A Guide To Starting A Manga Collection In 2026

[00:00] so you're thinking about starting a

[00:01] manga collection maybe you were walking

[00:02] by the manga section in your local

[00:03] bookstore and thought hey I want to

[00:05] check out some of these series maybe an

[00:06] anime you were watching that you were so

[00:08] passionate about just ended abruptly and

[00:10] now you want to know what happens next

[00:11] or maybe you watch some guy on YouTube

[00:13] read an entire manga series in a week

[00:15] and you were thinking wow I I kind of

[00:17] want manga now whatever the reason is

[00:19] this is the video for you I've been

[00:20] collecting manga as a hobby for a while

[00:21] now I have over 500 volumes in my

[00:23] collection in this video I'm going to

[00:24] teach you about all the knowledge I've

[00:26] gathered over the years all the

[00:27] money-saving tips and money wasting m

[00:29] mistakes that I've made and how to avoid

[00:32] them so that hopefully by the end of

[00:33] this video you can get a better idea of

[00:34] how to build a pretty cool manga

[00:36] collection okay so to start this off

[00:38] what kind of manga do you like do you

[00:39] even know there's an incredibly large

[00:41] amount of manga genres to read from and

[00:43] within those genres there's an even

[00:45] larger amount of mangas to choose the

[00:47] last thing you want to happen is you go

[00:49] to the store and you buy a volume or

[00:51] you're surfing the web and you order

[00:53] something you spend all this time

[00:54] getting your hands on a specific volume

[00:56] just to realize that you don't even like

[00:59] it and you wish you didn't even get it I

[01:01] personally suggest before you make the

[01:02] decision to purchase a manga volume to

[01:04] go over a couple of ground roles is the

[01:06] series actually good or been given

[01:08] Praise by people in the community do you

[01:09] actually like the series or is it just a

[01:11] hot new thing right now and you're just

[01:12] going along with the hype is this series

[01:14] something you could see yourself

[01:15] revisiting in the future cuz remember

[01:17] this stuff isn't digital code that you

[01:19] could just buy and forget about just

[01:20] like the hundreds of games that you

[01:22] probably bought during the steam winter

[01:23] sale that are just rotting away in your

[01:25] library never going to be touched you're

[01:26] not going to play these games I know you

[01:28] these are physical things that you're

[01:29] buying probably going to buy a lot of

[01:31] too this stuff it sticks with you so

[01:33] make sure you're sure about your

[01:34] purchase before getting something I

[01:36] personally own all of promis Neverland

[01:38] and Demon Slayer and I'll be honest I'm

[01:39] not the most thrilled about having these

[01:41] in my collection both of these series I

[01:43] mainly just blind bought because there

[01:44] was a lot of hype going on around the

[01:46] anime at the time I definitely took a

[01:47] risk and I'm not trying to say that

[01:49] these two series are bad they're just

[01:50] personally not for me after reading a

[01:52] couple of the volumes I just realized I

[01:54] wasn't really too into it like everybody

[01:55] else and that's okay I do still have

[01:57] them on my collection cuz they look nice

[01:59] but do wish if I could go back in time

[02:02] that I would have spent the money on

[02:03] something else that I would have cared

[02:05] about more and I know it could be tough

[02:06] sometimes to figure out if a series is

[02:08] actually worth it there's some series

[02:10] that are incredibly popular and there's

[02:11] so many people online glazing it and

[02:13] then others that only have one singular

[02:15] Reddit post from a dude 7 years ago

[02:17] named deleted user saying it's the

[02:20] greatest or worst thing in the world

[02:21] thank you deleted user for your

[02:23] contribution who are you judging the

[02:25] quality of a series can be really tough

[02:27] sometimes so here's a couple of things

[02:28] that you could do number one try to find

[02:30] the series online try to read a couple

[02:32] of chapters of it and see if you

[02:33] actually like it do you like the

[02:35] characters do you like the artwork do

[02:36] you like the Direction the Story is

[02:38] going in if not don't get it number two

[02:40] you could watch different YouTube videos

[02:42] on people who actually check out manga

[02:44] here's a couple of creators that I think

[02:45] are pretty cool and could give you some

[02:46] pretty good advice on what you should

[02:48] check out number three you could just

[02:50] ask people online in a bunch of

[02:51] different communities I don't personally

[02:52] know any communities that I could

[02:53] recommend to you to go and check out but

[02:55] I will say I do have a Discord server

[02:57] with a ton of people who really like

[02:59] manga in it so if you're looking to ask

[03:00] some people who know a thing or two

[03:01] about manga jump into the server and go

[03:03] ask them I'm almost positive they're

[03:05] going to help you out if you're

[03:05] interested in joining I got a link down

[03:07] below for you to check out and while

[03:08] you're at it hit the Subscribe button

[03:10] man what kind of bookshelf are you going

[03:12] to get this is also something you kind

[03:13] of have to think about cuz you don't

[03:14] want to just buy a bunch of manga and

[03:15] then have nowhere to put it I mean

[03:18] actually you could I don't I don't

[03:19] really know how you live your life I

[03:21] personally like putting my books on a

[03:22] bookshelf so that's what we're going to

[03:24] talk about over the years my collection

[03:25] has changed a lot I've gotten so many

[03:27] different bookshelves here's what I

[03:29] could recommend if you're looking for

[03:30] something on a budget go for something

[03:31] on a budget my first couple of

[03:33] bookshelves were like $20 ones I bought

[03:35] at my local Target or Walmart these did

[03:37] the job just fine were they the best

[03:39] quality in the world no but they at

[03:41] least held books and that's exactly what

[03:43] I needed them for over the years I

[03:45] slowly started buying more and more

[03:46] manga and my collection started getting

[03:48] bigger and bigger and bigger so that's

[03:50] why I have these three giant bookshelves

[03:52] right behind me these two right over

[03:54] here were a gift and then this one I

[03:55] bought at Ikea for $70 now maybe $70 is

[03:59] is crazy for you and you can't really

[04:01] justify buying that for your collection

[04:03] and that is completely okay for me

[04:04] personally it just made sense plus I

[04:07] don't think it's ever a bad idea to

[04:08] invest in a bookshelf because

[04:10] bookshelves can hold more than just

[04:11] books they could hold other things this

[04:14] is getting really obvious find something

[04:15] cool find something in your budget and

[04:17] just go with it okay so let's say you do

[04:19] have an idea of the type of manga you

[04:21] want to start collecting should you just

[04:22] go all in and Splurge a bunch of money

[04:24] on buying the entire series no it's

[04:27] probably really cool to see a giant

[04:28] collection like this and be in inspired

[04:30] and motivated and want to go to the

[04:31] store and spend a bunch of money to get

[04:33] something quite similar to this at least

[04:35] that's how I was when I was first

[04:36] collecting but honestly the best piece

[04:38] of advice I can give to you is just to

[04:40] take it slow that's currently where my

[04:42] mindset is at with collecting manga and

[04:44] I feel like it's changed everything I

[04:46] collect manga at a lot slower of a pace

[04:48] now for a couple of reasons number one

[04:50] it's because it's easier to manage and

[04:52] keep track of everything that you have

[04:54] and number two it just makes it so that

[04:55] the hobby never becomes stale for I

[04:57] found that the act of prolonging the

[04:58] manga collection construction actually

[05:00] allowed for me to prolong the journey

[05:03] make me enjoy it a lot more because it

[05:05] prevented me from ever doing too much

[05:07] and then getting burnt out also you

[05:08] should make sure you leave yourself

[05:10] enough time to read the Manga I found

[05:13] that whenever I have spent a bunch of

[05:15] money on manga like I've splurged a

[05:17] bunch on a giant manga order I would get

[05:19] so excited that I had like 50 new

[05:21] volumes 60 new volumes and I'd end up

[05:24] not reading some of them as a result

[05:26] there was just so many options to now

[05:27] choose from to read that I'd end up

[05:29] forgetting about the ones that maybe I

[05:31] didn't care about as much I personally

[05:32] have a lot going on in my day and I have

[05:34] a lot of manga so one of my best

[05:35] strategies for getting through my

[05:36] collection is just reading manga right

[05:38] before I go to sleep and speaking of

[05:39] sleep I want to take a second to thank

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[05:53] to give myself a nice recharge I know

[05:55] it's a little obvious but it's bright

[05:56] during the day and that makes it really

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[06:00] mask completely gets rid of that problem

[06:01] by blocking out all the light in your

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[06:21] you man to sleep let's continue the

[06:22] video now I feel like you should have a

[06:24] pretty good idea of the types of mangas

[06:25] that you want the type of bookshelves

[06:27] that You' be putting them on and how

[06:29] fast you should collecting your series

[06:30] now let's talk about the type of series

[06:32] you should actually be collecting for

[06:34] anyone just starting their manga

[06:35] collection I would always recommend to

[06:36] start off with just focusing on two

[06:39] series one ongoing one and one that's

[06:41] already been completed now you might be

[06:43] wondering why why would I do that well

[06:46] first of all committing to only two

[06:48] series to start off your manga

[06:49] collection depending on what series they

[06:51] are of course is actually a pretty

[06:54] simple task please for the love of God

[06:55] do not be the person who starts off

[06:57] their collection with 10 different

[06:59] volume ones of 10 different series

[07:01] they're planning on collecting because

[07:02] your collection is just going to look

[07:03] messy you're not going to know which

[07:05] series you should start investing your

[07:06] money in first to actually complete

[07:08] first and it's just going to be a lot

[07:10] and then you're probably just going to

[07:11] not do anything and just be left with a

[07:13] bunch of volume ones I get it there's a

[07:15] bunch of series out there that look

[07:16] really cool and you want to collect them

[07:18] but when you start doing this you're

[07:19] going to start killing your own

[07:20] motivation and momentum manga

[07:21] collections are really fun once you

[07:23] actually start seeing some results it is

[07:25] a lot more filling of having 10 volumes

[07:27] of the same series as opposed to 10

[07:29] volumes of completely different Series

[07:30] so anyway getting back to it why should

[07:32] you collect one ongoing and one

[07:34] completed series well the ongoing Series

[07:36] has the purpose of prolonging the

[07:37] journey typically new volumes for a

[07:39] series take about 2 months to be

[07:41] released which is actually really great

[07:43] the ongoing series is going to have the

[07:44] purpose of bringing you back into the

[07:45] hobby whenever you go to the bookstore

[07:47] and see that a new volume has been

[07:48] released you're going to get pretty

[07:50] excited and buy it and slowly and slowly

[07:51] as you're doing this you're just getting

[07:53] one step closer to completing the entire

[07:55] thing now I also recommend collecting a

[07:56] series that's completed now because it's

[07:58] going to keep the collection interesting

[08:00] now whenever you go to a bookstore

[08:02] you're probably always going to be able

[08:04] to find a volume that you actually need

[08:06] a lot of these completed series just

[08:07] kind of rot on the shelves a lot of

[08:09] people are only going to the bookstore

[08:11] to buy the stuff that's currently being

[08:12] released so a lot of these older volumes

[08:15] they're always there so might as well go

[08:16] and pick them up okay now let's say you

[08:18] know the series that you want to collect

[08:19] but there's one issue you go to the

[08:21] bookstore and you're going to start

[08:22] collecting them but there's different

[08:24] versions of the book which one do you

[08:27] get this right here is volumes 85 86 and

[08:30] 887 of one piece and this right here is

[08:35] volumes 85 86 and 87 of One Piece just

[08:38] it it kind of looks a little bit

[08:40] different this right here is three

[08:41] single manga volumes and this right here

[08:43] is an Omnibus that is a combination of

[08:45] these three volumes this is a case-by

[08:46] casee scenario not every single manga

[08:48] you're going to be collecting is going

[08:49] to have these variety of ways to collect

[08:51] them but when you run into a scenario

[08:53] like this which one should you get so if

[08:55] you wanted to only collect the single

[08:56] volumes each one would cost you about

[08:58] $12 at at the moment whereas with the

[09:00] omnibuses I believe they cost around $17

[09:03] so if you do the math if you're

[09:04] collecting the omnibuses you're going to

[09:06] save a lot more money but should you

[09:08] personally I would say especially with

[09:10] the paperback versions of the omnibuses

[09:12] these are always a pass in my eyes

[09:14] unless you're purely collecting just to

[09:16] catch up with the story itself I don't

[09:18] like how these look the volume overall

[09:20] is made with a lot cheaper of a paper

[09:22] quality compared to the regular

[09:23] individual volumes plus I'm a guy who

[09:25] just really likes manga covers and this

[09:29] this is is not fun to look at this is

[09:31] really boring if you're looking to just

[09:32] catch up on a story and you're on a

[09:34] budget then omnibuses are definitely the

[09:36] way to go but if you're actually looking

[09:37] to grow a manga collection spend the

[09:39] extra couple of dollars and buy the

[09:41] single volumes I think it'll be more

[09:42] worth it in the long run also oh my God

[09:44] I almost forgot about this these down

[09:46] over here are my vegab bomb volumes and

[09:48] they're three in one omnibuses now I

[09:51] just said you shouldn't really be going

[09:53] for these and I know um it's a little

[09:55] contradictory but I think these are

[09:56] really cool cuz when you put them

[09:58] together they have a connecting spot

[09:59] it's a tiny little detail that I just

[10:01] personally really liked and made me go

[10:02] the extra mile to actually go out and

[10:04] collect all of these but I did run into

[10:06] a big issue om many buses as I said are

[10:08] cheaper in print quality and this book

[10:11] while I was reading it um the pages the

[10:13] pages fell out of the book

[10:16] so yeah look at this this is this is

[10:19] horrible there's a couple of solutions

[10:20] for this number one I could figure out

[10:22] how to rebind the book but I'm not going

[10:24] to do that or number two I could also

[10:27] invest in a different version of vegab

[10:29] bom that just released see not only do

[10:31] mangas have single volumes and omnibuses

[10:33] but they also have hard cover volumes

[10:36] like this right here for berserk now

[10:37] vegabond also has one of these that is

[10:39] releasing at the moment I already own

[10:40] all of vegabond and read it all so I

[10:42] don't really feel like spending the

[10:44] extra 50ish dollars just to get them in

[10:47] hard cover volumes I don't know it just

[10:49] it doesn't make sense to me at the

[10:50] moment hard cover Deluxe editions what

[10:52] do I think about them they're pretty

[10:54] cool I would definitely say if there is

[10:56] a series you are checking out and they

[10:58] have a deluxe edition

[10:59] I think you should go the extra mile and

[11:01] actually just purchase it I do really

[11:03] think these are worth it especially with

[11:04] series with Incredible art berserk for

[11:06] example the artwork is amazing and dude

[11:09] let me just tell you whenever I'm

[11:10] showing off my manga collection to

[11:11] someone they are always looking at the

[11:13] hard covers first these catch people's

[11:15] eyes when they're on a shelf and for

[11:16] good reason they look awesome V Saga up

[11:19] here these are hard covers they look

[11:20] pretty cool JoJo's Bizarre Adventure up

[11:22] here they're hard covers they also look

[11:23] pretty cool while we're on the subject

[11:25] of different versions of mangas that you

[11:26] could buy let's not forget about

[11:30] the box sets I have a decent amount of

[11:32] them and I leave them all up on top of

[11:34] my collection cuz I just think they look

[11:35] nice the first 70 volumes of one piece

[11:37] that is currently in my collection was

[11:39] all brought to me because of box sets

[11:42] these things are awesome maybe some of

[11:43] you guys out there don't really know

[11:44] what a box set is so let me explain it

[11:46] really quickly let's say there's a

[11:47] series with 24 volumes instead of buying

[11:50] the 24 volumes individually for $12 each

[11:53] a box set will bundle them all together

[11:55] and sometimes be at an even cheaper

[11:57] price so you could buy the series in

[11:58] both for less money that's pretty cool

[12:00] so as opposed to spending over $1,000

[12:02] for over a 100 volumes of one piece I

[12:04] spent around5 six maybe $700 which is

[12:08] still a lot yes but keep in mind that

[12:10] the remaining volumes from volume 71 all

[12:12] the way up to 107 I didn't buy with a

[12:15] box set and there is a new box set that

[12:16] currently released for One Piece box set

[12:18] number four but it wasn't out at the

[12:20] time when I was collecting the entire

[12:21] series there's a ton of different box

[12:23] sets out there for Naruto bleach

[12:25] assassination classroom Dragon Ball if

[12:27] there's a series you really enjoy and

[12:29] that you want to commit to I do think

[12:30] you should spend the extra money and buy

[12:31] a box set plus when that box set is in

[12:34] your hands and you get to look at all

[12:35] the volumes oh my God the dopamine Rush

[12:37] is insane saving money so box sets are

[12:39] the first thing I could definitely

[12:40] recommend for when someone asks me how

[12:42] they could easily save money on manga

[12:44] buying manga at your local bookstore

[12:45] it's pretty nice but wow is it expensive

[12:48] this is actually the primary way I buy

[12:50] my manga the only reason I do it is

[12:52] because I have a YouTube channel so

[12:54] manga shopping videos are kind of

[12:56] interesting and people like watching

[12:58] them so I the bullet and instead of

[13:00] buying the manga online for a cheaper

[13:02] price I spend the extra couple of

[13:04] dollars just to make an interesting

[13:05] video for you guys that's primarily how

[13:07] I buy my manga now back before I had

[13:09] this YouTube channel it was a bit

[13:11] different manga volumes can definitely

[13:12] be purchased for a lot cheaper if you

[13:14] buy them online now there's a couple of

[13:17] options you can do for this you could

[13:18] probably go on eBay or some kind of

[13:20] marketplace to buy manga off somebody

[13:22] else because honestly some people just

[13:25] don't really want their collection

[13:26] anymore and they're just trying to get

[13:27] rid of these volumes so you can end up

[13:28] getting getting a bunch of books for a

[13:30] pretty good deal now I've never done it

[13:32] so I don't really want to give you any

[13:33] tips or strategies because it would just

[13:35] be a lie I've never done it before so

[13:37] why would I tell you what to do when I

[13:39] literally have no knowledge on it

[13:40] another thing you can do which I have

[13:42] done is look at websites that sell manga

[13:44] the big website I used to use back in

[13:46] the day was right stuff anime but now

[13:48] they've been bought out by crunchy roll

[13:50] and crunchy roll I have purchased off of

[13:52] their site they do sometimes have pretty

[13:53] cool sales for manga so I would always

[13:55] keep an eye out for that another website

[13:57] that I use is just Amazon Amazon is

[13:59] pretty quick at delivering your manga

[14:01] and also sometimes the prices are

[14:02] cheaper than MSRP there's a bunch of

[14:04] different sites out there that sell

[14:05] manga or you could just join different

[14:07] discords or communities and just ask

[14:09] people if anyone is selling anything I

[14:10] do get lucky though sometimes my local

[14:12] bookstore will have deals like buy two

[14:14] get one free on manga or buy one get one

[14:17] free on manga that's a lot of the stuff

[14:18] I wanted to share with you hopefully you

[14:20] found something in this video helpful

[14:21] subscribe to the channel and go watch

[14:22] some of my other videos goodbye guys