Hi Friends!
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I can’t believe that we’re here… I could say already or finally, it’s a toss of the coin at this point. Whatever your cup of tea is, we are here and now at my last book review for the year 2020. Let’s see if 2021 will be all that we hope it is.
Today I thought I’d do things a little bit different.
Now don’t be scared. This is all a setup for the great guest review I have below for you by my good friend Ali from Ali’s Reviews and More. Instead of throwing you straight into it though, I thought I’d explain why I asked her to write a guest blog, and why I’m just now posting it months later.
Well… every Christmas Eve my husband and I celebrate jolabokaflod, which is the Icelandic tradition of giving books on Christmas Eve. The fun part is that you spend the rest of the night reading the gifted book. To give our own spice to the tradition (and really because I have a strict reading schedule and my husband can’t finish a book to save his life) we gift manga books. It’s different, fun, and you’re not committing to a 400 page book that your loved one wants you to read.
Which is why now is the best time to share The Last Manga Hunter.
I encourage you to mix things up this year. Try something new. Make 2020 the start of something positive.
In the future, I hope to share more great manga reviews and such from Ali.
So Happy Holidays and a bright New Year.
And without further ado…
I present you with Ali’s review.
The Last Manga Hunter
Haha, the title was just to grab your attention right away guys! Hello everyone, I’m Ali from Ali’s Reviews and More, and a close friend of Kait’s. Who was so kind to let me do a manga/anime series of blog posts for her, thank you again Kait!
Anyway, I was going to start off with an introduction post about manga and anime and slowly work my way to this post. But, I couldn’t help myself with this one, The Last Manga Hunter. Sounds fun, doesn’t it? I’ve been rolling this name around in my head for a good few years now, because that’s pretty much what I do. I hunt for manga. Now, I know you're probably thinking, “Why doesn’t she just go to the bookstore and buy her manga books like everyone else?”. Well, I do buy manga from Barnes & Noble and sometimes Amazon if the price is good. What I mostly look for are the older manga series that are harder to get your hands on, and for a lot of manga series, they just do a limited number print run because the series wasn’t as popular for a publisher. I like to find books online or in a known chain bookstore, because I love the physical part of finding the book. That way I have a memory of exploring new bookshops and it’s a bit sweeter when you look on foot for your prize.
Just recently, I found the last volume of InuYasha, volume 56. This last volume had a limited print run for it and can be found online for about $800 or a little less online, the price does drop to two digits now and again but they are hard to get a hold of before they are gone (and back to the higher price). I just recently found it from a used book site (for the lowest cost I’ve seen the book come to) that I’ve had bad luck with in the past, but just within the last few months had some really great luck with. I am jumping the gun a bit here, since the book hasn’t made it to me in the mail yet. But, I am over the moon to finally be able to get my hands on the last volume I needed to complete my set. This has been almost ten years in the making to get this one last volume.
For the last few years now, I have been slowly picking up more speed to work toward my goal of finishing series that have been sitting forgotten on my shelves that I used to love to read. Thank goodness for a steady job and no more homework to get in the way of my searching. Though, while I was in high school and college I would spend any extra time I had at exploring used bookstores and going through the stacks to find some real gems. Even now, I still will take time to find new small used bookstores in areas I take day trips to for an adventure. Like today, I stopped by my local used bookstore and found some new volumes for an older series I had only started getting into back when I was in high school. I promise I won’t go into how I keep track of which series I keep up with or what volumes I need, that’ll be a post for another day.
But to end this first blog post, I will just say. You will never know what kind of manga you're missing out on, till you go through stacks of used books at any and all used bookstores. Heck, that’s how I found the original first editions of Ranma ½ , which were right to left instead of how manga is printed and read today left to right. Years later, that is one of my favorite and best memories of finding books I wasn’t even looking for and have ended up loving so much.
I hope you guys stay tuned for more blog posts from me all about manga and anime, and hopefully they give you some new ideas of what to check out!