I went on a manga quest today. It was a concerted effort to find manga books online. Sure, I can buy them from amazon; in fact, if I was somewhat broke and still craving my manga fix, I could browse ebay and find manga-related goods at fantastic prices. Yes, some of them might be dodgy and of questionable quality but I did color myself rather broke and desperate, didn't I?

Well, success was with me. At the end of my search, I had made a handy list of sites that sell different genres of manga. My checklist for sizing up a site wasn't strictly limited to pricing: I also took into account availability of hard-to-find volumes, presence of a bargain section and additional manga goodies.

Dvd.co.uk

The first one was called dvd.co.uk. I must admit the prices are not that different from ones on amazon. However, it does differ, between sites, from volume to volume and can thus add up nicely when buying a lot of books. Another plus is that this place delivers to numerous locations outside U.K. I noticed that Vampire Knight was available (woot!) and was offered priced below 4.50 pounds. I am guessing shipping and handling is where money leaves your wallet, swiftly and with style?

Forbidden Planet

Then there was Forbidden Planet. Alright, so I checked out Angel:After the Fall first and then dived into the manga section. It was the price for Angel that encouraged me to explore this site; most sites markup that graphic novel while this site is more forgiving towards a budget shopper. Well, that's what it looks like so far. Vampire Knight is also looking nifty (5 pounds) but it is disheartening to see a small selection of hard-to-find manga. Their sale offers certainly add to the appeal. Did anyone else notice that Trigun was priced for just under 3 pounds? Am I bookmarking this site? Oh yes!


Play

This is where I throw in one of my personal favorites, Play.com. They have this wonderful secondhand section which can be a blessing to students. By the way, they almost always have a wonderful sale going on and thus a lot of goodies are marked down to attractive prices. You know, the 'I'm definitely taking you home' sort of attractive. Sadly they only have some of the more popular titles so this will strictly be a frenzied budget-buying stop. Then again, it has some of the best prices for Ouran Host Club.


Borders

A lot of folks recommend Borders for great manga deals and I can see why. It has a list of popular titles, all marked at good prices and also includes some hard-to-find manga. To be fair, their average price for a manga is not that different from other sites; Ouran Host Club probably costs less at Play.com or even amazon. However, do note that they have a used section where eager buyers can rummage through secondhand goodies. Here I was able to find Death Note for just under 3 pounds. But do you know what really won me over? They are one of the few places online that seem to be selling Black Blood Brothers. 


Sasuaga Books

I found Sasuga Books via the Manga Helpers' forum. This particular link actually has a great breakdown of their services. They are considerably more expensive than most other sites but it has its appeal to the die-hard fan. For the hardcore manga fan who wish to collect the Japanese version of the manga, this might be an excellent source. While you are at it, check out the vast number of manga magazine subscriptions offered by the site.