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This sounds too good to be true. Need your opinion
Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 12:57 am
by Sheky
http://tinyurl.com/2ntgd
Is this legit? This is dirt cheap; the price actually includes shipping! Is the quality of the paper or printing really subpar? Anyone out there have the Chinese version? I figure since I don't know enough Japanese to read it might as well just buy the cheapest version. What worries me is the quality though. I've seen some Chinese manga that are printed on really cheap quality paper. Almost newspaper like. Yuck!
Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 1:05 am
by burrowowl
It's 2.1kg, so I doubt it's a cd
That's not too good to be true at all. It's ~$5.40 per book. Less than the Japanese charge themselves? Yes, but that's the way market forces work. Especially when you're Hong Kong.
Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 11:31 am
by TakCWAL
thats actually quite expensive.
I had ordered all 28 volumes of Kenshin from overseas, and that only cost me 68 dollars US including shipping.
Its sad... and I even consider that quite expensive. Back in the day, all I had to do is head to my local bookstand and buy manga for 2 bucks a piece... *Sad*
Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 1:20 pm
by burrowowl
TakCWAL wrote:Its sad... and I even consider that quite expensive. Back in the day, all I had to do is head to my local bookstand and buy manga for 2 bucks a piece... *Sad*
$54.00 is about eight hours at minimum wage. That's one workday. At minimum wage. Maybe nine hours after taxes (people on minimum wage with any deductions don't pay a lot other than payroll taxes). It isn't expensive.
Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 3:35 pm
by Sheky
TakCWAL wrote:thats actually quite expensive.
I had ordered all 28 volumes of Kenshin from overseas, and that only cost me 68 dollars US including shipping.
Its sad... and I even consider that quite expensive. Back in the day, all I had to do is head to my local bookstand and buy manga for 2 bucks a piece... *Sad*
This must be a local store right? I'm having a hard time finding TenTen manga online without having feel like I've been violated prison style. The shipping is just outrageous. Like Amazon.co.jp. The shippig costs more than the books and it doesn't even include the duties that'll hit me once it reaches Canada.
Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 4:57 pm
by Dembol
Sheky wrote:This must be a local store right? I'm having a hard time finding TenTen manga online without having feel like I've been violated prison style. The shipping is just outrageous. Like Amazon.co.jp. The shippig costs more than the books and it doesn't even include the duties that'll hit me once it reaches Canada.
I preordered volume 12 and EMS shipping costs from Japan to Poland are almost the same as the product cost
So I settled for cheaper mail service...but it's still expensive
Ah, well...I'm goin' to Chicago for holiday so I plan doing some serious manga shopping then ...
BTW...anyone knows any good comic/manga shops in Chicago??
Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 10:36 pm
by Agent_Wax
From the picture, that looks like the ComicsWorld Hong Kong edition, which has pretty good printing quality and decent paper. They're licensed copies, so they're legit. Doesn't really sound cheap, considering that it may be 2nd hand. Not too expensive, either, but you might want more proof of authenticity. The reason why I don't buy stuff online is because you can't check out the quality of the product before buying it... you wouldn't want to end up with 1 legit volume and 9 pirated ones...
Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 10:45 pm
by Sheky
Agent_Wax wrote:From the picture, that looks like the ComicsWorld Hong Kong edition, which has pretty good printing quality and decent paper. They're licensed copies, so they're legit. Doesn't really sound cheap, considering that it may be 2nd hand. Not too expensive, either, but you might want more proof of authenticity. The reason why I don't buy stuff online is because you can't check out the quality of the product before buying it... you wouldn't want to end up with 1 legit volume and 9 pirated ones...
Comparing the ComicsWorld version with the original Japanese one, which would you say has a better quality in terms of the printing and paper?
Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 10:14 am
by TakCWAL
Its usually the same. Though the translations might be abit off as it is translated from a 3rd party source.
"$54.00 is about eight hours at minimum wage. That's one workday. At minimum wage. Maybe nine hours after taxes (people on minimum wage with any deductions don't pay a lot other than payroll taxes). It isn't expensive."
Huh? What does this have to do with the price of manga overseas and the acquirement of it?
Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 9:23 pm
by Agent_Wax
TakCWAL wrote:
Its usually the same. Though the translations might be abit off as it is translated from a 3rd party source.
The chinese translations are from Japanese directly.
Comparing the ComicsWorld version with the original Japanese one, which would you say has a better quality in terms of the printing and paper?
Frankly, I've only ever bought 1 volume of Japanese manga, Gantz 8, which had paper quality similar to the chinese language standards. However, I understand that paper quality in Japanese manga can be quite variable. In chinese editions, print quality is about the same as in Japanese editions, unless you buy pirated copies, but the paper quality is often quite standard: kind of like what you find in UJ (perhaps a little better or worse). Don't expect Tokyopop quality white paper, which hardly ever occurs except in special editions. The Taiwanese editions of Ragnarok (the Tsukasa Kotobuki one, not that game-related arse) was printed on really good, crisp and thick white paper, but this is the only instance I can think of where such high quality paper was used.