Fullmetal Alchemist 3-in-1 Editions

Genkina Hito

Genkina Hito

映画男！！！
Viz Media are set to release Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist manga in the UK as 3-in-1 Editions. For anybody who missed the manga the first time, now seems like the best chance to jump into the wildly popular world as each edition will contain three volumes of the Fullmetal Alchemist saga and come in at 576 pages.
<a title="FMA3in1 by Mercury Rex, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/genkinahito/5584501415/"></a>
Synopsis
Alchemy: the mystical power to alter the natural world, somewhere between magic art, and science. When two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, dabbled in these powers to grant their dearest wish, one of them lost an arm and leg...and the other became nothing but a soul locked into a body of living iron. Now they are agents of the government, slaves of the military -alchemical complex, using their unique powers to obey their orders...even to kill. But their powers aren't unique. The world crawls with evil alchemists. And in pursuit of the ultimate alchemical treasure, the Philsopher's Stone, their enemies are even more ruthless than they are...
The first goes on sale on the 23rd of June, the second on the 18th of August and the third on the 13th of October. All three are available to order from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fullmetal-Alchemist-3---1-1/dp/1421540185/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1301831459&sr=1-1">Amazon UK</a>, the first carrying a pre-order price-tag of &pound;7.49, whilst the second and third volumes are priced at &pound;8.99 each.
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fullmetal-Alchemist-3---1-1/dp/1421540185/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1301831459&sr=1-1">Source</a>
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Naruto, Bleach & Kekkaishi are also available in this format too, but whatever you do, DO NOT BUY THEM!

I thought VIZ may have learned their lesson after how poor the quality the previous One Piece editions where. But after receiving the first volume of Kekkaishi I can clearly see they just as bad. I was so disappointed with the quality that I have canceled several others of these omnibus I had on pre-order.

They exactly the same format as the One Piece omnibus released a while back. So paper used is also tissue paper thin and has trait similar to that of tracing paper. You can see the ink of the artwork of the other side of page you are currently looking at. :(. Its very distracting while reading a page when you can see ink of later pages peering through.

It very annoying as VIZ have already released a much superior series of omnibus editions with VIZBIG line. They were only a few dollars more expensive and they had colour pages and paper quality that was vastly better than even standard singles.

If you want these titles, stick to the box sets (Bleach, Naruto) or single releases.
 
I have two of the One Piece omnibus editions, and it wasn't until I read your post that I checked, and noticed that the paper IS thinner than the usual volumes. Although, the ink of the next page showing through isn't a problem most of the time.
 
I notice the problem nearly on every page so far of Kekkaishi. I never seen the the Ink showing up through the paper before on a standard single volumes.

It just ruins the presentation of the artwork for me. It could be such an easily and inexpensive fix of using thicker paper. For the money you going to save buying these omnibus over the singles, I don't think its worth the drop down in quality.
 
It not really much difference in cost really. It's £7.49 to buy the first One Piece omnibus and £11.46 to buy the first three and better quality Volumes of One Piece going on Book Depository Prices.

They already created a really good omnibus line with VIZBIG edtions. They had RRP of only $17.99 compared to $14.99 you have to pay for these poorer quality omnibus editions. $3 dollars more is not a lot when you are getting vastly better paper quality than even the single (they use form of glossy paper in VIZBIG), colour pages and larger page size.

Its crying shame they couldn't do these as VIZBIG edition. Instead of geting an release which is not even on par in quality of singles which have been out for ages.

Avoid these omnibus If the quality of a release is big issue for you.
 
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