How to Read Manga Without Going Broke

15 Money-Saving Tips For Buying, Trading, Borrowing and Reading Manga

By Deb Aoki, About.com Guide

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11. Visit a manga cafe

Manga Cafe Mika, a Japanese manga cafe in the Kintetsu Mall at San Francisco's Japan Center.

Manga kissaten or manga cafes give visitors an opportunity to relax in a lounge setting filled with shelves of manga. For an hourly fee, customers can read as many manga as they like, as well as surf the Internet or relax with a drink or snacks. Compared to Japan, there aren't too many manga cafes in the U.S. but here are two in California and one in New York City:

Chaya Manga Cafe - Costa Mesa, California
Nix Manga Cafe - Los Angeles, California
Manga Cafe Atom - New York City, NY

12. Borrow it from your friends

If you and your friends all read and love manga, why not start a manga club? One way to set this up is to have each member buy a different manga series and make it available to the other members to read. This way, you and your friends can read and enjoy a variety of titles. Make sure to label your books and keep tabs on who borrowed what and when. The downside to this? The friend who doesn't return your manga, or worse, returns it damaged.

13. Buy it at an anime or comic convention

Yaoi manga from Japan sold by Kinokuniya at Yaoi-Con 2007.

The exhibit halls at most anime conventions big and small will almost always have a manga vendor or three. I've bought manga at deep discounts at these shows, sometimes as low as a buck a book. Many publishers will also offer special discounts just for show attendees at their booths.

Ready to shop? See the current schedule of upcoming anime and comic conventions for the next con coming soon to a city near you.

14. Join a manga "rental" service

Following the Netflix model of media rental, California-based Manga Takeout offers a flat rate, all-you-can-eat model of manga and anime DVD rental. Well, all you can eat is relative, because you're only allowed out two manga at any given time, at any membership rate. Monthly DVD and manga rental memberships start at $24.95/month.

The upside? You can read as many as you can manage to cram into a month. The downside? The books are sent via USPS media mail, which takes several days longer than standard first class mail for delivery.

15. Sample manga online with free previews

Before you commit to buying a new manga series, check out the free previews online. Several publishers provide access to a few sample pages of the first volume of a manga series to give you a taste of the art and the story. Here are a few publishers' sites that offer free manga previews.

16. A few words about scanlations

Scanlations or unauthorized fan translations is a popular way for manga fans to read and enjoy the latest chapters of their favorite manga. It's also the prime way that fans can check out manga series that haven't been licensed or translated in English. Scanlations can create a lot of fan buzz that can lead to a story being picked up by a publisher.

All that's great, but scanlations shouldn't be a substitute for buying the licensed, authorized versions when they're available. Keep in mind that like pirated downloads of movies and music, scanlations give nothing back to the original creators. Whenever possible, support the artists who create what you love, so we can continue to see lots more great manga for years to come.