The Manga Q & A Thread (for questions that do not need a thread)

Shadow Cat

Shadow Cat

Death Scythe
So I think this needs to be a thread. We have one for Anime so why not Manga :)

----------------

How come some Manga series get really slow releases.

Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles is a great example, in 3 years its only released Volumes 1-3 (out of 10)., While other companies usually release 2~3 volumes a year until they are up to date with the JP release

I can't imagine such a long wait between releases will help sales
 
According to article's online it is apparently being translated by an actual Japanese chef and so perhaps that's the reason for the slow process. To be honest that kinda sounds more like a gimmick than anything, but it may explain why they are only releasing only volume per year.
 
manga releases are pretty weird, Viz can release chapters day and date but that volume that came out last week in Japan won't be released here for another 12 months, i'd assume it probably comes down to there being manga specialist printers over there but here it's all done under 1 printer

i do know that Kodansha released AoT v34 only a couple months after Japan tho so it could be down to licensing or companies too
 
Some titles seem to go on the slower schedules for the publishers, like Kaze Hikaru which has been in publication for 15 years in the US and is down to one volume per year. It finished this year in Japan but if Viz doesn't speed things up it will be another 15 years until the English release is done because it's going slower than the original Japanese publication schedule. I can't imagine it sells very well and it feels unlikely that it will actually be finished but I keep buying it every year anyway. More gimmicky titles with anime tie-ins tend to get much quicker release schedules to capitalise on their popularity and compete with illegal releases, which can be stressful in a completely different way trying to keep up.

R
 
Hey, looking to get some of my older manga valued and possibly sold, does anyone know where I could do that in the UK or online? Any advice on where to get good valuations and the best prices? Thanks
 
No idea about official valuation but eBay is a good place to look to see how much other people sell them for.

I once sold a volume of Air Gear manga, listed it for £5 and I got almost £100 for it.
 
Gemsy-chan said:
No idea about official valuation but eBay is a good place to look to see how much other people sell them for.

I once sold a volume of Air Gear manga, listed it for £5 and I got almost £100 for it.
Click to expand...
Thanks, its the first site I went to but could not find the ones I'd be selling, either on sale or sold.
 
has anyone ordered the Akira boxset from forbiddenplanet? they have it for £120 at the minute and i'm looking for a copy of the boxset but i get the feeling they ship stock from their stores and will probably ship it without the protection box (a separate box because amazon just sent the boxset box and it would end up geting damaged) that places like amazon would've kept it in
 
Ricteix1976 said:
Hey, looking to get some of my older manga valued and possibly sold, does anyone know where I could do that in the UK or online? Any advice on where to get good valuations and the best prices? Thanks
Click to expand...
Like someone else said, eBay last sold is your best bet to see what the going price is. If you can't find it there, it's probably rare so I'd say set a relatively high bid on eBay and just see what happens? You could also approach rare manga collectors, there are some of those on YouTube who may be open to answer your questions.
Also, if you list it here perhaps someone could help you!
 
Is the Pokemon Manga worth starting? (Manga Only, no Games/Anime)

And is it like the games (ex: where Sun/Moon are seperate to all other games)

----

Edit
Read up about it on lunch. Seems its worth a try
 
Last edited:
Shadow Cat said:
So I think this needs to be a thread. We have one for Anime so why not Manga :)

----------------

How come some Manga series get really slow releases.

Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles is a great example, in 3 years its only released Volumes 1-3 (out of 10)., While other companies usually release 2~3 volumes a year until they are up to date with the JP release

I can't imagine such a long wait between releases will help sales
Click to expand...
You have a good point there but I have to say being a mangaka is very hard and for a small manga like koizumi loves ramen noodles it’s hard to keep up and sometimes.
 
Is anyone else finding the situation for buying new paper copies of manga kinda dire in the UK lately?

I've noticed Amazon now have massive holes in what they'll stock. Don't even try to preorder with them if it's a niche series it simply won't be honoured.

And outside of new manga, I've noticed that the other bookstores like Waterstones and Smith's will only stock a more niche volume for a few months after the release date then never get stock again, and Forbidden Planet are guilty of this too.

Lately I have been doing almost all preorders and new manga purchases through Blackwell's. Their stock is by far the best and unlike Forbidden Planet there aren't random titles they don't open for preorder. Only exception I make is when FP has a preorder item and their date is much earlier.

If Blackwell's stopped being this reliable I do wonder how much more difficult it would make collecting niche manga in the UK though. I'd end up having to directly import a lot more stuff for sure. They're pretty much the only place left in the UK with any kind of consistency, unless anyone has alternate suggestions? The only problem with them is the dispatch times and delivery speed are truly atrocious for some titles (a fair few I've ordered have 2-3 weeks for dispatch).
 
Last edited:
For me it varies a lot based on the publisher. Viz/Kodansha stuff seems to lag significantly behind the US in terms of arriving in time for pre-orders, Seven Seas is often non-existant, but Yen Press/Vertical/Square Enix I can usually get day 1 from my local comic store Travelling Man (who have a great web store as well :) ).

Since Book Depository died it has been a lot more frustrating to get physical manga on release, I tend to shop around a combination of Blackwells and Wordery (who seem better for Viz in particular) if it's not something I can find in-store locally. I'm hoping eventually the stock and distribution problems will clear up as a lot of it was covid induced/demand for printing going WAY higher so stuff that's OOP takes longer to bring back. But the publishers certainly aren't as interested in the UK market given they keep launching US only digital platforms, so who knows what will happen...
 
Sadly, I find that we're what you'll have seen me describe often as 'the poor relations' when it comes to getting manga when it comes out in the US. Because we have no publishers of our own, we seem to have to wait a month for VIZ (including SuBLime) titles after the US and digital release dates and who knows what's going on with Kodansha?! Yen Press are a little more reliable but Seven Seas are a lottery (e.g. I received a Seven Seas title today I'd pre-ordered many months ago through Amazon which was released in the US on May 30th. The publication dates for Seven Seas that I pre-order tend to come and go but eventually the titles turn up.) I used to use UP1 a lot but it's quite expensive, alas, these days (P&P).

I'm always very interested to see other manga readers' experiences around the UK. Certainly Waterstones has made a big effort these last 2-3 years or so compared to how it was in the noughties but, again, they're not competitive price-wise with Amazon. Our local comic shop gave up selling manga about ten years ago but is now starting to do so again but not in a significant way. (I'm envious of your comic store, @Demelza! ;) )

Even after the paper problems, European manga publishers are very much cheaper still on the whole; the books from Hana/IDP that I regularly buy cost 7.99 euros per volume and Ototo/Taifu have recently put up their prices to 8.35/9.35 euros (this is France - @Noemi10 might fill us in on the Italian manga scene which is similar to France in many ways.)
 
Sarah said:
Yen Press are a little more reliable but Seven Seas are a lottery (e.g. I received a Seven Seas title today I'd pre-ordered many months ago through Amazon which was released in the US on May 30th. The publication dates for Seven Seas that I pre-order tend to come and go but eventually the titles turn up.) I used to use UP1 a lot but it's quite expensive, alas, these days (P&P).
Click to expand...
Yes Seven Seas really are inconsistent lately! And that really sucks for me because I almost exclusively buy yuri manga and guess which publisher is responsible for the majority of yuri licenses? Like two thirds of my shelf is Seven Seas so it's frustrating that the preorder date goes by almost every time I try to get hold of something without it being sent to me.
 
Demelza said:
For me it varies a lot based on the publisher. Viz/Kodansha stuff seems to lag significantly behind the US in terms of arriving in time for pre-orders, Seven Seas is often non-existant, but Yen Press/Vertical/Square Enix I can usually get day 1 from my local comic store Travelling Man (who have a great web store as well :) ).
Click to expand...
God how I wish I had a Travelling Man nearby. If I could do in-store preorders from them it would solve a lot of my problems. I like the web store and find their service really good when I can use it but unfortunately for the manga I buy it is poorly stocked. I have a Worlds Apart near me which can be really fun if I'm just browsing or want something in-stock set aside, but their preorder system is atrocious. Basically you have to keep discord notifications on and then you're given like a two day window to look at a document full of new titles and preorder them months in advance. Forgot to check the discord for a few days? Tough luck, no preorder for you.
 
Claire said:
God how I wish I had a Travelling Man nearby. If I could do in-store preorders from them it would solve a lot of my problems. I like the web store and find their service really good when I can use it but unfortunately for the manga I buy it is poorly stocked.
Click to expand...
Yeah that's fair, I know it's not fantastic for stuff that aren't new releases too. I'm hoping someday they will expand their stores into other areas since they seem to do really well, but still only have the 4-5 stores here in the north and I'm sure they'd do well down in the south or up in Scotland as well. Even here in Leeds we have a forbidden planet for competition and Travelling Man still stands firm.

I do wish our Waterstones was better for manga / LNs as they have been making the effort in some stores, but ours downsized the range. Admittedly I am sure it's difficult for them to compete with both Travelling Man and Forbidden Planet (especially when they offer 3-for-2 deals), but still they did used to get a few titles in that the others didn't stock.
 
Demelza said:
I do wish our Waterstones was better for manga / LNs as they have been making the effort in some stores, but ours downsized the range. Admittedly I am sure it's difficult for them to compete with both Travelling Man and Forbidden Planet (especially when they offer 3-for-2 deals), but still they did used to get a few titles in that the others didn't stock.
Click to expand...
The Waterstones in Birmingham must be one of the ones that's tried harder in that area then, I go in there every time I'm in the city because their manga section is absolutely enormous. It rivals the amount of shelf space the nearby Worlds Apart has for manga, and that's a comics store which pushes its manga more than its comics.
 
Back
Top