Chocolat by Shin JiSang and Geo [complete]

I've wanted to post pictures of the complete set of Chocolat, the manhwa, for a while! :'D Here it is! It's beautiful when it's all together~

The front covers, but upside down, oops!

The back covers~

This is supposed to be the cover of the original volume 9.

This is supposed to be the cover of the original volume 10.

I need new manhwa to buy ]=

Some Very Pretty Manga

Here are some pictures of manga that I have bought and have arrived this month =]
The first three pictures consist of the same manga shot from three different angles.

Oresama Teacher by Izumi Tsubaki (V.7, 10, 11)
Strobe Edge by Io Sakisaka (V.1)
Soul Eater NOT! by Atsushi Ohkubo (V.2)
Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma (V.11)

In this picture, are the Japanese manga that I bought through Kuroneko's piggy-back service =] What you can see here are:

Love Com TWO by Aya Nakahara
Sukitte Iwaseru Houhou by Masami Nagata (V.2)

I also bought this wonderful tank from Sanseido in Mitsuwa Marketplace.

Hirunaka no Ryuusei by Mika Yamamori (V.4)

I think I also bought High School Debut volume 12, Love Com volume 10 and Chocolat (Manhwa) volume 6 this month as well... but I forgot to take a picture of them. Oh well, whatever~ I'll take a picture when I have the complete set :'D

Natsume is Awesome!

I'm reading Natsume's Book of Friends and I'm loving it so much more than I thought I would.
I'm really tempted to buy my own copies (but that's about the same as everything else I buy, so...)

I also have [re]read La Corda d'oro up to volume 15. So I'm just waiting to get ahold of my Library copy of volume 16 and finish off a lovely series =] I must say, I'm not a fan of the new Linden Hall Aria (or something similiar) spin off based on the extra story in the La Corda volumes. That oneshot was really messy for my tastes, too much happening.

And for November, I have without a doubt went on a shopping spree for manga. Especially because the first volume of Strobe Edge is out!! Plus my favorite character in Oresama Teacher makes his debut in the upcoming volumes :'D Hirunaka no Ryuusei also released just recently, so I'm eager to get my hands on that too!! Lots of manga to buy, I can't wait (but then again, I don't have much money either...) So I have to wait.

Anyway, I have a new phone, so I should be able to take pictures and make the blog prettier and more girly~

Making Plans for Buying Comics!

My plan of attack involves getting most of my Bakuman, Oresama Teacher and Yotsuba&!? volumes from Anime Expo 2013. There are usually some pretty nice discounts for NEW books at Anime Expo to try and get you to buy the manga there. The first time I went there, it was 30% off your entire purchase, so I just snagged the rest of my Spiral collection from there ;D The used books booths usually have 50% off, which is nice, but it's hard to find newer series there. Most of the titles are obscure of have been out for a long time in America (ie. Naruto, Bleach, Skip Beat). I will buy Strobe Edge, Pokemon Adventures DPP, Soul Eater Not! and Otomen as they come out (most likely in Barnes&Nobles where I can get a discount on them). Anything else, I'll probably just find cheap used copies online or at BookOff ^___^

This gets even better. So lots of the series I'm collecting at the moment are coming to an end in America! They include Bakuman, Otomen and also Chocolat (manhwa).

• Bakuman ends in 20 volumes.
  I've got about 6 non-consecutive volumes at the moment.
  VIZ's Shonen Jump is releasing every month until they hit the last two volumes. Then they'll wait a month for those two, I believe. That's fine with me. By the time Anime Expo hits, I think it might actually finish.
  Sooo... that means, if I don't find anymore volumes in the next 10 months (I'm sure I will lol) At 30% off an entire purchase, it'll cost me $90.90, plus potential tax, so that sound round up to about $100 for 13 volumes. Not bad, but I could probably do better lol.
  I should be finished with this series before the end of 2013
• Otomen seems like it's ending with 17 volumes in Japan.
  Volume 13 is on the way for me, that means there's only 4 volumes left to buy if that's true.
  American releases of Otomen are pretty much caught up, the 14th volume is already listed for New Years. That's about a 4 month delay, and I expect it to be the same for the rest of the volumes. Japan is releasing the 16th volume later THIS month.
  This allll means that I should be done with this series by the start of 2014 =]
• Chocolat will be done by the end of 2012, I don't think I need to say much about this LOL

 I hope that next year, I'll hear some nice new licensing agreements! I would love to hear if VIZ is planning to do the HGSS arc after they finish DPP and Platinum, because they're finally caught up in publishing the volumes in Japan. My other hopeful is a RE-license of Gakuen Alice because that's on it's last arc in Japan, and it's one of my favorite and most precious series! Oh yes, and with the coming of Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun's anime in October and success on the Oricon manga charts, I WISH that Kodansha USA would publish it in English! That would seriously be awesome.

If I hear some news about a licensing of new works from Natsuki Takaya, Aya Nakahara, Kawahara Kazune, Izumi Tsubaki and Sakisaka Io... I will be SOOOO excited!

My final hope is that Yen Press will be able to pick up a nice new manhwa title or two next year! It's tough getting a license for Korean comics because their industry isn't as stable as Japan's comic industry. Often, series get cut left and right, plus they're only starting to get a little popular. Manhwa (currently) has a certain taste to it that's a little different than Japanese manga that caters to a whole assortment of people.

So... there are my hopes! =]

Mangaholic Shopping Again

Ehhhh.... buying so much manga as of late. First, Barnes&Noble with their tempting coupons and already discounted prices online (plus I have a membership to utilize). Then, Amazon, since I have that Prime trial... and that buy 3, get the 4th free thing... And finally, Borders going out of business (this is the sixth week, I believe) and it's fantastic discounts on manga @____@

I am OVERWHELMED with my new surge in manga. I'm trying VEERY hard not to read them all at once and forget my school assignments. Here's the stash thus far...

Barnes&Noble

• 13th Boy V.7 - $8.79 w/tax (Original - $11.99)

Amazon

• Otomen V.1 - FREE (Original - $8.99)
• Otomen V.2 - $8.99 (Original Price)
• Otomen V.3 - $6.49 w/S&H (Original - $8.99)
• Otomen V.4 - $9.99 (Original Price)
• Otomen V.5 - $9.99 (Original Price)

Borders

• Otomen V.9 - $4.99 w/out tax added (Original - $9.99) Only volume they had, might as well get it while it's cheap :)
  
• Yotsuba&! V.7 - $1.20 w/out tax added (Original - $10.99) What a steal!!!

You gotta love a book store that's going out of business!! Some great steals there!! I'm waiting even longer hoping for more discounts.

A Couple Endings

Well... I woke up this morning to find that my main and beloved YouTube account, holanio, has finally struck out three times and has been suspended as a result. There's a lot of copyrighted material on that account, so I don't think I'm going to fight it... It's a little sad, but what's done has been done. It'll be very inconvenient, seeing as I'm always logged into my email account though :\ I'm starting a new YouTube account, dacatmango, mainly for favoriting purposes. And occasionally short little MMV's that I may be motivated to make.

For some more HAPPIER news, I've deftly obtained the final volume of Pig Bride from Borders, which is going out of business. All the manga and manhwa there were 25% off. I was hoping for some bigger sales, but who can argue with a closing business, am I right? If I happen upon Borders again, the discounts increase and Bakuman is still there, I think I'll start purchasing the series. Otherwise, I'll wait until Bakuman catches up to where I left off in the Japanese serialization.

Manhwa Dig at BookOff

I came back from an incredibly tipsy turvy, rocky and bumpy experience at my Youth Camp. I kind of liked it--pretty nice comparatively to me during the other camps.

We came back from Julian to San Diego and had a going away meal with all you can eat Korean BBQ (up to 2 hours). After stuffing ourselves like no tomorrow, my loving mom was willing to listen to a silly daughter's request to go to BookOff one last time before moving up north!

Imagine my joy when I saw that they were having a sale on already cheap manga!! Instead of a Manga Haul (since the series I wanted were newer, and I didn't see anything else that caught my eye), I had more of a Manhwa Haul. I picked up the entire series of Priceless (3 volumes), Pig Bride (volumes 1-4; missing 5) and Good Luck (Volumes 1-3&5, missing 4). I hope I enjoy them ^__^

Priceless is by Lee Young-You, author of Moon Boy, so I'm excited to read this since it's one of her earlier works. I hope it's better than Kill Me, Kiss Me, though o=
License: This was licensed by Tokyopop, which is now out of business. You'll probably only find it in secondhand bookstores or sellers.

Pig Bride is a joint between Kook-Hwa Huh and Su-Jin Kim. I read the first volume years ago, and was amused by it because I wasn't into manhwa so much then. Even though I skimmed through the ending, and didn't find it too hot--I hope to come to like this series and appreciate the ending a little more... when I buy it ^^
License: This is currently licensed by Yen Press, so it should be in print for a while.

Good Luck is by E-Jin Kang. I... well I didn't think much when I bought this. I actually saw the ad for it in Priceless, when I was checking for the end of the series. I thought it looked good and to my relief, I found most of the volumes :] I really don't know what to expect for this series, so I hope it's refreshing in some way or another!
License: This was licensed by Tokyopop, which is now out of business. You'll probably only find it in secondhand bookstores or sellers.

RAGE!

I want a new series to buy, and there are many I'm interested in, but there's always something stopping me T___T

Magical JxR - Udon Entertainment stopped publishing RIGHT before the last volume. RAGEQUIT OTL I'm crying, so hard... in the inside right now. It looks really good... really good...

Pokemon Adventures - VIZ has a crappy version. It just doesn't float my boat editing out parts from the original manga like. LAME-O's D: And there's no way of getting it from Chuang-Yi at a reasonable price, I assure you that much...

On a side note. Finally bought the rest of the volumes for Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning P:

April 2011 Purchases

So recently I bought...

• Gakuen Alice Volume 16
• 13th Boy Volume 4
• 13th Boy Volume 5
• Very! Very! Sweet!! Volume 5
• Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna Volume 9
• Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna Volume 10
• Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna Volume 11
• Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna Volume 12
  

I've only read Very! Very! Sweet!! Volume 5 so far because 13th Boy Volume 4 hasn't arrived yet :\ And Gakuen Alice Volume 15... well, I was being a stupid head and ordered it alongside a book that isn't released until the beginning of MAY. Haha, smart...

On a side note, I am lovin' Persona 3 Portable... :'D<3

[Update 4.29]
My best friend's friend was selling her manga for $5 each and when she mentioned Spiral was on the list, I tackled volumes 9-12. I've received volumes 10-12 so far, and she's still looking for volume 9. I'm glad a waited, this was such a great deal :'D Too bad I didn't like the other series she had (or I already owned)

Anime O Manga Store

Today, after church, some friends and I went to go buy my brother some shoes. And we we had quite a bit of time, so afterwards we checked out this Anime and Manga store that I've been eyeing for while.

Manga and manhwa wise, it did not disappoint :'D I was veeeery happy. And they had ALL EIGHT VOLUMES OF Very! Very! Sweet, but only one of them was half off (since it was used) I was SOO tempted to just buy all of them at the same time, but I had to... with all my power, restrain myself -sigh-

I read the first volume and I'm Very! Very! Pleased with it ^__^b I'm extremely eager to buy the other seven volumes.

Here's the summary they give on the back cover:
A spoiled brat from a wealthy Japanese family, Tsuyoshi is unceremoniously shipped off to Korea by his strict grandfather who tells him the family secret — they’re Korean! Sparks fly when the resentful high schooler arrives at the airport and shares an impromptu cab ride with Kang Be-Ri, a plucky girl who happens to be his new neighbor. Will the two ever get past their differences? And will Tsuyoshi learn to accept his new destiny?

Hmm... I think there's a typo in the summary because both characters are middle school students. MINOR DETAILS.

I quite like the characters though. Shin Ji-sang and Geo's works are something I always look forward to reading.

I'd go into more detail, but nobody reads this :P

Ah, and my Legend manhwa is being shipped as we type.

Utilizing Gifts

Not too long ago (in fact, like 10 minutes ago) I purchased volumes 4 through 10 of Legend by Kara and Woo SooJung for a whopping total of $61.93! That's really not too bad for 7 volumes of manhwa that originally was worth $11.99 a pop. ;D If you broke out the calculator, that would have been at least $83.93, not to mention shipping and handling, plus outrageous California taxes. I'd round it up to $100 at original price.

I get all my deals at Barnes&Nobles, for me, it's just a trustworthy thing.

Here are all the prices I got my manhwa for this time around ^___^

These volumes were from other retailers. I made sure the ending price with S&H was still cheaper than Barnes&Noble before buying them.
Volume 4 - $3.66 + $3.99 (S&H) + No tax
Volume 5 - $3.99 + $3.99 (S&H) + No tax
Volume 6 - $3.99 + $3.99 (S&H) + No tax

I bought these straight from B&N for great discounted prices~ As well as free S&H for purchases over $25 (if you're not a member.) I get free EXPRESS S&H regardless because I'm a member :'D
Volume 7 - $8.64
Volume 8 - $9.75
Volume 9 - $8.94
Volume 10 - $7.91

So go buy some good manhwa!

This will bring my total up to what? 114 Manga and 27 Manhwa ;]

13th Boy Volume 3 by SangEun Lee

Summary...
Hee-So’s stuck with Sae-Bom on cooking duty at the Scouts’ joint volunteer outing at a local orphanage, ruining her chances of showing off in front of Won-Jun! And Sae-Bom’s no help either, ’cos she’s too busy making lunch for her dearest Whie-Young! Suddenly, it occurs to Hee-So that making lunch for Won-Jun might not be such a bad idea. But when the two girls go to make their special deliveries, a dangerous accident threatens both their lives. And in the heat of the moment, Won-Jun, who witnesses the accident, takes a most unexpected course of action. Has he gone and irreparably crushed Hee-So’s dreams? Will Whie-Young be able to pick up the pieces?

So What Do I Think!?
The art is beautiful of course, that's why I buy most manga or manhwa. But since the plot looked good, I kept buying it. The thing about manhwa is... all the girls (including the herione, she's usually the top dog) are complete "bi-otches". Mind my wording, but that's how it is.

Step 9. I Want to Know How You Really Feel! Haha, I always laugh whenever I see Hee-So so simple-minded, breaking all those rules, breaking her self-esteem and almost breaking every bone in her body. What surprises me is when she actually attempts to look for the boy, but her intentions are never pure as they seem to be on the outside. I expect nothing less from Hee-So...

Step 10. Giant Snowflakes in MidSummer YEEEEAH! Whie-Young gets to eat Hee-So's bentou! It's not as romantic as it could be, but hey, who am I to say anything about these two characters, they have serious issues in that department. There are some other Whie-So moments, and as couple-like as they could have been it's like you're cracking up on the inside. The two orphans with their Korean drama moment was hilarious, you could see that happen a mile away. But the fact that they're not the main characters, and the mains are WATCHING them do these things just makes the perfect comedic moment. Yay for the past, Hee-So remembers, and man, even in the past she was a bad girlfriend. I could understand about the heat being a problem though. Epic win for the last page of this Step. ♥

Step 11. What Happened Back Then? Now we get to see Beatrice and Won-Jun's past a little more. Some things are making more sense now. It's satisfying to see Whie-Young get jealous over his own creation.

Step 12. I'll Watch Over Sae-Bom! Dude, this chapter made me so angry and surprised. The whole time I was either going "WHAT THE CHUCK?" or "NO WAY!" So Hee-So risks everything just to be nice to Sae-Bom, but even worse, the other girls don't get it because they hate Sae-Bom. What I found to be the stupidest thing in this Step is that Hee-So's best friend for ten years, Nam-Joo, completely backstabs Hee-So (although she had it coming), the moment she thinks Hee-So chooses Sae-Bom over her. But luckily there was a like Whie-So action in this Step and that made me calm down a bit.

Can't wait for the next volume, that dodgeball game is gonna be intense, and that can't even describe the event enough.

Manga Collection

Although it may not be as big and awesome as others, here's the list of manga and manhwa I currently own. ;D

Full Moon o Sagashite Volumes 1-7 [Complete]
Legendz Volumes 1-4 [Complete]
Fruits Baskets Volumes 1-23 [Complete]
Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne Volumes 1-7 [Complete]
Gentlemen's Alliance Cross Volumes 1-10
Kitchen Princess Volumes 1-10 [Complete]
Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning Volumes 1-8
Gakuen Alice Volumes 1-9
Case Closed Volumes 16&18
Comic Party Volumes 1-5 [Complete]
Beauty Pop Volumes 1-6&8-10
The Lizard Prince Volume 1
13th Boy Volumes 1-2
Legend Volumes 1-3
Moon Boy Volume 1-7
Total of... 95 manga and 12 manhwa

And here are some series that I'm planning to buy...
Chocolat
Very! Very! Sweet!