours, but my family wanted me to buy what I wanted and "read it at home"! They never let me stand in the store and read through them, darn it! How am I supposed to know if I want to read a new manga series I've never read before or not?

I've been to maybe 5 book stores around our area and frankly.
B & N: been to two of them and they have quite a selection. and I've seen Maybe 5 people at one time looking for manga.

other bookstores (forgot names) they don't carry that much only the really old ones or the brand new ones. and the ones that do the manga sectons are never ocupied by people.

which is why I shop only for manga.

Fantasy Dreamer wrote:Yes, I can believe it. I'm in the same boat as you are, fish. It really really bites, doesn't it? My nearest manga is 45 minutes away. But Borders doesn't always have what I want, so if I want to have higher hopes that the store will have the volume I lack I have to go an hour away to a BAM or B&N. Also, my first manga was Full Metal Alchemist, too!

I'm not alone anymore!

Fish and Chips wrote:I'm not alone anymore!

To know that the newest volume of Full Metal Alchemist (or any other manga for that matter) is out in stores and not have a store near enough to go buy it? And then you have to wait weeks, sometimes months before you get the opportunity to drive that hour trip to the store to get it? But upon arrival you find out they sold the last copy of it (this hasn't happened to me...yet!)?

Now that is true disappointment. It does help you develop patients of steal, though. I can wait...I can wait... I can wait... I keep telling myself that. Does it really help? No. But it passes time. I can wait... I can wait... I can wait... I can wait...

WHY CAN'T MY TOWN LET A BOOKSTORE MOVE HERE!?

Ahem. I can wait... I can wait...

Actually, FullMetal Alchemist is one of the few series within near enough proximity that I can just waltz over as new volumes are published and pick up a copy. Waiting does build patience, though the wait is probably easier when I'm secretly up to date with the Japanese Manga.

Meh, I live in a cosy little town, so a cosy little bookstore suits it. But still...

Curse you and your fortune!

But yeah. I can't read japanese... or find any sites that'll translate... or rather, any sites that'll translate well. So I wait... patiently.

I can wait... I can wait... I can wait...

I can link you some, if you'd like. This is assuming you'll keep buying American volumes as they come out.

I'll definitely keep buying American volumes as they come out! But, maybe I'll just wait... after all, what good is it to read the American version if you already know the story? Nah, I'll wait! Thanks though!

BACK ON TOPIC!!!

Fantasy Dreamer wrote:I'll definitely keep buying American volumes as they come out! But, maybe I'll just wait... after all, what good is it to read the American version if you already know the story? Nah, I'll wait! Thanks though!

Fair enough, I'll fold.

For the Borders I go to, it's sort of a hit-or-miss situation, as the manga aisle can be either empty (ah, solitude!) or completely filled with the "manga hordes" as I call them (this came from a conversation with a friend of mine). It's like you try to browse but you've got all these people sitting on the floor reading! Why don't they just take their books and go read over in the section specifically set up for reading so they don't block the aisle?!

Sorry, it's just been annoying to me.

Yes, I've seen kids sitting in the floor. Fortunately I didn't want to browse at the moment and no new volumes of the series I'm currently collecting were out, so I was okay then. Actually, that kid sitting in the floor was the weird kid I mentioned before. *shudders* he was just WEIRD!