So I've decided tomorrow I will be buying my first manga from a local japanese hobby shop. (If your wondering in Vancouver, I believe Sakura Media is the leading hobby shop for everything otaku).

So I'm stressing to find out which manga I should read...
I want a fan-zine, however I don't think they sell such things in Sakura Media. Oh yeah I'm probably missing out on my budget, preferably anything under $40cdn.

So please take a look @ my reading/wishlist and offer your thoughts on which I should buy (if you believe its licensed the better). Also if anyone lives in my general area (BC, or Canada) can you offer any sites/stores where I can possibly buy fan-zines or the general stuff.

This doesn't have to be stricly limited to H material! Please offer anything you feel is good also, it can be shoujo (I'll look into it), seinen, shonen, drama, romance, oneshots etc.

If you have it, refer it!

P.S. I'd like to start out small, owning vol. 1 of anything I think is good, but would you recommend this? Or should I rather just stick to 1 manga, buy all of the volumes (if its completely finished) of it?

I'd also like to hear how you started out also! It might bring in some useful advice to choosing more carefully (if not grow my manga stash.)

ALSO if you know any manga cafe in BC tell me

Personally, as much as I would like to buy more stuff from Sakura Media, most of the time I end up shopping at Chapters. Not only do they allow returns, you can also order out-of-stock or hard to get manga from the computer-kiosk and have have it delivered to the store for free. *AsianFugality *

About fan-zines... I don't really know for sure. Heck, I didn't even know what it was until I searched it just now. But if you're going to Anime Evolution at SFU, there might be some from the many anime-manga dealers there or even in the Artist's Alley? But then again, if it doesn't have to be fan-zines, I'm pretty sure Sakura Media does have imported artbooks and magazines...
(there are also plenty of manga stores in Richmond too, but I think they're all non-English stuff... -_-)

Erm... for manga cafes, I've only seen one place that had manga on their shelves, it was at some bubble tea place and I'm pretty sure the books weren't in in English.

Also to be honest, I'm not very sure what kind of series I could recommend to you seeing how our tastes in manga seem to vary quite a bit... ^_^;;
I would then suggest Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, I think it's very good, and seems like something you might be into (mature, ecchi, strong interesting storyline, unique characters... etc). On the other hand, vol 1-6 (out of 9 released so far) is already easily available online...

Last edited by CatzCradle at 1:10 am, Jul 24 2009

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Ah thanks for the reply! I'll surely check out the first volume then.

So to get this straight:
To get the "sold out/hard-to-get manga" is it through the store or online?

It is only available using the computers that are scattered all over IN the stores.

Last edited by CatzCradle at 1:19 am, Jul 24 2009

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I don't see Ranma 1/2 on your lists, and you seem to like the genre. Check it out; it's a great manga to have in paper.

Oh hehe, I thought it should of been there, but I watched the anime

Edit:

So today I went out and bought myself Vol.1 of Death Note
I'm also of thinking of buying:

Rosario + Vampire Season I

Are there any other ecchi series that I might be able to get?

Last edited by ciMpul at 3:54 pm, Jul 24 2009

Fellow Canadians! (ciMpul, I'm in BC too )

From Chapters, you can find titles in store, have them ordered in for you if they are available from Chapters, or order online from their site.
Amazon.ca is a great place to find any series Chapters doesn't carry, but their prices are a bit more expensive (and you have to either pay for shipping or make a large enough order to get free shipping).
Both sell used copies of out-of-print/sold out manga, but then larger shipping fees depending on item and location apply.
...I've yet to find a title I want which is not available in some form from either of these sellers.

Also, I've found lots of manga at used bookstores, but your selection there is random.

I collect a few titles at a time. My purchases are usually a combination of long, finished series I am collecting volume by volume and the newest edition to an ongoing series I like. It's nice to have several different titles to read rather than buying a whole series at once.

Thank you for the reply! (Fellow BC'ers unite )

Yeah, at first I was like... Is it better to buy one whole series or to just spread it out so I don't get bored of one thing. But now that's cleared up at least I know what to do next. (If Death Note vol.1 is at a cliffhanger that I can't let go of, I'll buy the next vol.) So with me at least its by matters of importance.

Used bookstores? I never actually thought of that yet, that might be a good idea. I'm not totally against buying used books, I mean they're cheaper and their quality, probably is not that bad. (I'm on a strict budget, because I'm going into my first year of University haha.) So where might I find bookstores in the Metro-Vancouver area?

Also buying online might also be good, however since I don't have credit, I can't order But thank you for the suggestion of amazon.com I always knew they were famous for selling books online.

Edit: Black Bond Books is pretty unreliable... I asked the store clerk and all the manga they have on the shelves is all what they have... I thought they would also take orders like Chapters.