folks are we rocking with the new Jojos part?
The last volume of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou was so good 
I’m really going to miss reading it. Just an unbelievably beautiful story told in the perfect way.
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I’m a later in life anime guy and just getting into manga recently. I’ve just been using a certain website to read on my tablet, but I was wondering if you guys had any recommendations for how I could download a bunch of stuff. I have some flights coming up and I’d like to spend 6-8 hours reading One Piece or something to kill that time. Is there a decent app that’ll let me do that on a tablet? I’ll pay a subscription if needed, though I don’t really want to pay for a ton of individual volumes
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So if you specifically want the shonen stuff, there’s the shonen jump and viz app. IIRC the jump subscription was like three bucks a month and they let you read like 100 chapters in a day. Which is a lot, but with the shonen stuff I can attest to being able to do more sometimes. It is great for particularly older shonens because it’s just higher quality for something like Dragon Ball, where what’s floating around are ancient scans.
There’s also K-Manga which makes you pay for individual chapters which is just not a distribution model that makes sense for this sort of thing.
A lot of say, apps that aggregate certain websites also have download features. It’s hard to make a recommendation for one though, as they get taken off the app store and replaced with new ones a lot. The one I use is called Zetsu.
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Cool, I’ll check these out, thanks. I’ve actually been reading Dragon Ball on this site ComicK, the scans seem pretty good and new for that. Not sure if it’s related to any of these options but it’s worked well for me so far.
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Yeah it’s particularly when it gets into the Z stuff that it gets horrendous. At least in my experience.
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I’ve made it through the first two parts and I struggle to get the motivation to read the next one just because of how extremely decompressed the storytelling is. I appreciate the creativity poured into it, but I find it hard to binge.
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I was going through my Amazon list of books I’ve been meaning to read and this was on there simply because the premise intrigued me. Glad to see another person can vouch for it.
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Yeah my jojo’s experience has been quite similar. I’ve read parts 1,2, some of 3, 4 and then this most recent storyline, which I like enough. Sometimes I think I respect it more than I like it
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The precedent here is so interesting, PEOW translating a Jump Manga really opens the door for a lot of older stuff to come over. I know it isn’t that odd for things to get translated these days compared to what manga shelves looked like, but I can’t think of many instances of Indie publsihers bringing things over from Shueisha of all people.
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folks, Dai Dark is the manga that has made Hayashida Q’s whole thing finally click for me, and I adore it quite a bit. I don’t know if that means I’ll go back to my ten year long journey of trying to love Dorohedoro but Dai Dark rocks.
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Dai Dark rules for sure, it’s hilarious. I love her art style so much!! I’m on vol 3 of it and enjoying it a lot.
Been on a real manga kick lately. Here’s what I’ve been reading!
Chainsaw Man
Flew through the first 3 volumes from the local library. The main character’s moviation is juvenile and the potential for where abilities can go seem quite limited, but I’m just absolutely loving the art, the humor, the style, the pacing. It’s so readable, the pages just fly by. The art just has to be inspired by Q Hayashida, the linework is very similar. Will dig into vol 4 next.
Also, I’m obsessed with the color work of the covers:
s
Has anyone read Fire Punch by the same mangaka? I see some pretty cheap used sets online and am curious… I like a completed 8 volume series, that’s quite nice.
Hunter x Hunter
It’s almost sacred as a series… People love the heck out of it. And I think I see why. I’m 44 chapters in, finished the first arc. I really like Gon, Killua, and Kurapika. It’s got a nice sense of humor. I loved Yu Yu Hakusho as a teen, so seeing what this author got up to after is really interesting.
I’m not instantly in love with HxH though. I keep wondering when it’s gonna get real good. I think my expectations might be a bit too high. 
Also, I know this is a common complaint, but even early on in the run, I don’t like the art on a lot of pages. Togashi is capable of beautiful, stylish art, but I found myself pausing on many pages going “why is this the worst art I’ve seen in a Shonen Jump series?” I searched Google “why is Hunter x Hunter art so bad” which led to a ton of learning about his health conditions, the incessant arguing about the art being good or bad, etc. What hurts it the most, IMO, is that he’s clearly so capable, so when there’s slop or a lack of screentones, it hurts more. Compared to, let’s say, Mob Psycho 100, I know ONE is not capable of making truly high calibre art, and that’s okay. His art has a charm to it and the amateur quality adds to the humor. Togashi is not in that camp. And it’s not that he’s lazy, I don’t believe that a bit… weekly deadlines and poor health are brutal. I just find myself wishing for more consistency and maybe like a monthly deadline with a bit more of polish, if that makes any sense.
For example:
- the bush and tree shading
- basically anything that’s not in focus looks bad to me
- really dislike the character design of the guy with the monkey lol
but then Togashi hits ya with this:
and you’re like… okay buddy, you’ve got range and style and skill!
the delta between the two has been a struggle
I’ll keep reading HxH though! Enjoying it enough.
Frieren
Read vol 1-3 from the library and enjoyed it. Pleasant. Chill. Nice exploration of the idea of “what happens after we beat the final boss?” I like the encapsulated stories so far and how it’s building up into a larger party. As of these 3 volumes, it’s missing the hook tho, I’m not drawn in quite like other series, e.g., Chainsaw Man. I could see this working well in a serialized pace tho rather than collected. Very curious to see how this will go on for many more volumes. Lots of potential.
Shadows of the Daemon Realm
Read the first 5 volumes of this… I love Fullmetal Alchemist, it’s my favorite manga series. I’ve read it three times and adore it. So I’ve been reading and re-reading Shadows of the Daemon Realm since it started publishing. It’s solid. Doesn’t hit the ground running quite as well as FMA did (but rarely does any series do that). I like the premise—basically the characters make pacts with daemons who they use in fights, and there’s a larger story and mystery brewing. Inner family fueds, weird daemon powers. The art is the standard Arakawa faire, which I’m very much here for!
Mao
Rumiko Takahashi is a workhorse. Seriously. There’s no other managaka I can think of who has so many classic series from Urusei Yatsura to Inuyasha to Maison Ikkoku to Ranma 1/2. She’s the queen of manga IMO. Mao is her latest work, and it’s not about Mao Zedong. No, it’s about a girl who can travel to an era in the past who fights demons with a catman… Okay, I know, you’re thinking, sounds like Inuyasha but swap dog for cat. You’re not wrong, but it’s still quite good. It’s comfort food. It’s like being 13 again for me. I’m 24 chapters in, and her style is basically the exact same as it has been for decades. The story is going places, the action is working for me, and I’m curious to see what happens next.
I don’t think it’s by any means an instant classic, but if you like Inuyasha and her other works, worth giving it a shot!
This page really struck me, it’s simple… but the build up to it really gives it impact. I like romance in stories, and she’s certainly got the ingredients going with it!
A brief note on Takahashi… why were her early works so varied and now post-Inuyasha, they’ve all had this sort of fantasy setting? She’s clearly capable of a wide range, so I wonder if this is what she’s interested, what she thinks will sell, or what her magazine wants? I’d think someone so successful could do whatever they want, so to continue doing a weekly fantasy manga and keeping up with that pace must be what she wants to do?
Hauls & Buying Cheap Manga
Quite a bit of my manga reading has been Viz Manga app + Shonen Jump app (easiest $5/mo to spend IMO, especially if you have an iPad). My local county library system has a decent selection too, so I’ve been getting series there which I really enjoy. Gets me out of the house too. And then I’ve been really trolling the internet to get deals on manga… It’s an interesting landscape.
My wife and I love buying used books (novels, non-fiction), and usually the lower the quality the better, we just like cheap paperbacks I guess. They’re pretty easy to find in abundance, which is great. But buying cheap manga is a different story. The series are often many volumes, new prices aren’t exactly cheap, and sometimes volumes go out of print. Locally it’s not easy to find cheap manga. Then you’ve got Amazon, Economy of Scale Behemoth, with often the cheapest new prices. But can we do better? Can we do cheaper? Can we find used manga in good shape?
Yes! Absolutely. I think lots of people are repulsed by used books and even potential yellowing or damage. Not me! I’m here for it. I don’t care if it’s a beater copy, as long as the content is there. So, here’s what I’ve learned about buying cheap print manga…
Find local media stores
near where I live is a 2nd and Charles, which seems sort of like what Half-Priced Books is, if I understand it correctly. They have new and used books, comics, manga, records, CDs, movies, etc. Before an appointment with only about 45 mins and a bonkers toddler, I was able to find Dragon Ball 1-3 VIZBIG edition, Orange omnibus 1, and Tokyo Revengers omnibus 1 all for ~$10 used, half off the new MSRP. That’s pretty good! Unfortunately the used inventory is mixed in with the new inventory, which made it really tough to find the used copies amongst the new. I need more time!
Mercari
ah, Mercari… it’s like eBay but they pass the fees on to the buyer! For some reason, and I don’t exactly know why, but there’s so much manga listed on Mercari. Lots of people selling their collections or sets of series. I got the first 6 volumes of Asadora! for $43 total shipped + fees, which is a great price!
I similarly ordered Hellsing, Planetes, and Monster sets for much cheaper than new prices and lower than eBay prices.
But not everything on Mercari is a good deal… It requires research and comparing. Mercari has a bunch of fees that aren’t shown in the list price. Plus shipping. Sellers don’t realize that with all of that, the total purchase price is often times more than just buying the manga new on Amazon. It’s a tough racket, but it’s tough to justify paying more for a used copy.
eBay
Good ole eBay! I’ve been finding some solid deals there too. Used copies with free shipping. Or whole sets. Cheaper than new prices by far.
Downside of eBay is lots of sponsored content ads, which is tough. eBay’s interface kinda stinks. But I think I actually prefer eBay over Mercari just because of the way buyer fees are. You also sometimes get the benefits of economy of scale with certain sellers who offer free shipping whereas on Mercari that’s less viable.
Online Stores
Amazon often has the lowest prices. 
But I do know BAM and Barnes and Noble will sometimes do sales. Crunchyroll Store has the cheapest pre-order prices, especially if one has a membership (I don’t).
General Guidance
- Boxsets new are cheapest on Amazon by far and a good way to get in
- Look for people selling their collection on Mercari or eBay and make offers; they often just want to get rid of the stuff due to moving house or moving on from the hobby
- Used manga rules
- Collecting is weird, it’s just mass market bound paper, idk, here for enjoying it, not really sure why there’s such a culture of posting a person’s shelf with Berserk, JJK, and Vagabond on it or whatever; but it is fun looking at people’s shelves I guess lol
manga!
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Manga rules!
I absolutely devoured the first “season” of Chainsaw Man, and thought it was one of the best comics experiences I’ve ever had. Fire Punch, on the other hand, is… rough. It’s got some really tough-to-stomach themes going on, and has none of the feel-good stupidity of Chainsaw Man. I do not recommend it.
Luckily, Tatsuki Fujimoto has two other fantastic works you can read (if you haven’t already): Look Back, and Goodbye, Eri. Those two, combined with Chainsaw Man, make him one of the best mangaka working today, in my estimation.
And, like you, I’m a huge Arakawa fan, but Daemons just still isn’t quite gelling for me (and I’m 8 volumes in). It’s still compelling and fun to read, but like… The elements of it don’t seem to really be building up to anything in particular. Maybe it’ll make more sense as a binge-read once it’s all said and done.
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You have a lot of great HxH ahead of you. The next few arcs are for the gamers.
Anyway, Chainsaw Man just had a great chapter this week too. Fire Punch has an interesting start, but my impression of it, is that it has all the humiliation of Chainsaw Man but less of the humor, but I’ve never read it all the way thru.
Idk if you’ve read Silver Spoon but it’s crazy that Arakawa kind of quietly is on a Takahashi esque hit run.
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+1
Silver Spoon is almost as good as FMA, but so entirely different. Arakawa is the heir to Rumiko Takahashi’s throne.
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I’ve been on vacation and my downtime/travel activity has been, for whatever reason, reading Bleach. I’m like 200 chapters in and had absolutely no context for what it was about except ginger with big sword.
Anyway, I’m sorry to report that it owns. I don’t know what the literati opinion on this manga is these days, but if you just want to read straight up uncut shonen it’s better than the modern equivalents I’ve read. Jujutsu Kaisen is like the tryhard version of Bleach. The only complaint is that all my dawgs keep getting their asses kicked lol
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do not come in here and couch your bleach praise. bleach is rock and roll.
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great news, freakscene, I have another +1 for you
Bleach is one of the big reasons Shueisha keeps publishing new shonen battle manga. Still chasing that high.
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a leekspin for you friend.
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Thank god.
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