They are seriously marking up the prices.
Titles to be included in new Shoujo Beat magazine. Among the titles are NANA by Ai Yazawa and Zettai Kareshi by Yu Watase. Cool. This provides you with another reason not to buy untranslated editions of NANA at Borders for $12.99.
3:40 pm on February 8th, 2005 1
One can (I suppose) always order “un-dubbed” manga via Amazon.jp — shipping costs are high, as one can expect, but there’s bound to be a wider choice. I’ve ordered children’s books and CDs from them on several occasions, haven’t actually looked for manga, but I’d be astonished if it wasn’t there.
Don’t read Japanese? I assure you, Amazon.jp looks more daunting than it is — they does have a button marked “English” that does much of the translation for you. You can search in Romaji (transliterated Japanese). Beyond that, you need only know that the Amazon sites are set up alike. You can always set up two browser windows, one with .jp and the other with .us, and go through the ordering process in tandem, by way of hand-holding.
You do need to set up a separate account for the .jp site (as opposed to the .uk or .de or .fr sites), but that’s also quite easy, and you can use the same username and password.
Gambatte, kudasai! (Try your best! Good luck!)
4:26 pm on February 8th, 2005 2
I’m sure I’ll check out amazon.jp for manga sometime — so far I’ve been relying on http://www.sasugabooks.com or a trip to a city with a kinokuniya
2:10 pm on February 9th, 2005 3
[tries to bow politely without looking utterly ludicrous] No Kinokuniya within reach, alas. (Not having a car doesn’t help much, either.) However, thank you for the tip on Sasuga Books! … I think. My budget is whimpering already.
8:03 pm on February 9th, 2005 4
Sasuga is good — sometimes it might take some extra time to get your order in, but I’ve had no problems with them. I regret that there isn’t a Kinokuniya near me, but I think I’ll have to stop by the New York City store when I’m there next week