Forum - View topicUnpleasant Surprises
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Richard J.
 Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
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I am now solidly in the "I hate people who read manga in stores" camp. In fact, I'm not just in the camp, I'm the camp Commandant.
Have you ever bought a volume of manga and discovered only after you got home that there was a serious problem? Last night, I was finishing a little marathon of Ai Yori Aoshi and had the unpleasant surprise of finding out that my copy of volume 9 has about four or five pages ripped right the hell out of it! 
I picked up volume 9 a little while back and didn't read it immediately because at that time I was in a more action-oriented mood. I had no idea pages were missing because the volume is in such great shape otherwise and it looks just fine. I can accept some shelf wear and maybe few scuffs but this just pisses me off. Anyone else had a similar experience? Not necessarily intentional damage either, serious print defects count too. Ever been reading through your manga only to find an enormous ink blot in a pivotal scene or something similar? |
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GoodLuckSaturday
 Posts: 567 Location: Indiana |
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That sucks. That must have been a steamy set of pages if someone's going to rip it out of the book though. 
I've been extremely fortunate in getting manga that's printed the way it's supposed to with all pages in tact, except for a few that have slight alignment issues. However, there have been exceptions. When I bought Reborn! Vol. 1, I got home to find out the book was printed upside down. Usually, I at least flip through a volume of manga at the store, but I guess this was a case of something I knew I wanted, so I didn't even bother flipping through it. Fortunately, I was able to get it squared away. Also a number of pages in GTO: The Early Years Vol. 3 seem like they were printed at the end of the printing ink's life or lazily since in addition to alignment issues, a lot of the pages are in very faded ink. Nothing I can't decipher, though. |
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Pinkwings
 Posts: 234 |
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I do flip through manga when in a book store but I dont actually sit there and read the whole thing. I agree that thats annoying. That really sucks that that happened to you. This just proves that people shouldnt be reading in the stores. Especially if they damage the books.
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Mylene
 Posts: 2792 Location: Indiana |
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I've gotten into the habit of checking the pages of my manga before I purchase them. In part because I know a lot of people sit around reading them and not purchasing them (although I haven't seen anyone do that since I've moved to Indianapolis), but mainly because I got home one day with a copy of Murakami Haruki's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle to find out that the printer had done something really weird. Pages had been folded over and stuck into the binding (and were blank for the most part.)
Aside from the lighting in a few stores keeping me from realizing just how yellow the paper of the manga was already though, I haven't had any bad 'surprises' with my manga--and certainly not related to a previous reader. |
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Monumension
 Posts: 268 Location: Norway |
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I had a somewhat disappointing experience with Battle Royale vol. 2 a few years ago. These mangas were shrinkwrapped so there were no way I could verify the condition of the books. It turned out the print was so blurry and had darkened the contrasts to the point that some of the artwork - the art was a huge reason why I bought it - were impossible to figure out. To top it off, this was also the book where the gaps and plot-holes in Tokyopop's translation began to appear rather frequently with disastrous results, something that ultimately lead to my decision to buy the Japanese mangas instead.
On the plus-side, you don't have to worry about people reading shrinkwrapped series in the stores. Most of my M-rated series are in mint condition. |
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Truered
 Posts: 515 Location: Uni |
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So far the worst I've had is slight cuts on the spine. However I do have a few store brought books to read through.
If it's a series I'm new to I'll quickly flick through it to make sure I like the artwork and have an idea of the story. However I don't bother reading any (I always happen to be the only person in the entire store looking at manga when the 'cool' gang comes in shouting and laughing hysterically  )
I've seen quite a few people sit down and read parts of books- yesterday a guy would sit down, read for a few minutes and get another book. So no nasty surprises...well except finding out the volume 1 and 3 of NGE i brought are flipped and larger then the usual range currently sold 
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kyokun703
 Posts: 2505 Location: Orgrimmar |
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I bought a volume of Sorcerer Hunters from Borders, and had to return it because whoever had read it in the store must've been eating a chocolate bar or donut or something, because there were chocolate fingerprints in it.
I've also started buying my manga from Amazon, because the Borders where I live got tired of shoplifters prying out the temporary security strips and have replaced them with PERMANENT security strips. So when I tried to remove them I ended up ripping the cover, which completely pissed me off. I complained to the managers, but they did nothing about it, so I said screw it, and stopped buying from them. |
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Richard J.
Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
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I usually check the pages when I buy manga but this gap is fairly close to the end so I probably just missed it. (From now on, my examinations will be more through.) If anyone has a copy of volume 9 of Ai Yori Aoshi and would like to tell us if the missing pages were especially steamy, the missing ones start at the fourth page of chapter 74. The page before the gap has Chika-chan all excited over the group arriving at a public bath/spa. After the gap is Kaoru noticing a kid staring at his scarred back. kyokun703: That's terrible what your Borders is doing. I've had the most problems with Borders lately and hearing that just convinces me that I've been right to start avoiding them. |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Unfortunately I haven't had anything happen to me like that, maybe it's because I buy Japanese comics or something. But, it isn't limited to the US though. While I haven't seen ripped comics or anything like that with stuff I've bought, I have gone through magazines in convenience stores and seen certain parts of pages missiing. I think it so happened there were some "scenes" in those missing parts of the pages.
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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All manga in Taiwan, regardless of age rating or country of origin, are shrinkwrapped. Perhaps American licensors can follow suit.
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Kelly
Posts: 868 Location: New York City |
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That's the bottom line - buyer beware if you buy anything that could have been pre-read. If you really want to be 100% sure you have to either buy shrinkwrapped or from a reputable online store. I've never had a problem, but I also try to walk over to my store on the first day something I'm interested in is released. I've had very good luck doing that, I'm assuming because few people have had a chance to sit down and read through the volume yet. It's really a shame things have to be this way because some obnoxious people abuse browsing privileges. The stores must still ultimately profit from allowing browsing though, otherwise it wouldn't be worth their while to allow it. They must still make more money by getting people hooked on series than they lose because of experiences like Richard J. had. |
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PantsGoblin
 SubscriberEncyclopedia Editor  Posts: 2969 Location: L.A. |
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People take the shrinkrap off anyway in order to read them, I doubt putting it on all of them would help, unfortunately. It honestly annoys the hell out of me when I see people reading manga at the store. Last time I went I saw somebody who I assumed was trying to read all of Negima that has come out. I saw him reading one volume, then put it back in and go to the next... It's a pretty common sight. Because of this, I usually buy manga either online, or from a store that I know enforces the "no reading in the store" policy. One store that I know of that enforces that is AnimeGamers. A lot of their books are already rapped in plastic (not shrinkrap, plastic that they've added themselves). And even if someone attempts to try reading them, the manga is right in clear sight of the register, so no one ever does it. That and also I like to buy from them since they have the dust jackets already on their manga so I don't have to send in something to them to get it. |
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Truered
Posts: 515 Location: Uni |
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Yesterday stuck in my mind as it was the first time I've seen it go on for so long. And it was paperback horror novels not manga. And it didn't annoy me. What annoyed me was a few weeks earlier when a guy blocked off the solitary manga rotating colume (sic) as he read in some detail through about three books for ten minutes before leaving with none. |
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Treetastic
 Posts: 164 Location: Canada |
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I haven't really seen much of that going on in my local Chapters- it could be, though, because the manga display is next to a frequented employee entrance.Although I was going to buy a volume of dot hack there a while ago, and they were all covered in green glitter glue. Maybe it was some kid or an employee who didn't wash their hands, I don't really know. But they haven't replaced the soiled volumes in several months... and it's not like many people read dot hack anyway.
Although sometimes so many people read a single volume that it becomes bent out of shape. It's a bit annoying, though you can't blame them.
Helpful (generalised) tip for store patrons: the copy three from the front is usually in the best condition, if the manga are stacked outwards. People tend to go for the front or the back, but not usually the middle. This is only if you really want to buy from a store; personally I like the printing-quality-check that comes with that, but to each his own, really.
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Pessimistic Angel
Posts: 24 |
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The only safe practice is either to check your book quality yourself, or have the store hold a cope for you.
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