Holiday purchasing: Manga and Anime!!!

[Empire]

So I just came back from B&N's, if you are looking to purchase manga or anime this season for a gift or requesting a gift of m/a here are three useful tips.

1. Never buy single volumes unless they are made special.
>This means you are going to buy volumes in "books" which contain 3-4 volumes a piece. A lot of money saved.
(Recommendations: Battle Angel Alita Last Order, Gantz, and Berserk are great value in "book" form).

>Some series are made "special". These will range from around $15-20. You'll notice these because they are much bigger than your average manga volumes.(around 50% bigger)>
(Recommendations: Jojo's is hardcover(perhaps the rarest form of manga out there)., Dorohedoro and Biomega are both really clean and dark.)

>Series like Naruto, Bleach, One Piece are a total ripoff. They include only 3-4 chapters and they are usually $7-8 a piece. It's also pretty bad because these series are meant to span over many, many chapters so buying them by single volume is incredibly pricey. I suggest (if you have to) buying them in the "book form".


2. Always buy blu-ray if possible.
>BD version tend to have a lot more actual content and touch-ups to low quality areas in the series. A good example of this is monogatari:




3. DO NOT TRY OUT NEW SERIES WITH A PURCHASE.
>Read/watch online, THEN purchase.
(I personally only buy series that I find worth the support now. Which is why I purchased Kizumonogatari today)

[Takatsuki]

Would also like to mention a few websites where I typically purchase my manga, blu-rays, and figures, because fuck going outside.

-AmiAmi
Perfect website for the purchase of figures. I usually go here because everywhere else is in Japanese and it's rather confusing to navigate. I've purchased from here many times.

Proof of quality/collection;

 

 

-Rightstuf
Good for anime and manga.

 

 

 

 

*(Low quality pic, but I was in a rush. I can update later on if you're actually curious what the cover looks like.)

Pay attention to release dates on these websites. Pre-orders go fast, and when it's over, it's over. Most, if not all series will never continue the production of something sold out.