×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
Manga Organizational Methods


Goto page 1, 2  Next

Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Manga
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Not a Jellyfish



Joined: 21 Feb 2007
Posts: 539
Location: Boston, MA
PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 10:31 pm Reply with quote
I've just moved and I'm looking for ideas on how to best organize my collection. I have over 800 volumes and find it hard to squeeze on to only a few shelves.

So, what's your method? Title (my previous method)? Size? Publisher? Wherever it lands on the shelf?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address
PiercingArrow



Joined: 14 Jan 2010
Posts: 193
PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:03 pm Reply with quote
i just put my favorite series at the top the shelve, then the least favorites goes all the way down just like ranking em, its easier and better for me that way.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Pleinair



Joined: 23 Jan 2010
Posts: 92
Location: Texas, USA
PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:47 pm Reply with quote
Alphabetical by title is all I can do with my 900+ Volumes, otherwise it becomes so confusing for me to find any one series...

Edit: As for Oversized, They have their own individual shelf that is, as of this weekend, no longer enough space. *sigh* Drat you Ranma 1/2, and my hopeless quest to own you.


Last edited by Pleinair on Tue Feb 09, 2010 2:16 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address Yahoo Messenger My Anime My Manga
zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7361
PostPosted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:58 am Reply with quote
I've got around 400 volumes or so and my organization is pretty much non-existent. A few of my shelves can't fit oversized so the ones that can get filled up with oversized first. Then whatever else fits is the general rule. But since I have to make every row double deep, I try to put the series I like more in the front row if at all possible (I'd like to put Please Save My Earth in the front row, but it's just not gonna happen). It's easy enough to find stuff in the front rows but how I find thing in the back rows still eludes me too Razz

Once I get better shelves though...I plan to still have one of those odd organization systems in which I'd obviously be the only one who knows wtf I did or where anything is. Yes, it will be intimidating for anyone new to looking at my collection, but oh well. I do tend to clump most of the oversized stuff together though, that's the closest thing to a pattern I have. I don't really see anything wrong with that sort of system, I know where everything is and it makes looking through my collection interesting because you never know what I've put next to what (Death Note is actually right next to Seven of Seven as of right now).

Who knows, I'd like to organize it like I organize my PS2 games though: by genre. While my PS2 game genres might be things like "JRPGs", "music", "platformers", "action-adventure" and "I have no idea where to put this", I'd imagine my manga would be more like "tezuka", "horror", "sci-fi", "shonen/adventure", "comedy", etc. and if it doesn't work just go back to "favored" and "less favored"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Tamaria



Joined: 21 Oct 2007
Posts: 1512
Location: De Achterhoek
PostPosted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 3:10 am Reply with quote
Size - language - title

So there are a few shelves with oddly sized manga, also known as the awesome shelves. The Viz Signatures usually stick close to all those old (flipped) editions, but that's about all the organisation those shelves are going to get. Oh and Tezuka has his own shelve.

The German Editions all neatly fit on my longest shelve, except for Adolf, Blue and Rosen von Versailles. Those three stay on the awesome shelves.

The Dutch editions have a few corners and shelves here and there. Akira, Nausicaä and the Dragonball kanzenban are on the awesome shelves, the other books may or may not be nomadic. They tend to live in neatly ordered stacks and the completed series stick together.

The English DVD-sized editions occupy most of the shelves. I had to stack some books and series on top of eachother to save space. For instance, Bleach is a stack on top of my bookshelves and it won't be long before it reaches the ceiling. It's a good thing we don't have earthquakes. Before this stacking-thing it managed to completely obscure Saint Seiya from sight. It was kinda symbolic and/or ironic.

I need more shelves...

(Oh yeah, I own 1300-something volumes)

If you think that is too organized, you could always use the Velma-method. Just start somewhere, put a series you associate with it next to it and continue until it all leads back to Velma. (09:20)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Manga
jjwitdaheydiddydiddy



Joined: 26 Dec 2006
Posts: 45
PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 12:51 am Reply with quote
Pleinair wrote:
Alphabetical by title is all I can do with my 900+ Volumes, otherwise it becomes so confusing for me to find any one series...

Edit: As for Oversized, They have their own individual shelf that is, as of this weekend, no longer enough space. *sigh* Drat you Ranma 1/2, and my hopeless quest to own you.


That really is the best way (I assume by Oversized, you mean Omnibus), and that's how I keep mine. I keep my yaoi separate, though, and those aren't really arranged at all. I had them by size (because they're all different), but... I don't have a lot of them, so it doesn't matter.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
marie-antoinette



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 4136
Location: Ottawa, Canada
PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 7:19 am Reply with quote
Pretty much the only organization I have is that I have a separate area for manga that I'm currently collection and manga that I have the entire series for (with some overlap since the former shelves have less room than the latter). And, among the completed stuff, series by the same mangaka are side by side (I have a Watase Yuu shelf and a half).
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
EireformContinent



Joined: 30 May 2009
Posts: 977
Location: Łódź/Poland (The Promised Land)
PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:47 am Reply with quote
Mixed with the books:)
(I feel nearly ashamed when I read about your collections- I wish I could afford to buy 10% of manga and DVDs I wanted)
The highest (and most visible for visitors shelf) is reserved for the most representative ones: from manga: German edition of Lady Oscar, old American MKR, polish Ten no Hate Made from other comics: League of Extraordinary Gentelmens and some Star Wars hard-covers. Others are on the lower ones, according to their sizes. On the floor, nest to them stay boxes with old manga and Star Wars magazines.
Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball and FMA stays in my sister's bedroom- they took too much place.
Or it was so as I was leaving home- with bleeding but not broken heart I had to leave nearly everything behind. Luckily sales in a nearby bookshop let me to make shelves here less empty:)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
IzanaginoOkami



Joined: 18 Aug 2008
Posts: 55
Location: USA
PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:53 am Reply with quote
by publisher easy to find a series than by look at my shelf for a while to find a book
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Tamaria



Joined: 21 Oct 2007
Posts: 1512
Location: De Achterhoek
PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 10:12 am Reply with quote
EireformContinent wrote:
Mixed with the books:)
(I feel nearly ashamed when I read about your collections- I wish I could afford to buy 10% of manga and DVDs I wanted)
The highest (and most visible for visitors shelf) is reserved for the most representative ones: from manga: German edition of Lady Oscar...


Hey, I think it's awesome you own Die Rosen von Versailles Smile
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Manga
littlegreenwolf



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 4796
Location: Seattle, WA
PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 10:31 am Reply with quote
I own too many, and after having giant piles fall on my head several times over I decided to sort them out as follows:

Completed series in the back, on going in the front. That whay I don't verge on killing myself tying to add a volume to a series in the back.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail My Anime My Manga
EireformContinent



Joined: 30 May 2009
Posts: 977
Location: Łódź/Poland (The Promised Land)
PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 12:17 pm Reply with quote
Tamaria wrote:
EireformContinent wrote:
Mixed with the books:)
(I feel nearly ashamed when I read about your collections- I wish I could afford to buy 10% of manga and DVDs I wanted)
The highest (and most visible for visitors shelf) is reserved for the most representative ones: from manga: German edition of Lady Oscar...


Hey, I think it's awesome you own Die Rosen von Versailles Smile

Yes, it is, especially that manga and anime were one of the things I've bought from my first money earned by myself- 12 euro (cheaper back then than today) per one volume x7. Even now I let my guests to touch it only when they wear gloves:P
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Pleinair



Joined: 23 Jan 2010
Posts: 92
Location: Texas, USA
PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 1:23 pm Reply with quote
jjwitdaheydiddydiddy wrote:


That really is the best way (I assume by Oversized, you mean Omnibus), and that's how I keep mine. I keep my yaoi separate, though, and those aren't really arranged at all. I had them by size (because they're all different), but... I don't have a lot of them, so it doesn't matter.


Nah, Oversized BL(yaoi) and omnibuses, or manga that is just two inches too big all around, they are all alphabetized together on a separate (now different than before) shelf, and while I don't have a lot of BL, it is a good portion of these oversized manga. Silly June printing everything huge and conspicuous. Very Happy
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address Yahoo Messenger My Anime My Manga
Not a Jellyfish



Joined: 21 Feb 2007
Posts: 539
Location: Boston, MA
PostPosted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 2:02 pm Reply with quote
I really like seeing how many different ways people organize their shelves. Being a Bibliophile and working in a bookstore, I find this very intriguing. My regular books are sorted in a way that only I can really figure out and my default for manga has always just been alpha by title. But seeing all these other methods, I may have to go with a personalized method for my comics as well.

I really like the idea of an awesome shelf. It amuses me. Laughing
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address
poonk



Joined: 05 Jun 2008
Posts: 1490
Location: In the Library with Philip
PostPosted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 2:45 pm Reply with quote
Pleinair wrote:
jjwitdaheydiddydiddy wrote:
I keep my yaoi separate, though, and those aren't really arranged at all. I had them by size (because they're all different), but... I don't have a lot of them, so it doesn't matter.
Nah, Oversized BL(yaoi) and omnibuses, or manga that is just two inches too big all around, they are all alphabetized together on a separate (now different than before) shelf, and while I don't have a lot of BL, it is a good portion of these oversized manga. Silly June printing everything huge and conspicuous. Very Happy
Seems a lot of us run into the same problems-- running out of shelf space. I used to have only a single stand-alone bookshelf-- "regular" (non-BL) manga was crammed onto the top 3 shelves and the BL stuff was kept out of sight (as I would any adult material) behind the sliding doors on the bottom 2 shelves. Well, years later, the BL-to-non-BL ratio has grown significantly-- it's about 230 to 110 (and that's even including tamer stuff like Gravi, Fake, Demon Diary,and Eerie Queerie in the "regular" category Shocked ) so I keep having to buy shelves with doors (and once my latest Amazon order arrives I'll be shopping for yet another shelf). Like many of you, I tend to group the oversized ones together (yes, mostly June releases) so as not to waste so much space, not to mention it just looks nicer. With my "regular" manga I have no problem stacking them horizontally on top of the vertically-shelved titles, all the way up to the next shelf. A lot of the BL titles, however, have slipcovers which makes me hesitant to stack other books horizontally on top of them because that tends to ding-up the covers quickly.

After size, it's arranged alphabetically. Though I have made some exceptions to this-- for example, putting Maybe I'm Your Stepping Stone right after I'm Not Your Stepping Stone because it's a sequel of sorts. Same goes for any other "sequel" that has a different title. Granted, my collection isn't anywhere near as large as some of you (800? 900? 1300!?) so it's not like I'm in danger of not being able to find something if it were disorganized, but it does please my slightly OCD-tendencies to have my manga in order-- even if the rest of my apartment looks like a unicorn rode in on a tornado and threw up all over it (i.e. a brightly-colored chaotic mess). Maybe someday I'll submit some pics, though I suppose the only people who would appreciate them would be other BL fans so maybe not. Wink
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Manga All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group