---
title: 'The ULTIMATE Guide to get into Manga (easy)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=61il5m757Kk'
video_id: '61il5m757Kk'
date: 2026-07-28
duration_sec: 1361
---

# The ULTIMATE Guide to get into Manga (easy)

> Source: [The ULTIMATE Guide to get into Manga (easy)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=61il5m757Kk)

## Summary

This video is a beginner-friendly guide to getting into manga collecting, covering everything from types of physical manga to budgeting, shelving, and where to buy. The host, Boogie, shares personal tips and community advice to help newcomers avoid common mistakes.

### Key Points

- **Focus on Your Interests** [02:14] — The hobby is about what you like; your collection is a physical representation of series you love.
- **Types of Manga: Standard Volumes** [03:37] — Standard volumes are the most common and affordable way to collect manga, typically paperback and black-and-white.
- **Types of Manga: Omnibuses** [04:34] — Omnibuses contain multiple volumes in one book, often paperback or hardcover, and are more expensive.
- **Types of Manga: Deluxe Editions** [05:00] — Deluxe, collector's, and anniversary editions are expensive but sometimes the only physical release for a series.
- **Light Novels** [05:21] — Light novels are shorter books centered around anime IPs, often the source material, and offer more content.
- **Digital Manga** [06:52] — Digital manga is popular, especially in Japan, and can be read on phones, tablets, or computers via apps like Viz, Jump, Manga Plus, Book Walker, and K Manga.
- **Shelving and Storage** [08:32] — IKEA Billy bookshelves are common; heavier books should go at the bottom to prevent tipping. Keep manga away from direct sunlight and consider a dehumidifier in humid areas.
- **Where to Buy Manga** [13:22] — Options include big box stores (Barnes & Noble), local comic shops, online retailers (Amazon, Crunchyroll), and secondhand sites (eBay, Mercari). Supporting local shops is encouraged.
- **Budgeting Tips** [16:53] — Use the three-volume rule or start digitally to test series. Wait for sales, set a realistic monthly budget ($20-$200), and collect with intent—only buy series you'll reread.
- **Explore Different Genres** [19:28] — There are many award-winning series across genres; check haul videos and vlogs for recommendations.
- **Beginner Mistakes and Final Thoughts** [19:51] — Don't be afraid to return damaged books. Research series before investing, as some are on indefinite hiatus (e.g., Nana, Vagabond). Engage with the community via Discord or social media.

### Conclusion

The video emphasizes that manga collecting should be driven by personal enjoyment, with practical advice on formats, storage, budgeting, and community engagement to enhance the experience.

## Transcript

Okay. And remember class, if we're sad,
we what? We just buy manga. Okay. One
more time. Remember, we don't need
therapy. If you can't afford it, what do
we do? If we're sad, we just buy
manga. That's right. Okay. Same time
next week. Remember, there will be no
test because I know you guys aren't
studying. It's the end of the Apothecary
Diaries. It's the season finale. I don't
I don't blame you guys. But there will
be an open book test. Okay, we'll see
you guys next week.
[Music]
All right. All right. Welcome on in.
Settle down, everyone. Take a seat. And
welcome to Manga 101 with Boogie. The
year is 2025, and the manga market is
booming. Releases are being announced
left, right, and center. Old manga is
coming back into print. Indie authors
are blowing up. And the market is
surging right now with some very serious
projections leading all the way up to
2029. Now, I'll be real. I don't know. I
don't know who's running those studies,
okay? I don't know. Is there something
about AI in there? I I have no idea. But
I will say manga is surging right now in
popularity, especially here in the
United States and worldwide. There are
more people buying manga, watching
anime, getting into manga, reading
manga, being in the fandom. It's more
popular than ever. And in this hobby or
lifestyle, hey, I see us collectors out
there, there is a lot to get overwhelmed
with. So, with that being said, welcome
to my manga 101 class. We're going to be
going over everything I wish I knew when
I first started in this hobby.
[Music]
Also, before we get started, if you've
been watching the channel for a while,
let me know some beginner friendly manga
that you would recommend someone either
finding the channel or getting into this
hobby. I think they would really find
that helpful. And if you're new to the
channel or the hobby, first of all,
welcome. What got you into all of this?
Was it your friend? Was it your parents?
Did you find manga at a school library?
Did you watch an anime that you really
like? Then you got the manga and that
got the ball moving. What's your story?
Let us know down below.
Part one's going to focus on you. Yes,
you. At the end of the day, this is your
hobby. Okay. What are the things that
interest you? What are the series that
you find interesting that you really
like that you might want to collect
physically? My TA forgot to turn on the
lights. Remember that manga collecting
is a physical representation of the
series that we love. I always like to
call my collection sort of like
functioning art because this really is
the staple piece in this room. It's an
attention grabber. It's a conversation
starter. It's something I can make
friends with. It's something to share
with my friends.
But I can also make it my cozy space.
It's my safe spot. a place where if it's
a rainy night, an early summer morning,
I can stand here for as long as I'd like
and I can choose the manga I want off of
my shelf and go into my nook and escape.
So, I ask you again, what do you like?
This will always be our northstar when
making decisions here in the hobby, at
least in this video. Now, we can get
into the meat and potatoes of this video
with the types of manga. Not genres,
okay? But types of physical manga,
there's a lot there to unpack. For a lot
of you guys, this might be really basic
information, but someone coming into the
hobby, okay? Or the parents that are
watching right now, this is very
valuable. We'll quickly go through this.
Let's start with standard volumes. Here
is Hunter Hunter volume 22. Okay, we're
going to go ahead and call these
standard volumes. These will typically
be the most common way and most
affordable way of collecting physical
manga, brand new at full retail price,
of course. Now, of course, price will
vary and publishers will vary, okay? But
they all have the same look. Here is uh
the YenPress equivalent of that, okay?
So, they're basically the same size. Uh
however, I believe these are a dollar or
two more uh expensive just it prices
will range depending the publisher.
Okay, these will normally be paperbacks
and they'll be black and white with
maybe the first two pages or so being
colored. Important side note maybe, but
there might also be store like big box
retail store exclusives. Okay, so there
might be multiple volume ones with
variant covers. Sometimes they'll come
with bonus materials. You name it. Okay,
next
omnibuses. These have multiple volumes
inside of them. Okay, typically they're
paperback, but they could also be hard
cover. This right here is the classic
series initial D, and it's put out by
Kodan. This omnibus contains volumes one
and two of initial D. This is what the
single volumes would look like for
initial D, but inside of here once again
are two individual volumes, which is why
you'll see a price increase. Next, we're
going for the price hike with deluxe
editions, collector's editions,
anniversary editions, everything else in
between. Now, while these are expensive,
the flip side to that coin is sometimes
a publisher only releases a manga series
in a deluxe edition. So, it's going to
come with a price tag if you physically
want to collect that series. Okay, last
but not least, we've come to the holy
land of light novels. And this is where
the pipeline is very real. From anime
watcher to manga enjoyer to light novel
reader. It's actually a massive pipeline
that we're not talking about enough. Let
me know if you read light novels down
below in the comment section. You can
think of light novels as basically
shorter books centered around anime IPs
that are typically easier to read and
digest. They also tend to offer some
illustrations throughout the story,
which is phenomenal. Light novels also
typically have like a ton of volumes in
them. Not all of them, but a a lot. So,
make sure you have the shelf space or
you're prepared for that. I think light
novels themselves are a great gateway
into reading other books and definitely
these are the source material to if
you're watching an anime or reading a
manga that has a light novel, chances
are this is the actual source material.
So you'll always find more content in
the light novel. This is why you see so
many people that run out of episodes and
they they end up going to the light
novel because they just want more
context and more chapters and what
happens after season 12 or or episode 12
or episode 24 or they've run out of
manga chapters. They've exhausted the
anime and the manga and now they need to
know what happens next and what happens
next will be in the light novel. So
always check if a series has a light
novel if you're okay with reading them.
Not all of us are okay and I'm fully
aware of that and you don't have to be.
That's why there's other ways to enjoy
these series. That's why there will be a
manga adaptation.
[Music]
Next part briefly is going to cover the
silent majority here. I have a sneaky
suspicion it is the silent majority. All
right, which will be digital manga
reading. We're going to quickly go
through this. What do I mean by that is
that you can read manga on your iPad,
the computer, the phone. Michelle
actually reads a lot of like fanfiction,
manga, light novels, Don May on her
phone in bed a lot of the times. And
honestly, I saw a ton of people in
Japan. The majority of people I saw
reading manga in Japan was done on their
phone. And I went to I don't know how
many book offs. I don't know how many
manga shopping experiences, I don't know
how many cafes and places people would
typically be reading manga. I don't know
how many trains I rode. It was a lot. I
was there for a month. The vast majority
of people that I saw reading manga or
reading in general, it was on their
phone. But when we're talking digital
manga, they're basically talking about
where to buy ebooks. All of the big
names pretty much have their own app. So
Barnes & Noble has Nook. Uh I think
Amazon has Kindle. Then of course there
are thirdparty apps that a lot of us
use. I myself sometimes use Book Walker.
And there are a lot more than that.
We're just quickly going through this.
These can be helpful for sampling manga.
I know a lot of us are digital first and
then if you like the series then you
will collect it physically. And a lot of
the times you can read chapter by
chapter so you'll get stuff a lot faster
than physical releases. And you'll also
be able to read manga that just isn't
out physically. Like if I wanted to read
Ace of Diamonds, you can't really see
it. It's behind here. I have volume one
in Japanese, right? Because there's no
physical release. But if I want to read
it, I can read it over on like the K
manga app and I can read it that way.
Same goes with like Hajimeno. No English
release, but I can read it if I'd like
over on the K manga app or other places,
right? All right. So let's frankly talk
about shelving which will become quickly
the most important thing that will
quickly decide uh what you end up buying
and how much of it can you buy which is
storage physical real estate that you
have available to you. Remember
collecting manga is a physical hobby and
at the end of the day it's very much
similar to like aesthetically hoarding
for a lack of a better term. Whether it
be cards, video games, golf clubs,
guitars, or yes, even manga, we are all
at different times in our lives in
different situations with varying
budgets and square footage available to
us. Taking that first step into getting
a bookshelf is quite exciting. So, let's
quickly go through this. The most common
by far are from IKEA and they're called
Billy bookshelves or Billy bookcases or
whatever, whatever they're called. This
is from IKEA. I don't remember the exact
model, but these aren't Billy's. Uh,
however, IKEA also sells like higherend
shelves and whatnot. This is one of
those. They're not Billy's, but they're
very they're very close to Billy's. And
of course, there are competitors. So,
buy whatever is cheapest at the moment
or whichever one that you can afford in
your own budget. You can go check out
places like Wayfair, Target, Walmart,
they'll all have a competitor to Billy.
However, my best recommendation if you
are at a place in your life where you
can afford this or you are living in a
home where it won't be too much of a
hassle to move them around. Real
furniture that is made to last will
always be the best option in my humble
opinion. Something you don't have to
build yourself and if you take care of
it, it will last a lifetime. Something
that your kids will be using. If you
have kids, millennials that are still
childless, I'm I'm looking I'm looking
at us right now.
[Music]
[Music]
All right, summer is here and that means
I'm going to go outside to read more.
And this year, I was in the market for
new earbuds that I can take on the go,
whether I'm vlogging or just going out
to read with Michelle. The checklist
that my new earbuds had to have were
active noise cancellation, and since I'm
in California, they needed to be dust
proof and they needed to have quick
charging because I am always forgetting
to charge my devices. So, I was so happy
when Raycon reached out for their
springtime partnership. And also, look
how cute this case is. Oh my Oh my god.
I have been trying their new everyday
earbuds this week. Every day. Pun pun
pun intended. These new models of their
everyday earbuds come with 31 hours of
battery life. Even if I forget to charge
it, they're equipped with Raycon's quick
charging features which give me 90
minutes of listening in 10 minutes of
charging. So whether I'm reading
outside, in an airport, or at the park,
having their active noise cancellation
is so so nice. This summer, Raycon is
giving the Boogie Snacks community a
deal where you get 15% off of the
Everyday Earbuds by using code Boogie
while at checkout or by using the links
down below in the description box. Once
you have your shelf, the best part now
happens. All right, you get to be
creative. With this channel that I have
here, I've been lucky enough to do these
manga collection reaction streams, which
means that you guys get to submit your
collections to me to react to them at
home. If you want to join the next one,
Discord link will be down below. Just
join. Someone will help you out. I get
to see how creative you guys can get
with building your manga collections,
and it's very inspiring. And some of you
guys are even like mix and matching
brands of bookshelves of various sizes
and widths. Now that you have manga on
the shelf, let's cover just best
practices a little bit. Okay, first and
foremost, if you have a bookshelf like
this and it isn't earthquake secured,
especially if it isn't, put your heavier
stuff at the bottom. Those big bulky
omnibuses and deluxe editions and those
hard covers, put them at the bottom. It
will help prevent the shelf from
actually tipping over and it will also
slowly delay the inevitable being that
these shelves will get. Try to I'm I'm
failing a little bit, but try to keep
them away from direct sunlight as that
will cause yellowing. If you want to
keep your manga nice and perfect and
pristine, if you live in a very humid
area or neighborhood, invest in a
dehumidifier. It'll just be better for
the manga in books in general in the
long run.
And my most important tip, this is one
that I've learned very, very, very
recently. I recently moved to this place
that has carpeting.
Books attract a lot of allergies,
specifically dust mites, and I have a
dustmite allergy. So, make sure we are
wiping our collection down frequently.
This will definitely help your
allergies, especially during the allergy
season. Okay, where to buy manga? Let's
talk about it for a second. Assuming you
already have a few volumes, you probably
know in your area where to get a volume
or two of manga, typically your big box
retail store. But is that really the
best place to buy manga? Is that the
best place to be spending your dollars?
Well, obviously that depends on your
budget, depends on your location. Some
of us have literally no options near us
to go buy physical manga. It all has to
be done on an online retail shop. I'm
going to give you some very quick ideas
and places you can immediately try to go
in your neighborhood. However, what I
say is the best option here is to go
find creators out here on YouTube. There
are so many that are all over the world,
maybe you don't live in my area, maybe
these stores that I have that I can go
to, and I'm I live in California and I'm
very blessed to have a ton of manga
shopping options. Maybe you don't have
any of those. Go find a creator that
lives in your neck of the woods. And I
almost guarantee you that you can. Okay,
brickandmortar stores. Okay, you got
Barnes & Noble, Kokuna, Books a Million,
Halfpric Books for the used books, rare
stuff you can find out of there. Same
with Book Off. You can get some used
books, rare stuff, out of print stuff
every once in a while. But most
importantly is go support your local
comic shops. They're disappearing. All
right? And a lot of them are now
starting to carry more manga than ever.
Go support them. They're a place to go
make friends, and I think we'll miss
them when they're gone. I truly think
these places are sacred. They really
are. There's something special about an
indie bookshop. It might be a little
more pricey. It might be full retail.
Maybe even a dollar more, right? Uh but
go support them. I'm not saying go get
your entire collection from them. But
every once in a while, just remember
that they exist. Online retailers, okay?
Obviously, the Crunchyroll manga store,
Amazon. All right? If you want to get
secondhand stuff, sometimes it's the
only option. You got eBay, Mari, places
like that. Once again, we are breezing
through this because I think you guys
can go find them all. I don't think
you're going to have a hard time finding
product. And if you are, just watch some
of the vlogs. We have a ton of really
cool vlogs on the channel where I take
you guys exploring different manga
shops, even in Japan. I'll put my whole
vlog playlist down below in the
description box. It might be a great
place if you're new and you're just
finding me, it might be a great place to
actually get to know me as a creator
down below. Very briefly, let's cover
digital manga. Now, remember, I have a
whole video dedicated to this coming up
that I've put so much time into where
I'm comparing
basically all of the popular and even
some of the non-popular ones. And
there's a lot of drama in the digital
manga reading space and a lot of
competition. So, I'm just I'm going to
give you some of the the the really big
ones right now, but there'll be a whole
video uh coming out pretty soon where
we're covering like, you know, DRM
stuff. Just I mean, there's a there's a
lot of drama, but let's talk about it
now. Okay. Basically, there's the Viz
app and the Jump app. Those are
subscriptionbased, very cheap, very
affordable. Uh, you have Manga Plus by
Shuisha, Book Walker, K Manga, and last
but not least, if you have Amazon Prime,
you're already paying to access a ton of
completed manga that you can read
digitally. Just Google like maybe the
keyword search would be like Amazon
Prime read manga, okay? And the link
will come up. You'll you'll find it.
You'd be surprised with how much they
have to offer and you're already paying
for it. You might as well get your
money's worth. And of course, last but
not least, the library. The library is
such a great resource and the more that
we use these library systems in our
neighborhood, the more interest that it
will show your local communities that
you have in manga and the more manga
that your libraries will start to
obtain. Last but not least, used manga
is our friend. So, class, repeat after
me. Used manga is our friend. Yes,
that's right. Used manga is our friend.
Okay, let's quickly talk about
budgeting. And parents, if you're
listening to this video in the
background, this is going to be quite
important. This is something that I wish
I had paid more attention to because I
have been known to go way over budget.
Okay, there is something called the
three volume rule which is very
basically put give a series three
volumes to decide whether you want to
continue collecting it or not. I think
that was a valid strategy up until a few
years ago and I think the meta now
really is to see if you want to read a
series or not uh digitally or if you
want to collect a series physically by
starting it digitally. And a lot of a
lot of publishers through whatever app
give you access to the first few
chapters uh for free. Don't be scared to
wait on sales. Yes, trust me when I say
this. When you get a new bookshelf, when
you get a new bookshelf, it's a very
human thing to do is to see an empty
shelf and want to fill it up as quickly
as possible. Trust me, the manga isn't
going anywhere. Wait for the sales.
Trust me. Or not. Hey, I don't control
your wallet. Another very popular thing
to do is to set a realistic budget. Now,
I this might seem like common sense to
you guys, but it's very easy when you
fall into this bubble, much like
collecting cards or collecting video
games. Like, we have the Steam summer
sale that's about to pop off right now
where you end up with a back catalog of
manga that you you've spent a ton of
money on and it takes forever to to burn
through because the excitement is not
only like buying the manga, but then you
get the excitement of the manga arriving
if you've ordered it online and unboxing
it, right? You get the excitement of
organizing your bookshelf. There's a
bunch of different like serotonin boosts
you can have in this hobby. And I've
asked this community, what is your
average monthly allowance that you give
towards this hobby? And I've seen it go
as low as $20 to upwards of like $100 to
$200. And plus, last but not least is to
collect with intent. And what do I mean
by that? A lot of the series I'm now
buying physically, right, that I'm
paying money for that maybe publishers
aren't sending me, right? I know that I
will reread down the road. I've already
reread like Tokyo Ghoul and some series
that I have in my collection like
Barakuman and whatnot multiple times and
they will continue to bring me joy
throughout the years. Not uncommon in
hobbies like manga collecting or video
game collecting to have some sort of
Excel spreadsheet, whether it be like
Google stuff or Excel itself or a notion
tracker or lib. I use Libid myself where
I have a nice little scanner where I can
scan the barcode and it instantly puts
it in my library and I can see
everything all well out well laid out
excuse me and I can even you know export
it into an Excel if I wanted to. Okay,
moving on to the next part which is
arguably what I think is one of the most
important parts that we'll talk about in
today's video which is explore different
genres and types of manga. There are so
many wonderful awardwinning series with
a plethora of different genres within
this hobby. If you're looking for a
bunch of recommendations, go check out
any one of my haul videos, vlogs, you
name it. They're riddled with a bunch of
recommendations. So, we've made it here
to the end. So, let's talk about
beginner mistakes and final thoughts.
Don't be afraid about returns,
especially outside of Amazon. All right.
I've pretty much gotten, especially if
you're ordering online. I've gotten
horrible deliveries where manga pages
end up ripped, bent, you name it, spines
destroyed from every big box retailer
that you can think of. We're talking
Books a Million, Barnes & Noble, you
name it. Don't be afraid to return them
and get the copies that you deserve.
This one is so important, but research
the titles that you are getting yourself
into because you would be surprised how
many manga titles are like on forever
hiatus. I think Nana has been like on
hiatus for I don't know how years and
years and years and years. Same with
like series that we all know and love
like Vagabond. They've just been on
hiatus for so long there's no clear
direction when they're going to come
back. or there's the occasional comeback
chapter. We're talking about, you know,
series like Hunter Hunter where if
you're looking to have completed series
that you can just binge read, this would
be very valuable information for you to
know. Or if you just don't want to get
attached to a protagonist or or a story
or a world that just never ends up
getting completed or you have to wait
years and years and years for the next
volume. So truly, this is one of the
best pieces of advice I can give.
Research the series before investing
actual money into them physically.
Community. Oh my goodness. Community
might be like the best thing about being
in this hobby. I encourage you guys to
invite your friends out manga shopping.
Go on adventures. Go explore different
manga shops yourself. And if and if you
have none near you, that's okay, too.
Try to make some friends on Discord. You
can join our Discord down below. We do
manga collection reaction streams. We do
gaming. You name it. Join the community
on other social media websites. Start
finding other creators to follow, other
people you might seem interested in, the
publishers themselves, and that way
you'll know when new stuff comes out,
too. Okay, I've been filming. I've been
filming for a while. I think we're going
to wrap it up here. If you made it this
far in the video, say hey down below in
the comments. Let me know that you're
still here. If you're looking for
something else to watch, I recommend my
latest vlog. I have two that just went
up recently. I have a reading vlog and a
manga shopping vlog, both with Michelle.
They were a lot of fun to record. Thank
you once again to all of the Patreon
members that help keep this channel
afloat. I've been working on my new
upload schedule. I hope you've noticed.
And there's still one more video to go
up. Like that will be up in just a
couple days. I really want to make an
effort this year to bring back weekly
uploads, if not two uploads per week.
But it's a very I'm going from like one
upload a month to like all of this. It's
it's quite jarring, but I'm in love with
making videos again and I'm having so
much fun. I love you guys. If you're new
here, welcome to the community and I
will see you in the next one. Okay, bye.
[Music]