All right! For two months now I’ve managed to curtail my manga acquisitions to a slightly less absurd amount. My goal is to continue this trend and to shove the “extra” money into savings and student loans. Some good things happened in June. I was absolutely thrilled that Shimura Takako’s Wandering Son, Volume 1 finally made it into publication. I’ve been waiting for this release with great anticipation ever since it was first announced. I’ll be posting a review later this month. I also managed to find a complete set of Yukinobu Hoshino’s out of print 2001 Nights for a surprisingly reasonable price, which made made me very happy. My recently developed obsession with The Twelve Kingdoms has continued and I picked up the complete anime series. I’m debating whether or not I should finish reading the books before I watch the adaptation. Finally, I splurged a bit and imported Boom Boom Satellites’ new album Experienced. Normally I don’t go for live recordings, but in this case I think Experienced is often even better than their studio albums and has great energy. I’ve been listening to it almost nonstop.
Manga!
2001 Nights, Volumes 1-3 by Yukinobu Hoshino
Crimson Snow by Hori Tomoki
Fullmetal Alchemist, Omnibus 1 by Hiromu Arakawa
Go West!, Volumes 1-4 by Yu Yagami
Hot Gimmick, Omnibus 2 by Miki Aihara
Kizuna, Volume 3 by Kazuma Kodaka
Library Wars: Love & War, Volume 5 by Kiiro Yumi
The Tyrant Falls in Love, Volume 3 by Hinako Takanaga
To Terra…, Volumes 1-3 by Keiko Takemiya
Wandering Son, Volume 1 by Shimura Takako
Ze, Volumes 5-6 by Yuki Shimizu
Manhwa!
Goong: The Royal Palace, Volume 1 by Park SoHee
Comics!
Dramacon, Volume 1 by Svetlana Chmakova
Light Novels!
Spice and Wolf, Volume 4 by Isuna Hasekura
Strawberry Panic: The Complete Novel Collection by Sakurako Kimino
Novels!
The Summer of Ubume by Natsuhiko Kyogoku
Nonfiction!
Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga by Frederik L. Schodt
Films of Fury: The Kung Fu Movie Book by Ric Meyers
Anime!
Gin Tama, Collection 1
Guin Saga, Collection 2
The Twelve Kingdoms: Complete Collection
Music!
Experienced by Boom Boom Satellites
I think you might be safe watching the Twelve Kingdoms anime. From the bit I know about the novels…. The anime adds in a new character, and makes a lot more use of Yuka, Youko’s classmate. She doesn’t do much of anything in the books, I don’t think, but she plays a major role in the anime, getting transported along with Youko to the Twelve Kingdoms, where she plays a rival role. The anime adds a male character named Asano that Youko has a crush on (he doesn’t exist in the novels), and he also gets transported to the Twelve Kingdoms.
The books obviously have a lot more depth than the anime, but it’s possible you might spoil some things by watching it. I saw the anime first, and reading the books is a pretty different experience.
Thank you for the advice!
I am just wondering but where do you find all of this? This is my first time seeing your blog other than a few days ago, so I don’t really know what im doing, but i thought i would ask. ^_^
Hi Alessandra, thanks for stopping by! (Also, good luck in the manga giveaway tomorrow!)
Nowadays I tend to take advantage of sales and discounts and get most of my books and manga through Borders or Right Stuf. Right Stuf is also a great place to pick up anime and other merchandise. I also troll eBay and used bookstores for good deals, especially for out of print material. There are other places I shop, but those are the primary ones for me right now.
I have a feature here on Experiments in Manga called Finding Manga where I talk a bit about places to purchase manga and give some buying tips. There are only two entries so far, but there will be more!
Hope I could help. ^_^