Import Manga Makes its Way to US Shelves?

[Debitt]

Well, I was at Borders today browsing the manga, and lo and behold, they are now carrying imported manga. I was fairly impressed with their selection, seeing as they just started stocking it. They had Death Note, Spiral, and some other stuff that's published by Jump Comics, Flower Comics, and GanGan Comics.

The downside? $12.99 a pop. =/ With a price like that, I don't think it's gonna take off too well, unfortunately. Most hardcore fans who buy import manga (or at least the ones I know, including myself) either get their goods off the internet or from Japanese bookstores, where prices are up to 5 dollars cheaper.

[Arnobius]

Yeah definitely cheaper at JP stores by about $5/volume. Some of the stuff was pretty mature. The one about the Training of the Water Girl (I forget how it was phrased) was from what I saw about a girl learning to be a freelance prostitute Definitely will do the reputation of anime/manga some good [/sarcasm]

That reminds me: Negima #9 is out and on it's way to my house, Woo Hoo!

[Ashley]

I really wonder why any "mainstream" audience would even want to buy import from the bookstore. First off, how many of the fans that shop BN/Waldenbooks are that interested in imported stuff? We may like subs, but subs have just that: subtitles. It's not wholly impossible to understand subs. These are like watching pure raw anime, and I doubt MOST fans (or at least, those groups Waldenbooks/BN are targeting) are into that.

That, and as animeheretic said most import stuff online is fairly cheap. No one's gonna pay 13-20 bucks a pop for stuff they can get cheaper online. So I think this trend will die fairly quickly.

As for myself, the ONLY manga I would even begin to consider getting raw would be FMS, KKJ, ION--etc. Tanemura stuff. And that's because I'm a hardcore Tanemura nut. But my pratical self doesn't see that happened any time soon; the closest I'll most likely get is a Ribon phonebook because it was free. ^^

[Arnobius]

[quote="Ashley"]I really wonder why any "mainstream" audience would even want to buy import from the bookstore. First off, how many of the fans that shop BN/Waldenbooks are that interested in imported stuff? We may like subs, but subs have just that: subtitles. It's not wholly impossible to understand subs. These are like watching pure raw anime, and I doubt MOST fans (or at least, those groups Waldenbooks/BN are targeting) are into that.

That, and as animeheretic said most import stuff online is fairly cheap. No one's gonna pay 13-20 bucks a pop for stuff they can get cheaper online. So I think this trend will die fairly quickly.

As for myself, the ONLY manga I would even begin to consider getting raw would be FMS, KKJ, ION--etc. Tanemura stuff. And that's because I'm a hardcore Tanemura nut. But my pratical self doesn't see that happened any time soon]
Well, I get titles that are either the originals of something I like (Akamatsu) or something that looks interesting to study.

I think there is one major advantage to shopping at BN/Waldens is that you don't have to work your way through Japanese websites when ordering on line (the assumption being that if you're going to buy JP material, you should be able to read the site) and is closer than Kinokuniya (West Coast and NYC I think) for browsing.

It's probably just a novelty experiment: Costs little and shows them just what kind of market there is.

[shooraijin]

At least there's no Region encoding on manga. ><

[initialdfreak]

Or a CMAA (Copyright-crazed Manga Artists Association)

[Arnobius]

Plus you get bennies in some manga (recenty got a mini-cd with the first draft of the first Love Hina story included in the book). Did you know they made a semi-colorized version of that? Black white and orangish pink...

[Debitt]

Ah yes, the free treats they put into import manga. *can't wait for the special drama CD in Tactics 6*

[Arnobius]

:grin: Ah yes, the free treats they put into import manga. *can't wait for the special drama CD in Tactics 6*

How much did they ding you for that extra? (LH Colorized with CD was $22)

[Debitt]

$16.75 (If memory serves me right) for Tactics 6 + the CD. xD; And as a crazed fan, I'm definitely going to end up getting it.

[Arnobius]

[quote="Kokoro Daisuke"]:lol: $16.75 (If memory serves me right) for Tactics 6 + the CD. xD]
Of course! Is there any other way? (As we spend an extra 10-15 for goods that are worth less than 5...)

[Ashley]

I bet you can find half that junk on Ebay. I've gotten so many tankoubons (freebies with japanese manga; sometimes you send in UPC codes and they mail it back) for dirt cheap it's not even funny.

[Debitt]

[quote="Ashley"]I bet you can find half that junk on Ebay. I've gotten so many tankoubons (freebies with japanese manga]
I probably COULD get it off of eBay. But I'm going to be getting the manga, too, so I fugre why not get it in one fell swoop? >> I won't have to pay for shipping either. However, that Loki and Fenrir model they had in the back of MaLoki 3 is something I've been looking out for on eBay for a while. ( ..) Woe to the fangirl, for her pockets are emptied quickly.

[Arnobius]

Negima 9 came today. This volume looks more like a magical Love Hina than 5-8 did. Number of new characters introduced this time around...

[AngelSakura]

I recognized some of them: Death Note, Spiral, Ichigo %100, School Rumble!, and that one incest shoujo manga. >_<;; Yeah, I recognized it from a scanlation site. School Rumble! is supposed to be like Azumanga Daioh with a plot, which sounds like an oxymoron to me.

[Aka-chan]

I usually just frequent the Japanese bookstores for that kind of stuff. Sometimes I can find good older stuff on the $1 shelf. The rest are $3-4 bucks, which makes me happy. ^__^

[chibi_chan]

I love that they did this, we have Death note 1 and 2 now. I can't wait to get 3 and 4 XD

[AngelSakura]

Do you read and speak Japanese? I wanted to get Death Note but my mom said no~

[chibi_chan]

Do you read and speak Japanese? I wanted to get Death Note but my mom said no~

Me? No, I don't but it's Death Note so I got it =3 I would definatly recomend it it's got nothing objectionelle, from what I remember. Why'd your mom say no? (sorry if thats to personel)

[AngelSakura]

Probably the look of it, the title, that kind of thing... she doesn't like anything she thinks is "evil".

[enishi]

Well, I was at Borders today browsing the manga, and lo and behold, they are now carrying imported manga. I was fairly impressed with their selection, seeing as they just started stocking it. They had Death Note, Spiral, and some other stuff that's published by Jump Comics, Flower Comics, and GanGan Comics.

The downside? $12.99 a pop. =/ With a price like that, I don't think it's gonna take off too well, unfortunately. Most hardcore fans who buy import manga (or at least the ones I know, including myself) either get their goods off the internet or from Japanese bookstores, where prices are up to 5 dollars cheaper.

ok .. are we talking like comic book form manga, or like the graphic novel paperbacks? if thats 12.99 for the gns, thats a stellar deal. if thats for like a crappy chapter or whatever, thats an awful price. reguardless, borders gets a handshake and thumbs up for being crafty enough to carry imported loot.

[Arnobius]

Probably the look of it, the title, that kind of thing... she doesn't like anything she thinks is "evil".

I remember having to deal with that when I was a kid. My mom presumed that any song using the word "hell" or "devil" MUST be satanic because EVERYONE knew that Heavy Metal was about devil worship...

I didn't know Death Note was Azu Dai in style. I'll have to lok for it...

[chibi_chan]

Probably the look of it, the title, that kind of thing... she doesn't like anything she thinks is "evil".

You must talk her into it! It's more mature in the aspect that there is a lot of talking and some blood (my memorys bad but thats about what I remember) But your mom knows whats best so I can't really speak for her.^^;;;

[MasterDias]

I haven't been to Borders but I remember seeing a few manga imports at Half-Price books the last time I went.

Zombie Powder, Love Hina, some Magajin samurai title that I didn't recognize...
Mainly shonen titles. I think they had one or two Ribon Comics shoujo titles...

I didn't know Death Note was Azu Dai in style. I'll have to lok for it...

...

School Rumble!, not Death Note...

[Debitt]

ok .. are we talking like comic book form manga, or like the graphic novel paperbacks? if thats 12.99 for the gns, thats a stellar deal. if thats for like a crappy chapter or whatever, thats an awful price. reguardless, borders gets a handshake and thumbs up for being crafty enough to carry imported loot.

I do commend them for trying to get into the import manga (yes, these were the GNs they had). Their effort is good, their pricing isn't. =/ It's pretty cool for people who don't have access to a Japanese bookstore, but aside from that I'd definitely go for the Japanese bookstore. They have better selections and cheaper prices, especially for the older volumes of a graphic novel. Example? My last purchase at Kinokuniya Bookstore (the Japanese bookstore near me) were Tactics 3, Tactics 4, and Matantei Loki Ragnarok 5. Grand total? Something in the neighborhood of $25. If I were to buy the same books at that price from Borders (assuming, that is, they even carry books published by Comic Blade, which they do not at this point) it would come to something around $38. =/ Do some creative investigating. Try to find a Japanese bookstore or something on ebay. Chances are, it'll be MUCH cheaper.

[Aka-chan]

Waaaay cheaper. *nodnod*

For anyone who cares, Death Note has the same artist as Hikaru no Go. Great artwork, though I still have to hunt down the graphic novels (been a while since I raided my local Japanese bookstores). The only other possibly objectionable content I can think of is Raito looking at swimsuit magazines. Fanservicey bikini stuff, but it's brief and nothing's really shown.

[Tycho]

Waaaay cheaper. *nodnod*

For anyone who cares, Death Note has the same artist as Hikaru no Go. Great artwork, though I still have to hunt down the graphic novels (been a while since I raided my local Japanese bookstores). The only other possibly objectionable content I can think of is Raito looking at swimsuit magazines. Fanservicey bikini stuff, but it's brief and nothing's really shown.

That and the wanton amount of killing dealt out by the main character. Death Note is about a kid who finds a notebook of a death god (shinegami). If he writes a name in the notebook, that person dies. Now from what I've read, he tries to only use the notebook to kill people who deserve it (murderers and the like). I stopped reading only cause I wasn't to my liking. School Rumble is soooo much better and less morally-wierd.

[Hoshika]

Where do you guys live the reason why Borders would bother stocking Japanese books/manga?

In my experience stores only carry things like that because they have a customer base for it. I suppose it would be safe to say you guys have a pretty high population of Japanese people living amoungst you.... *dies* (It's not fair! I need to move to where you people are! )

[Mangafanatic]

:eyebrow: Where do you guys live the reason why Borders would bother stocking Japanese books/manga?

In my experience stores only carry things like that because they have a customer base for it. I suppose it would be safe to say you guys have a pretty high population of Japanese people living amoungst you.... *dies* (It's not fair! I need to move to where you people are! )

Have you checked your new age section yet? No, seriously, it might be hiding somewhere in your Borders. Ask the clerk next time you're in there.

[Arnobius]

Where I live Waldenbooks sells them in the manga section on a seperate shelf. Cheaper to order via Kinokuniya I think...