Many fans love the following titles, but I do know of quite a few people who are put off by the lengths of Naruto, Bleach, Dragonball, One Piece, etc. They’re all hovering around 30 – 40+ volumes right now which equals $330 to $440 in the pocket department. I’m single and very frugal with my income, so I’m happy to be not having problems with my expenses. Families, however, are looking to cut back more and more.

If they haven’t already, sooner or later, they’ll start to eye their children’s purchases or wants. Manga/Anime aren’t particularly educational, so I bet they’ll be some of the first products to go. 100% written novels like Harry Potter or Twilight are in a safer zone. They don’t carry the stigma that American comics, Japanese manga an anime sometimes do because of the fanservicey or artwork factors. I.E. the inclusion of artwork is considered childish.

Children and younger, jobless teenagers don’t hold all of the interest. However, they do make up an important part of it. Everytime I go to Barnes&Noble or another bookstore I often see this set asking their parents for money in order to read these types of graphic novels.

Anyway, I’ve access to them at my local library too. I think many people forget that aspect. If you can’t afford Anime/Manga head to your library and see if they’ve any there. Sometimes they sell them when they’ve a used book-sale as well.

Sorry to hear that you and your brother have given up reading manga. The prices aren’t going to go down. The Japanese edition can be cheaper, because they don’t have to pay licensing fees, translator’s salary, a letterer, and an editor to oversee all this.

You’re only other option is to learn Japanese. Then you will get the books cheaper, and have access to more titles than you could read in one lifetime.

One of the reasons shonen jump is doing so good is low prices. They are going to disappear if they don’t put it back. I went to a manga store and IMPORTED manga with better paper was four dollars cheaper. They need to make it cheaper, not more expensive. In this economy, manga is not a thriving enterprise.

This will tick off alot of people. XD

This will make more people read online, something they don’t want.

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