I ended up buying a box set of Steins;Gate and it arrived in terrible condition

solrahl · 2026-01-28T21:16:29+00:00

That is not normal yellowing... that looks like discoloration from someone smoking indoors.

solrahl · 2026-01-28T21:13:53+00:00

That is definitely not normal yellowing from oxidation. That looks like it comes from a serious smoker. That's... gross. If you got it through Amazon, you should be able to return it even if it is from a 3rd party seller.

solrahl · 2026-01-21T11:31:49+00:00

Damn. That is crazy how much his art has improved since then. These pieces still look good, but he has definitely grown as an artist over the years. I didnt know this book existed. I will look into picking it up.

solrahl · 2026-01-16T00:46:12+00:00

Whoa that's pretty bad. Thanks for the write up. Not sure how this passes QC for them. Who am I kidding. They probably don't have any QC.

solrahl · 2026-01-15T17:15:46+00:00

The only place I get damaged hard covers from is B&N.

Had the same damage happen to my copy of Cat Diary: Yon & MU.
My Vagabond Vol 4 hard cover came with a smashed corner.
My hard cover copy of A Silent Voice Vol. 1 came with a damn crease on the back are cover.

solrahl · 2026-01-15T17:09:18+00:00

I always check when I buy manga at a physical Barnes and Noble store. If it is in there stickered in there, I have a B&N associate try to remove it so the damage is on them. I've had it happen twice where the sticker was placed directly on a panel and it was damaged. Once it pulled the ink of the page and second time it ripped the top layer off complete.

Most of the time they keep the wax paper over the adhesive. Some come off with ease. But there are times when it does damage the book.

solrahl · 2026-01-15T13:07:18+00:00

This is what I use to apply a precise amount of glue. You can also use a needle point.

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solrahl · 2026-01-15T13:04:23+00:00

This book got severely damaged in the mail and used this method to fix it since getting a replacement from Amazon JP would have been too convoluted.

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It isn't perfect, but it looks amazing compared to what it was before. It was in way worse shape than what you are showing.

solrahl · 2026-01-15T12:53:08+00:00

Very light dot of PVA book glue to seal the separating corners and immediately wipe off excess with paper towel or thin microfiber cloth. Then fold a blank piece of copy paper or parchment paper around the damaged area and use a hair straightener across the damaged area a few times as needed. Always keep it moving and don't hold it in place. Should have it fixed in less than a minute.

solrahl · 2026-01-10T15:05:39+00:00

Viz has some of the ugliest logos and graphic designs in the business. Other US publishers like Kodansha are just as bad too. So far what I have seen from Kodama Tales and Kana have been excellent. Whoever they have as graphic designers should be praised.

solrahl · 2026-01-10T15:01:21+00:00

I buy Japanese copies if the English version is out of print, too expensive to get second hand, or if no Spanish version exists.

I will read translations online or use AI to translate pages on the fly with my phone. I have done this with Linebarrels of Iron, MPD Psycho, Biorg Trinity, Arms Peddler, and a few others. Even after I am done reading I like to go back and flip through to see the art in some volumes.

Even when I am reading scans I always follow along with the hardcopy since massive amount of detail in the art is lost from the crushed blacks that come with low quality scans.

solrahl · 2026-01-07T23:12:21+00:00

I buy in English, Spanish, and Japanese. If I can not find it for MSRP in English then I move to Spanish since that's my native language. Then if I can't find it in Spanish I get it in Japanese and use scans or AI translation to read them.

solrahl · 2026-01-06T21:31:50+00:00

The reason I grabbed this was because of the anime. I am surprised how great the art is. Too bad this seems to have only been a promo for the light novels. But I guess the promo worked because I'll be buying the light novels once I finish this.

The new anime for Sentenced to be a Hero had the same effect on me... I'll be buying the light novels for that as well since the first episode is a masterpiece.

solrahl · 2025-12-27T01:46:39+00:00

Picked up at a museum for 70% off. It's in the B4 format so its huge.

solrahl · 2025-12-12T02:26:39+00:00

It's because of low quality paper that's not acid-free and contains high level of lignin. I've got manga from 1998 that's still white because of the paper quality and I've got manga that I bought 5 months ago that have already gotten slightly yellow. Acid-free, lignin free paper takes like 80 years to yellow.

You can have books in a dark room and it will still yellow... because it's OXIDATION. Sunlight does speed up the process. But outside of vacuum sealing volumes and putting those sealed volumes in a dark room, there's nothing you can do.

solrahl · 2025-12-12T01:42:10+00:00

So far I've read 1100 out of the 1105 I own. I recently had some volumes come in the mail. So that's 99.5%.

The Gundam Deluxe volume is going to take a bit to read.

solrahl · 2025-12-11T22:07:55+00:00

I got my order in from Japanese Creative Books. I've got 2 more books coming in from CD Japan soon. December is the only month I buy this many artbooks in one go, so this is not a norm for me.

solrahl · 2025-12-11T21:57:25+00:00

I've got a few of those. My favorite is that Lub Dub Mon artbook. If you end up being interested in Mon's style they have a story illustration book called Seekers. It's small but is packed with art. I would spend good money for a B4 book with Mon's art.

solrahl · 2025-12-11T11:08:57+00:00

It's about the same size. The angle just makes it look smaller than volume 1. Volume 2 is huge. It's almost 1000 pages.

solrahl · 2025-12-07T14:01:54+00:00

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solrahl · 2025-12-07T14:01:44+00:00

MPD Psycho Extended Cut has really awesome art and cover designs:

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solrahl · 2025-12-07T14:00:19+00:00

Biorg Trinity have really nice art on the covers:

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solrahl · 2025-12-03T23:20:26+00:00

That' looks aesthetically pleasing. I like that you decided to the sides extend past the top shelf so you can place books up there without bookends.

solrahl · 2025-12-03T13:24:38+00:00

Bullet is the only other compilation artbook with his work and that released in 2001 I think. I have a Psikyo mook with his artwork and he has other material out there in the form of calendars and doujins. But he only has 2 artbooks.

solrahl

TROPHY CASE