Sunday, December 17, 2017

Why I don’t like digital-only manga: four series I can’t check out from the library!

While I certainly don’t mind having the option to collect manga digitally I am a little put out by the sheer number of digital-only manga titles coming out these days. They’re largely being put out by Kodansha USA and while I have several little complaints (they put out so many it’s hard to keep out, they release them so quietly I never see any buzz, etc) but my chief complaint is that I can’t check them out from the library! 

There may be some way for my library system to get say, a kindle or comixology version of these manga for patrons to check out, or heck maybe even try to make Overdrive do something useful for once, but as far as I know my library system hasn’t done this so I’m just bummed out. I’d love to read these series but heck, I can’t even keep up with buying series that I already love, I can’t keep dropping money for new stories sight unread!

So, here are four titles that I’d love to read but haven’t yet (and skipping over the elephant in the room, Chihayafuru, and skipping over the couple that actually have gotten later print releases).


  • Ayanashi - Honestly the premise of this series sounds like a REALLY gritty take on The City of Ember but this title is so new I haven't come across any reviews of it yet on my blogroll. Hey Kodansha, I'm game, I'll totally review this if you send me a copy! ;D
  • Drifting Dragons - It has dragons, I’m in. No seriously, there’s a lack of good, dragon-inclusive fantasy in general right now so I’m open to trying anything with a decent sounding or better premise!
  • Sayonara Football - Okay so my friends who finished this little, 2 volume series, say that it actually wasn’t that good but I still wish I had a chance on my own to read this sports story about a girl trying to make it in a guy’s soccer league.
  • Shojo Fight - More sports manga about women! This one I have seen some chatter about at least over at the Manga Bookshelf and heck yeah I wanna try out a sports series about a sport (volleyball) that I have experience with!
  • Okay since Sayonara Football wasn’t apparently that good I’m gonna toss one more on to make up for it, Wave Listen To Me. This is another one that I’ve read a bit on and it sounds cool? It’s about a girl and she’s on the radio?? (This is why I’m sad that there’s not as much chatter around these manga, I feel so woefully uninformed!)
  • You know what? This is my blog and I’m already doing an entire “12 Days of Anime” post that’s entirely on manga so one more title for the road: Yozakura Quartet. I loved the Hana no Uta anime remake back in 2013 but it had a bit of a non-ending since the manga is still on-going and man the manga is getting long now. This was one of the first series that Kodansha USA started releasing digital only, it’s at 19 volumes in English now, and that’s really long enough that I’d prefer to read it via a library in case it takes a turn for the disappointing later on (because I can’t even count the number of times that’s happened to me before). I guess this is where I should take advantage of my  “”library school contacts”” and see if I can find out any way to get my library to buy these digital-only titles after all….