??? People have said this?
To answer your question, if you're looking for secondhand/back issues of Japanese publications, your best bet is the local Japanese supermarket (or department store, if you live in a big city). In my experience, most of these have a manga/light novel/entertainment media section, so if you ask the staff they might have some excess stock that they would be happy to offload at a bargain price (if not completely free of charge.)
edited 30th May '11 6:01:17 PM by zeroplusalpha
Play Again? Y/NIf you're talking about the Japanese manga magazines, my understanding is that they're treated like newsprint. Really cheap ink on really cheap paper, and people throw them away when they're done reading them. Older stuff would only be preserved by collectors, and they're not gonna sell them cheap (obviously, because they're collectors).
I have the mentality of "enjoy now, pay later". That includes buying and not just downloading. Unless I'm dying to support something or want something really new and shiny, I often go for what gets me the product rather that what supports the creators. Like buying used or downloading. I buy lots of used things, but oh the proportions of things I can own if I buy used! I want to have lots and lots of manga. Because I like having lots and lots of manga. It's a treasure of sorts, to me.
And paper cheapness? I have a Poster of Jpop duo W on my wall that I got in a Shounen Jump issue years ago when I was in Japan. And I seriously take obsessive care of that thing. I wish I could have more things like that rather than treating it as this precious resource I'll never be able to renew.
edited 30th May '11 6:59:40 PM by Ukonkivi
Genkidama for Japan, even if you don't have money, you can help![1]
Respect the Red Right Hand
Antique malls make it easy to find obscure early-90's manga that got published in issues for $1-3 a pop due to the whole COMICS BOOM of the Dark Age.
Those tend to be only for old Western comics, though. I've rarely seen comic stores sell manga on the cheap. The most they'll have are sales on certain days, you should check with whoever runs 'em.
Alternatively, GO EVIL CORPORATE, sign up for a major retailer (Borders has pretty good deals compared to Barnes and Noble's), but they send out coupons on a whim, too.
Conventions tend to have discounts as well.
Was Jack Mackerel. | i rite gudYou can try used booksellers like Cheapo, Half Price, etc. depending on how large a city you live in. Many of them now have manga shelves which mix the translated stuff with random non-translated volumes that have come in. Won't quite be in volume, but you might find some surprising deals. (Found a Captain Tsubasa volume in Spanish at one such, just as an example.)
Yeah... I kinda want the bulk thing. I've already bought some manga on Amazon for .99 cents. But after shipping it became around 4 dollars. For that sort of price, I'd be good to find a whole lot of manga for around that price, then pay around $20-30 shipping. If I buy enough, maybe I can get $3 or so per volume or even less, after shipping and all other costs. If I pay enough and get it all from one source.
Thing is, I don't know how to do that. And I don't live anywhere near a large city. I live in Hot Springs Arkansas. The closest "big city" I live by, is Little Rock Arkansas, an hour's drive away.
edited 30th May '11 9:01:50 PM by Ukonkivi
Genkidama for Japan, even if you don't have money, you can help![1]There are shops that sell used manga, and they're pretty cheap. Unfortunately, the only other place I've seen that's close to these kinds of shops outside of Asia is a Japanese bookstore in Piccadilly Circus (London).
You might just be looking at a trip to Japan, I'm afraid...
Play Again? Y/NDarn it, people say so many bad things about Japan as a country and insult people who travel there.
But there are so many unique advantages to going there, all the way down to darn comics. Thousands and thousands of things I can't do anywhere else no matter how many ways around it I try to make. Darn it, if I have the guts to get out of this mental perspective I'm in now and go back to Japan, I am not spending hardly a dime on manga in comparison to other things. Heck, I might not even check the internet but once a month.
Yeah, if I'm doing this, I'm not going to Japan. And if I'm going to going to Japan, I'm definitely not doing this. I like the various aspects of Japanese culture much better than manga. And the last things I'd want to do is look like an otaku, while in Japan, anyway.
edited 30th May '11 9:33:39 PM by Ukonkivi
Genkidama for Japan, even if you don't have money, you can help![1]You don't have to be an otaku to buy manga. Lots of people do this over there who aren't.
If you're ever there, I don't see any reason why you can't go shopping for things you're having trouble finding elsewhere.
Play Again? Y/NI might buy some sometimes. But if I was living in Japan or traveling there for an extended period, like 3 months or so. I think I would live a radically different lifestyle than I do now. Like to me, as embarrassing as it is to admit, merely walking around and seeing the landscape/towns, what the homes are like, browsing the local shopping areas, the gas stations, looking out over the rice fields, visiting shrines, and so on and so forth. These are much more valuable to me than doing something like owning and reading manga at all. I usually don't admit that online because that offends and disgusts people and usually leads me to becoming ostracized from internet communities. But... it's sadly true. *cringe* Yeah...I ... suck. Sorry. Pretend I didn't say anything, everyone.
Wait, bringing up that subject. Why are you even recommending I go to Japan? Isn't that... delusional? Wrong? Bad? Stupid? Wapanese? Degenerate?
edited 30th May '11 10:31:02 PM by Ukonkivi
Genkidama for Japan, even if you don't have money, you can help![1]Why the fuck should we care if you think that's more important? If you think it's more important you think it's more important. If anything I am cringing at the fact that you seem concerned and affected by our opinions, but eh.
Like what you like and punch people in the face if they give you shit. Except not really. Because punching people in the face can get you in trouble and isn't possible over the net.
As for going to Japan and being "Bad". Again I find it much, MUCH more annoying that you care and that you are assuming such things from others.
edited 30th May '11 10:32:33 PM by Aondeug
If someone wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, then that's their business. We know what we're doing. - Achaan ChahWell there's lots of reasons to visit Japan, as you've mentioned yourself in the previous post. (Pop-culture is relatively low on the list, but it's still quite fun to experience.)
I'm just saying that Japan might be the only place you can get the stuff you want at the prices you want. I understand that it's a very long way from where you live, so it wasn't really intended as a particularly practicable suggestion.
Play Again? Y/NWell plane ticket prices are usually commensurate with the distance to be travelled.
Having said that, I'm almost sure that you can get a decent deal if you book far enough in advance these days. (You're still looking at the better part of 1000 USD though, so yes, I know it's a lot of money.)
Play Again? Y/N

In b4 "but buying used isn't any better than pirating".
I want more, I'll pay full price for new later. This is especially true of Japanese issues. Japanese Shounen Jump often has Japanese actors and actresses and cool Japanese advertizements on there. And I like Japanese advertizements so much(this sounds really silly, doesn't it?) I'd practically pay for them, despite the fact the economic logic is supposed to work in the reverse. They're fun to collect/look at because they've from another culture.
But enough of stuff I can be made fun of for online, is there a place I can properly do this? Like, get a stack of used manga for $200? I would do oh so much of this. It would be like a grab bag of awesome every month.
Genkidama for Japan, even if you don't have money, you can help![1]