Kimagure Orange Road

[kndy]

Can someone in Japan tell me if it's cheaper to go eBay or do you find sets at bookstores/used bookstores much cheaper:



I notice most places sell them for $78.55 for all 18 but Amazon, I see some selling for $55.

Also, for the Bunko versions, how much smaller are they?



Is it worth it, or best to go for the older editions?

[usamimi]

I've been wondering this myself. I think even the Bunko versions are getting harder to find, because when I was in WA I tried looking for them in Kinokuniya and didn't find a single volume (and only 2 volumes of the bunko Ranma 1/2s, so I didn't even bother looking to see how much they were...) I'd love to get it all, myself, but all the ones on eBay are shipped from Japan, so the shipping is close to the same price as the books themselves. ;__;

[greg]

I'm not aware of the Bunko versions, but I own the originals in the first picture. I had all these years ago, but I gave them away to my friend's wife before we moved to Japan last year. I then bought volumes 1-15 as a set, shrinkwrapped together, for something like ￥1600. I then bought the rest for about 100 yen each at places like Book Off and Kanteidan. If you don't care if the color on the spines being a bit faded, you can get the complete set, 1-18, for about $20.

[usamimi]

Another reason I wish I lived closer to a Book Off!
I'm kinda hoping that some of the people I bought manga from last year at A-kon will be here again this year--last year, I found a guy selling a stack of random Urusei Yatsura tankobon (original old covers!) for $3 each...I asked if he could give me a deal if I bought them all, and he did! So I ended up getting them for about $1 each, which was awesome. (I think it was 7 vols, I only paid like $10 for all of em.) I'd be awesome if he had some Orange Road this time.

[kndy]

I'm not aware of the Bunko versions, but I own the originals in the first picture. I had all these years ago, but I gave them away to my friend's wife before we moved to Japan last year. I then bought volumes 1-15 as a set, shrinkwrapped together, for something like ￥1600. I then bought the rest for about 100 yen each at places like Book Off and Kanteidan. If you don't care if the color on the spines being a bit faded, you can get the complete set, 1-18, for about $20.

Had my friend check on it when he was there....but he forgot.

[greg]

I was at Otakara late last night doing some otaku shopping. 3 Super Famicom games for only 500 yen, yay. I picked up volume 1 of KOR for another English teacher coworker. He's a nerd of a different sort; mainly botany, gardening, and such. That's his obsession. He's the guy I went hiking in the Jukai forest with if you saw that video of mine. Anyhow, he's been interested in starting up reading a manga for the language practice, and also maybe as a conversational starter with the students at his school. I suggested KOR, because that's what I'm "reading" (I haven't touched my vol.3 in more than a half a year, but I'm still technically "reading" it), and because the language level is not difficult at all.

I spent a long time in the JC (Jump Comics) section last night until I realized that the books aren't arranged in order by title, but by author. So I went to ま for "Matsumoto Izumi" and found them all. They had all 18 volumes. Some had spines with faded colors, some were just fine. Every single one was 100 yen. Technically, you could buy complete sets of manga on a trip to Japan and mail them to yourself via surface mail (the USPS gave up their boats a few years ago, but Japan Post still has theirs).

Also in the JC section, I picked up Cat's Eye to see if that would be a good title for my friend, but it didn't have any furigana. I looked at Video Girl Ai and City Hunter to see about getting one of those for him, but both titles had a bit of T&A at the very beginning of the manga. That wouldn't be good to share with the students, and they would likely think that my friend is a perv for owning it. I'm sure there's tons of boobies in One Piece too, and those two chicks in that show seem to be there for the sole purpose of just wearing bikini tops. Still, I don't think there's ever any nudity in One Piece, nor accidental boob grab gags and whatnot. Besides, kids are kids, and if they don't know what something is, they may react adversely.

I bet my friend's wife will recognize the KOR manga. She's about the same age I am, so she grew up in the '80s. I looked for Dr. Slump, because although it doesn't have furigana, the language level is still pretty easy to understand. I could only find Toriyama's Dragonball there for some reason. I also tried looking for Touch, but it wasn't by JC and I couldn't remember who had released it. (It was Shonen Sunday, or SS.) When shopping for manga in Japan, the books are separated by comic book publisher company, then by author. However in the case of something like Gundam that has had a lot of various authors doing various series under the same name, those may be grouped together.