Recently I was tagged by Ash Brown of the Experiments in Manga blog to join in the game of Manga Tag that been making the rounds of manga blogs and vlogs. I thought it would be fun to join in and share some pictures of the manga I have stacked all over the house.

1. What was your first manga? The first manga I ever bought was the first 10 volumes of Dragon Ball in Japanese back when the Southern California Kinokuniya first opened. And I do still have them in a storage box. I didn’t get into manga in English until the early 2000s. My first English-translated manga was Dragon Knights from Tokyopop. I was looking for something at our local comic shop and the title grabbed me.

2. What is you most expensive manga? I’m such a bargain hunter that I rarely pay over cover price for anything. The closest I’ve come to it the deluxe hardback edition of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin. It’s one of the few titles that I will pay close to cover price for.

3. What was your least expensive manga? Being such a bargain hunter I have a lot of titles that I’ve paid half price or less. I also spent a lot of time trading manga, where I just had to pay the shipping. Of course, free is the least expensive of all, and I got that from Matt Blind of the Rocket Bomber blog. He sent me Triton of the Sea Vol 1, an extra copy he got from the original kickstarter.

4. What is the most boring manga you own? Project X: Seven-Eleven is probably the most boring title I own, which was kind of a let down for me since I had been really looking forward to reading it. I really enjoy origin stories of any kind, and I thought getting to see how Seven-Eleven became such a dominant force in Japan would be interesting. It wasn’t. It was one of the driest stories I’ve ever read.

5. What is your favorite series? Master Keaton is my absolute favorite series right now. I got my degree in Anthropology, so learning that there was a manga about an Anthropologist set in the 1980s, it was just a must for me. I was so thrilled when Viz licensed it, and it did not disappoint. It is the one title that I will pre-order no matter what else is going on in my life.

6. What is the most relatable manga series you own? Kimi ni Todoke is probably the most relatable manga I own. I could see a lot of myself in the lead, Sawako. I don’t think anyone thought I was a horror movie monster, but I’m generally rather shy and have had few friends, but the ones I did have were always extra special to me.

7. What is one manga you own based off an anime? RahXephon is one of the few manga I own that was based on an anime. My husband liked the anime series, so we got the manga to check it out. I really enjoyed it, more than the title it gets criticized as being a rip off of, Neon Genesis Evangelion.

8. What is your rarest manga? My rarest manga has to be volumes 7 and 8 of Excel Saga. They seem to be notorious for not only being hard to find, but also expensive when you do. I was lucky enough to be able to trade for them way back when, before anyone knew they were going to be so hard to find.

9. What is the most reprinted manga you own? I have to go back to Dragon Ball for most reprinted. It’s had 4-5 prints now? Not counting the floppies. Large trim, small trim, VizBig, Viz 3-in-1 and now the soon to be released all color. I prefer the small trim, since it’s the closest to the original Japanese release, with the scene of all the characters chasing the dragon with the dragon balls on the edge.

10. What is the most popular manga you own? Attack on Titan is the most popular manga I own at the moment. I wasn’t going to jump on this particular bandwagon. I didn’t really care for the first chapter preview. But I started at vol 8, in the middle of the action, and I have been hooked ever since. I almost went with Full Metal Alchemist, but with all the spin offs that AoT has gotten that I’ve also enjoyed, I just have to go with it.

11. What is the most damaged manga you own? Knockout Makers Vol 1 is my most damaged manga. I picked it up after hearing it being compared to Beauty Pop, and wanted to see if and how similar it was. But then we took in a dog who found books to be a fun way to amuse himself, and this volume fell victim to his gnawing. I still have it, thinking I’ll try to read it someday.

12. Which manga has the most amazing art? The seemingly obvious answer to this question is A Bride’s Story by Kaori Yuki. The attention to detail she puts into every chapter really is fantastic, but that would be too easy. Instead I’m going to go with the series I just finished reading, Genkaku Picasso by Usamaru Furuya. The art not just for the series, but for the images Hamura is compelled to draw, is just amazing.

13. What is the oldest published manga you own? My oldest published manga in Japanese is Space Pirate Captain Harlock. I discovered him in the mid to late 1980s, and tried to get everything I could about him. I found three volumes of the manga at the old Books Nippon in Los Angeles. My oldest published in English would probably be The Heart of Thomas.

14. What is newest published manga you own? My newest published manga is Chi’s Sweet Home The Complete Series. Even though I already have the individual volumes, the added bonus chapters of Fuku Fuku made this one I really had to have.

15. What are some of the most recent manga you’ve purchased? My most recent manga purchase comes from bargain hunting at Books Outlet. I found four Seven Seas Entertainment titles I was either missing or wanted to check out; Lizzie Newton Mysteries Vol 2, Young Miss Holmes Vol 5-7, and Arpeggio of Blue Steel Vol 1-2.

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I thought I’d also show off some of my book shelves. These are most of the ones that are actually organized to some extent. The black bookshelf my husband built. We have a matching shelf for our non-manga books right next to it. The bottom shelf is empty due to the dog’s propensity for chewing on anything down that low. The pictures are at a weird angle because these shelves are located down a narrow hallway, and I can’t get a full picture of them any other way. The maple bookshelf was also built by my husband and goes from the floor to ceiling. It was the first book shelf he built for me, and was supposed to last a while. It didn’t. Only one shelf is double stacked in these pictures. My unorganized shelves (not pictured) are double stacked.

Since this is meant to be a game of tag, I suppose I should tag someone else to be “it.” So I throw out the challenge to Ken Haley of the Sequntial Ink blog and Tony Yao of the Manga Therapy blog. And to any readers of my blog who haven’t done so, feel free to answer any of these question in the comments. I would love to hear from you.