Thoughts on original Japanese language manga

[Samurai]

Having lived in Japan for 2 years, I bought and shipped home a massive collection of original Japanese language manga... over 1600 books, all unique issues, no duplicates. It's probably one of the larger private collections of its kind in the US... I don't know of anyone besides Kinokuniya Books in SF's Japantown that has more original Japanese manga.

So what are your thoughts on them? If you can find the same book in a translated version, is the Japanese version much less desirable, or is it considered a bit of a collector's item? If the book has never been translated, is it more valuable than one that has been, especially if it's by a popular artist? How much would you say such a book is worth, theoretically? Would you ever pay as much for a book in Japanese as you would for one in English, or does the fact that it's harder/impossible to read seriously harm its value?

I'd like to hear your thoughts and opinions on the subject...

[Sanagi]

It's worth less to me if I can't understand it. I would only consider getting Japanese language versions of stories I'm already familiar with, for the experience of seeing what the original incarnation of it was like.

This is part of why I tend to be more into anime than manga - with subbed anime, I can pretty much have it both ways.

[Thorlief]

I can find original mangas pretty easily, so I wouldn't spend more than I'd do for the translated version. If we're talking about, for example, Lupin the Third original ones yes, I could spend a bit more

[Pikachu]

America has "Book-Off" too, so finding original language manga isn't difficult.

You can find lots of imports at Comic-Cons, Anime-cons, etc.

My collection of original Japanese language manga is probably around 3,000 volumes of manga, but that's just me.

However, I've only read about half of that, and now I'm going back and re-reading everything now that my Japanese is good enough to understand it all.

So there's really no 'collective' value for me personally, but I tend to collect more manga than American comics just because I can afford to buy more.

For the price of one American trade paper back I can buy five or six full volumes of a collected manga series. That's like buying 6 years worth of art and stories for the price of an American trade, which ever only collects 12 issues on average. Manga, is hands down, more affordable. And probably the reason I splurge more on manga than American books.

Plus there are more genres to pick from. And I'm addicted to books like "Addicted to Curry." A series you would NEVER see in America. So, of course, I had to buy it -for that--and for the fact that it is a highly entertaining, funny, and very informative about curry.

:rolleyes:

Pika!

[Alex L]

My Japanese isn't nearly good enough to read untranslated manga.

So I, personally, wouldn't buy it. I'll pay the premium US price so I can read it. :)

[Ghost]

Well, obviously I have no use for a manga I can't even understand. If you can speak and read Japanese, however, it's probably rather giving. (Especially considering how fond the Japanese are of puns, wordplays and other stuff that's hard to translate.)

[Domo Goddess]

I like having Japanese manga that isn't available in the USA
( BRONZE ZETSUAI SINCE 1989 / Angelique / etc.)
Those two series aren't available in English to my knowledge.

[Samurai]

My Japanese isn't nearly good enough to read untranslated manga.

So I, personally, wouldn't buy it. I'll pay the premium US price so I can read it. :)

After 10 years of atrophy, my Japanese is very weak now, and it was never that good. But I enjoy the artwork, and back in 1996-98 when I bought them, very few Manga were translated into English. It has really exploded the last several years, though I'd say well over 2/3 of my collection still isn't translated yet, and probably never will be. Plus, the price was cheap... $4-5 each for new books, $2-3 for used. That was such a bargain that just appreciating the art and what I could puzzle out of the story was worth it IMO. (At the time, most translated manga was $15-20 here, the smaller size and lower prices were not available yet).

[Alex L]

I remember the $18 Ranma books put out by Viz. I'm not quite that new to the game. ;)

But it wouldn't change my answer. My knowledge of kan'ji is horrid (maybe 2-400 at this point) and it would simply take too long for me to translate, and I wouldn't be able to enjoy the book if I can't remember what a character said two pages ago, because I've spent so much time and focus on reading everything said after that.

So I would still pay the premium.