Two.
Two posts in 2015 (before this one). Two. Sheesh. Maybe I can improve on that in the next couple of weeks. Before I get into reviews, some housekeeping:
1. I know I owe gnine some fanfic recs; should I post them here? (This is like that "anyone who's not here, raise your hand" joke...) If there's somewhere else that you would see it sooner (email or ( Read more... )
1. I know I owe gnine some fanfic recs; should I post them here? (This is like that "anyone who's not here, raise your hand" joke...) If there's somewhere else that you would see it sooner (email or ( Read more... )
As an aside, I am really happy to see so many titles in Amazon now with Kindle links. (Clarification: I hate reading manga on Kindle. But anything that is available for reading on Kindle is probably also available on e-book japan, which has an AMAZING ipad reader.)
I would still always want to have favorites in paper version, but I used to feel, in the run-up to a Japan trip, that I had to buy ALL THE BOOKS or risk discovering a gem too late and having to order it and pay exorbitant shipping. Or wait two years until the next trip. While Kindle prices are not as cheap as used from Japan, the difference between ~400 yen used and ~600 yen Kindle is sooo much better than ~400 yen and $10-12. And with the enormity of my backlog, it makes a lot of sense to just wait to buy a book until it rises to the top of my mental pile and I'm actually ready to pick it up and read it.
Thanks especially for the pointer to Hiso-Hiso silent voice - that has been in my ?? list for a while. (?? being "Should I follow up on this?") In fact, haha, I apparently have only volume 2, which I'm certain must be because s-vamp gave me one of her extras at some point. I should definitely throw in 1 and 3.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
... and, ironically, that title was the only one out of the current crop of reviews that didn't have a Kindle link. I noticed, because I was checking each one.
Manga is hard!
I highly approve of emanga storytime in principle. Actually, I'd love to see what a Japanese emanga looks like on the iPad mini - I wonder if the smaller screen will make much difference.
Reply
The screen of the Mini is only a little smaller than a BL manga (I think it's bigger than a shoujo or shounen manga--though with shounen I tend to read in landscape, because of the two-page spreads, and it is a little small for that).
Reply
Cool! Good to know.
I'm curious - what does a monthly shopping order look like for you these days? Do you have a set of sites you check for e-book availability before you decide to throw a physical copy in the Amazon shopping basket? Do you pretty much stick to one e-book source only?
I'm aware of several resources (Amazon Kindle, Honto, E-Book Japan) but have only ever bought one or two titles on each of those, so I haven't fully established a pattern. Ebi is definitely emerging as my personal favorite so far.
Reply
I browse EBJ once in a while to see if there's anything I want to buy. I don't plan purchases on any specific interval. I love to try new things with e-books because I don't have to worry about shipping fees or getting rid of the book if I don't like it (or, worse, decide whether or not to keep it if it's just okay). Sometimes, when I'm putting together my monthly order, I'll see something that I'm not sure about buying, but if there's a digital version, I will go ahead with it.
(sad fact: if I'm not sure whether I want to get it, but there's a special paper, I will probably buy it. I may have a problem.)
I sometimes buy from Renta! if what I want isn't on EBJ. Both have good quality, but I like to keep as many of the books together as I can, and they have separate apps for reading, so. (I also think Renta's ticket system is stupid and gimmicky, but whatever.) I pretty much never buy from Amazon or Honto because I find their quality sub-standard. (It's been long enough that I guess that may have changed, though, I don't know.)
Reply
I can't speak for Honto (I think it's been a while since I bought from them) but I just bought Bukiyou na Silent 5 on Kindle, and it looks as terrible as ever on the Kindle Paperwhite. (There is a story behind why I did this which would just make me look stupid if I explained, so don't ask. ^_^;;)
I have no idea if maybe it would look better on a Fire, but I'm not about to buy a Fire to find out. And if I want to view it on the Kindle App on the iPad, I have to erase all the content from my American Amazon acct in order to activate the Japanese one, which is just a pain.
I do like how novels look and read on the Paperwhite, so I'm most likely to buy novels from Amazon rather than EBJ.
Reply
I have it set so the Kindle app is my Japanese account, and I use the Cloud Reader for my US account. You can pin whatever you want in CR so you don't need internet access for it, too.
What I find awkward about the novels I've bought on EBJ is that the default text size is GINORMOUS. I don't need to be turning pages every five seconds, thanks.
Reply
Thanks for the reminder about Amazon Cloud Reader. I think I had that set up at one point, but got frustrated with it and deleted it - I don't remember why, maybe because at the time I was trying to use it to read novels and look up vocabulary words with a Kindle dictionary (a function which works far better on a native Kindle).
Anyway, as an experiment, I switched my Kindle iPad app back to the Japanese store and downloaded BnS 5. BnS 5 does indeed look far better on the iPad than it does on the Kindle Paperwhite, so that's a good thing.
I would still prefer to keep as many of my ebooks as possible in one place, and EbiReader has been the superior of the platforms so far, so no real change, but... scientific findings.
Reply
Yeah, I wouldn't expect manga to look good on the Paperwhite, honestly. Once it's in the Kindle app, does it look as good as the best EBJ manga, though? The ones I got (from Amazon and Honto) didn't look bad, exactly, but I saw them and thought I could never switch to digital manga.
At some point (especially if I buy much stuff in other apps), I'm going to have to start cataloging my digital manga, maybe into a separate shelf in BookPedia? Just kind of annoying because there's no barcode scanning.
Reply
That being said, I love e-book manga, and am feeling less and less need to duplicate with paper copies.
Reply
While I completely understand that reasoning, it makes me a little sad, because I've always gained so much from poaching off your shopping list (as in poaching ideas, not ninjaing the manga!). Still, I have your & Amparo's "potential to buy" lists for that, so. While I still think I'll be focusing on manga over doujinshi (or at least equally with doujinshi), it really would be nice to have lighter suitcases coming home this time. Deferring more purchases to e-manga would definitely help with that.
I have mixed feelings about the prospect of doujinshi shopping. While I'm sure I will have some priority items on my list, I get really uncomfortable when it comes to competing for scarce items. At least it always felt like it wasn't that hard to find multiple copies of manga we all wanted.
I know it's every fangirl for herself and all that, but I feel like you do so much of the research that I rely on to construct my shopping list, and you deserve to reap the rewards rather than having to compete with me (or whoever) for stuff you recommended in the first place.
It would be awesome if you guys shove duplicate copies of things you recommend at me - I'd be a lot happier knowing that I'm not taking away someone else's prize.
Reply
(I WILL fight anyone who tries to get between me and dull's MidoTaka doujinshi, but I honestly don't expect anyone else to care about those, so I don't foresee a problem.)
Reply
Leave a comment