Midnight Musings: a disordered collection

Do you have any collections?

I have a collection of books and manga, and surprisingly, I don’t have a good space for them.

I started collecting manga in 2020 when Covid-19 started making its rounds in California, USA. To be honest, I didn’t think my new interest through; I had very little room for the books I already owned, so adding manga to my already cramped book inventory was just making it harder for me to find any more space for them.

Today, most of my favorite novels are aligned over the cheap metal clothing rack that sits across my bedroom from my bed. And to the left of my bed is my desk that has become the humble home of 62 volumes of manga that I’ve accumulated since 2020.

My first purchase was the first 10 volumes of Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto, and ever since, I’ve been collecting the following series:

• Berserk by Kentaro Miura, Deluxe Editions
• Kaiju No. 8 by Naoya Matsumoto
• Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku by Fujita
• Innocent by Sakamoto Shin’ichi, Omnibus Editions
• #DRCL by Sakamoto Shin’ichi
• Hunter x Hunter by Yoshiro Togashi
• Steel of the Celestial Shadows by Daruma Matsuura
• PTSD Radio by Masaaki Nakayama
• Chrono Crusade by Daisuke Moriyama
• Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama

I also have manga of various titles that don’t necessarily belong in a series, such as Kentaro Miura’s Giganto Maxia, Kaori Ozaki’s The Gods Lie, and Fumi Yoshinaga’s All My Darling Daughters. Tatsuki Fujimoto’s 17-21 and 22-26 seem to be a part of an anthology series that’s aptly titled Before Chainsaw Man, which showcases Fujimoto’s one-shot manga.

I also recently took an interest in collecting Korean manhwa (like Kingdom of the Gods by In-Wan Youn, et al.), though I don’t think that I’ll be picking up any new titles soon—at least not until I invest in a steady bookshelf.

One thing I learned pretty early on when I started collecting books is to know why you’re buying them and to buy what you like. I made it a rule of mine to only purchase books that I know I’ll want to read again. I don’t want anything I buy to sit and collect dust, and because novels and graphic novels have become pricier over the years, I intend to make use of my reading material as often as possible. But I’ve also seen collectors who either read their collected works once or don’t read them at all. To each their own.

I also learned that thrifting books is worth it, especially for out-of-print works! The series I was able to buy from a second-hand store is Chrono Crusade by Daisuke Moriyama. When I found the manga, I was thrilled. Buying in person is likely the best option, but if you’re able to find a great deal on your desired works online, then go for it! That’s how I was able to snatch my used copies of Moriyama’s works.

I will say, though, that scalpers have made huge waves on book selling online, specifically manga. When the pandemic was still at its peak in the U.S., I noticed that many resellers would hike the prices on the most popular titles in their inventories. It’s always best to compare the prices between second-hand sellers and bookstore chains so that you know you’re getting a good deal and that you’re not getting scammed into paying more for something.

Besides books, my siblings and I used to collect VHS and DVD copies of our favorite action and rom-com films and television shows. Now that digital copies are becoming the norm, I kind of want to collect physical copies of my favorite films and shows again.

But I’ll wait until I can make the space for them.