Japanese manga loot
With the second volume of Amano Kozue’s latest manga “Amanchu!” having been released last week, couldn’t pass up on acquiring it after having enjoyed the first volume of this terrific manga.
As I also got the original Japanese release for “Aria” volumes 6, 7 & 8 when I picked up “Amanchu!” volume 1, added “Aria” volumes 9 to 12 to my Amazon Japan shopping cart to complete that series. Did cringe at the exuberantly high shipping cost though, it surpassed the combined value of the five manga volumes.
Love both “Aria” and “Amanchu!”, they are truly enchanting manga combining wonderful art and story by Amano Kozue, reading the original Japanese is also excellent practice to increase my reading skills and comprehension.
While do already have “Aria” volumes 1 to 5 in English from Del Rey/Tokyopop, ponder if I might get those volumes in Japanese one day as well… for now have sufficient reading material to let myself happily be pulled into the enchanting world Amano Kozue has drawn.
Astute viewers may also spot another new acquisition in the photo.
Wow, that Amanchu! cover art is gorgeous! I’ve always liked the look of the ARIA art work, but I really look forward to a collection of works (ideally as well done as the past ARIA art books ^^).
Beautiful loot ^^ One day, I will buy japanese novel (Zero no Tsukaima or Toradora). I don’t read japanese, but.. I am a fangirl lol
I wanna get some aria manga too. I should save some money. I didn’t know about Amanchu, but Ill get it as soon as I can too
(っていかアリアの絵や背景は思ったよりもずっと上手ですごい。買いたい！)
I picked up the entire set of ARIA in Japanese for the artwork. The first run ADV versions came close with quality, but I’d consider the Tokyopop ones to be subpar (changed cover art, lower print quality, lack of color pages).
Also, don’t forget to get AQUA 1 and 2!
@nat
While I wasn’t too charmed by the first few large illustrations Amano Kozue did for “Amanchu!” and the first manga volume you feel she’s still searching her way in drawing these new characters, they’re not really becoming gorgeous and this latest cover art is indeed simply stunning. ^^
@Leonia
Without furigana, light novels are still beyond my current level too. >_<
But hopefully some day when my Japanese has sufficiently progressed.
@Sergio
そうですね。天野こずえ先生の絵はいつも完ぺきです。本当に大好きですよ。
I wasn't sure about getting the full series right away so went for Amazon, but you may be able to find a full series set second hand on Yahoo! Japan Auction for a decent price.
@Asian Ed
When Tokyopop announced they were doing the manga, I was just happy to simply being able to get the English version. But as my Japanese has progressed, now prefer going for the Japanese version.
Actually have Tokyopop's releases of "Aqua", might need to grab the original someday too.
I wonder how Aria look like in a manga when you don’t have voices and the charming sound atmosphere.
Alicia-san “Ara ara” is so cute to hear i might miss it while reading ;p
@Katsura-chan
Personally I saw the anime first before ever starting on the manga, which I see as an advantage because I could just imagine hearing all the character’s voices when reading it. ^^
Definitely nice buys. This mangaka is one of my favorites. His characters are just too cute.
The covers of the manga look great!
@Katsura-chan
I started with the manga first when it was released in the US by ADV, far before the anime was announced. I really enjoyed the slow pace of it and didn’t have too much trouble with imagining voices. ^.^
When reading, I’d actually picked Kikuko Inoue (voice of Belldandy) for the role of Alicia… Turns out she actually did the voice for one of the first drama CDs!
Just a recommendation, if you can get your hands on the ADV version of ARIA 1-3, do pick it up. They’re of much better print quality than the TokyoPop versions, and were where a lot of the fansubs of the series took their queues from (i.e. “Pigtails” instead of “Sideburns” and “Embarasing lines are prohibited” instead of “Sappy lines are prohibited.”)