I’ve hit two manga milestones recently! You know your hobby is overly obsessive when you have milestones.
A year ago, I created this blog, mostly because I wanted to rant about Oyajina! and Akaya Akashiya Ayakashino. A year later… well, I’m still ranting about Hiiragi Nozomu and I’d obsessively cover AkaAka if it didn’t go against the HaccaWorks* policy. Such progress?! Well, I didn’t delete the blog anyway, so I think that’s a success! At least it’s more than what I was expecting… even if I let it get a bit dusty around here, ahem. A big thanks to those of you who drop in and visit. 🙂 I enjoy sharing this hobby with others and hope to continue doing so. The “Summer of Manga (and Other Stuffies~) 2011” is at an end, but I’ll find time between the whippings to post some fun snippets~
The second milestone is that my personal collection has finally surpassed 4000 books with my latest order. I technically order them at the same time, but I’m giving the “honor” of Book #4000 to Hachi no Su by Minekura Kazuya. It’s only fitting since Saiyuki and its artbooks were some of the earlier raw manga I purchased and still love to this day.
I’m surprised I broke that barrier, in spite of the deplorable dollar to yen exchange rate and no more biannual visits to Kinokuniya/Book-Off. Here’s to 5000~ But not for a long time.. I’m out of shelf-space and haven’t decided on how to expand! But there’s always something good to read, just waiting to be picked up.
the manga habit 
Congratulations!!! ❤
Thanks for always visiting 😀
How many bookcases do you have? *__* Gosh you could start a library pretty soon!
I have 5 of various sizes, all double-stacked. The biggest one easily holds over 1000, but I don’t have it as doubled-up as the rest. I love my little library :3 If I died tomorrow, I’d like to donate them to a library somehow, but the language (and sexy mens~~) makes that a bit hard, lol.
Congrats! And wow, your collection’s rather impressive! I don’t think I’ll be able to collect as much as you did, I think I’ll start selling stuff at one point or another, because I won’t have enough space for sure T^T When did you start buying manga btw?
Do you record it anywhere? Like, your first series, the date, stuff like that? I’m kinda crazy about such stuff and tend to do that, but for some reason always forget when it comes to anime and manga.
Btw, I see everyone’s hyper about Minekura-sensei’s works, but I dunno, its artwork alone kinda disturbs me. Is it really that good?
And ohhh, I remember finding your blog through your MAL page. At first I thought you were a super busy body wit ha sophisticated manga taste, but yay! you replied and it’s pretty awesome to have small discussions like that, especially with someone who shares my tastes! /not that now your taste’s not sophisticated… I mean, yeah… oyaji in the sea of blood bound by the intestines 8D/
Thanks 🙂 I could easily part with some books, but there’s no easy way to do it, so the collector in me holds on tight. If I lived near a Book-Off, I’d have completely different buying/selling patterns.
I started buying raw manga in 2000 (translated stuff in 97) and 3×3 Eyes volumes 6-11 were my first purchase. FYEAH bloody shounen lol. I wanted to know what happened after the OVA concluded. :3 Unfortunately, I didn’t really record much, so I made a point of doing so this time. I have an old spreadsheet somewhere with the first couple hundred books I owned, that’s about it. The stores I purchased from are now out of business, so I can’t even check. 😦 I’m also upset that I don’t remember what the first BL series I read was.. ;_; So I suggest if you can remember, definitely record so you can look back and see how much your taste changes (or doesn’t with some mangaka).
I believe Minekura is worth her hype. Perhaps I’m a little blinded by my long-standing loyalty. I enjoy the artwork, but I think it takes some adjusting to? You could always try out Wild Adapter and see what she’s all about… :3 Or even Stigma: single volume, quick read, full-color. Not as good as WA and a little over 10 years old, but it’s enjoyable and characteristic of her style.
Haha, I’m glad for the conversations too 🙂 MAL, its mod hate, and its general populace being BL-judgemental makes me a bit “internet shy”, so I’m always happy when others seek me out. It is hard to find someone with similar tastes that isn’t limited to a single genre. This blog has helped. :3 And now that you’re buying stuff yourself, you see what a quagmire of choices and money/risk is involved, so it’s great when people can look out for each other. 😉 My manga philosophy holds that it’s equally important to have time for our more… tasteful manga and plenty of time for our crazy things (mmm sea of blood oyaji~~). Maybe that’s what’s so loveable about Nakamura Asumiko.. she’s crazy and tasteful at the same time?! 😀
Congratulations! and yes, you definitely have a library there. That’s definitely a treasure room 🙂
Thanks 🙂
Hrm… Would Tokyo Babylon count as the first BL? I vaguely remember you mentioning TB as one of the first heartbreakers, but Fushigi Yuugi being one of the first one you read with BL hints?
TB is kinda like X and Fushigi Yuugi in that they are shoujo manga with BL hints. FY was definitely my first anime with BL hints. I was trying to remember what my first “full/real” BL title would be, like back when we were reading stuff from Shi-ran, Obsession, etc. I know we were reading a bunch of Higuri Yuu stuff as well. There’s this gap in my memory as to when I started reading full BL.
TB still breaks my heart. I reread about once every 1-2 years and it still gets me, but often for different reasons/aspects of the story.
Was it Color? I think it might have been something from Storm in Heaven?
Oh! It might have been. That sounds reasonable.