Welcome to the Otaku Collection sub-section dedicated to my light novel and manga collection. Similar to the main page, this one is geared towards the book side as I often pick up a couple volumes here and there and figured that since I only mention them in my monthly otaku collection updates that it would make sense to provide more information in-between in case some folks were interested.
Below will be a list of every series I have acquired volumes for and whether I intend on acquiring more or different series out there, as of Friday 24th June 2022.
Light Novel
J-Novel Club
| Title | Format | Vols. |
|---|---|---|
| How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord | Singles | 1 / ??? |
| In Another World With My Smartphone | Singles | 1 / ??? |
| The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind! | Singles | 1 / ??? |
J-Novel Club are mostly known for their digital light novel library and they eventually expanded into print releases. I acquired some of these early on and I do intend on getting more over time, though Amazon have deleted the listings for How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord so that’s going to be a challenge to collect. That said the publisher did partner up with Anime Limited to have their titles available on the online store which is a nice inclusion to have.
As of May 2022, all three titles still have their volumes in print so I hope to try and catch up as soon as possible. I plan to expand the line-up with Ascendance of a Bookworm, The Faraway Paladin, Full Metal Panic!, Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles and Slayers in the future.
Seven Seas & Airship
| Title | Format | Vols. |
|---|---|---|
| ARIFURETA: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest | Singles | 7 / — |
| Failure Frame | Singles | 2 / — |
| Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash | Singles | 1 / — |
| How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom | Singles | 9 / — |
| Monster Girl Doctor | Singles | 8 / — |
| Monster Girl Doctor Zero | Single | 1 / 1 |
Seven Seas eventually returned to distributing light novels like Yen Press had done, and some of their titles are actually sub-licensed by J-Novel Club for print. There has been some recent controversy regarding the editing choices but much like the manga side I want to be more selective to what I want to own from the publisher due to their low print runs.
Despite being out of print for most of 2021, Grimgar is back on the schedule as it is now in print once again! I plan to expand the line-up with ARIFURETA ZERO, Berserk of Gluttony, Evangelion ANIMA, and Trapped in a Dating Sim in the future.
Yen On
| Title | Format | Vols. |
|---|---|---|
| Another | Omnibus (Hardcover) | 1 / 1 |
| Another Episode S/O | Omnibus (Hardcover) | 1 / 1 |
| Combatants Will Be Dispatched! | Singles | 2 / — |
| Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody | Singles | 3 / — |
| Defeating the Demon Lord’s a Cinch (If You’ve Got a Ringer) | Singles | 1 / — |
| Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? | Singles | 1 / 11 |
| Goblin Slayer | Singles | 4 / — |
| The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious | Singles | 2 / — |
| High School DxD | Singles | 1 / 25 |
| Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? | Singles | 2 / — |
| KONOSUBA: God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World | Singles | 2 / 17 |
| OVERLORD | Singles (Hardcover) | 9 / — |
| Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- | Singles | 1 / — |
| Saga of Tanya the Evil | Singles | 1 / — |
| Sword Art Online | Singles | 1 / — |
| That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime | Singles | 1 / — |
Yen Press has basically dominated the light novel scene for the English audience like Viz Media have done with manga. There’s a lot of fantasy and Isekai that have been acquired and I got a fair bit of them. They did start to discontinue some novel volumes but so far it’s primarily the volumes released many years ago. That said, I did play it safe by acquiring more OVERLORD volumes in the meantime.
As of May 2022, all titles are currently in print however many of them are years behind schedule in terms of picking them up. I plan to expand the line-up with many titles, but notable examples include 86, Banished From the Heroes’ Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, So I’m a Spider, So What?, Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online, Sword Art Online: Progressive and more in the future.
Manga
Dark Horse
| Title | Format | Vols. |
|---|---|---|
| Berserk | Singles | 3 / — [On-Hold] |
| Chobits | Omnibus | 2 / 2 |
| Gantz | Omnibus | 7 / — |
Dark Horse is a weird publisher because they really can’t decide whether to keep something in print or not. While they are considered one of the worst supporters of manga, they did manage to keep Berserk, Gantz and a few others in print and their omnibus releases are reasonably priced. I did buy a few volumes of Berserk early on, but I placed it on-hold because I may consider the Deluxe Editions or continue the singles that are under a new spine design again.
As of May 2022, both Berserk and Gantz are currently in print and I’ve almost caught up with the Omnibus releases for the latter which is great. I may plan to opt for the Deluxe Editions but that’s not yet decided at this point. I plan to expand the line-up with Blade of the Immortal and Elfen Lied in the future.
Kodansha Comics
| Title | Format | Vols. |
|---|---|---|
| Attack on Titan | Singles | 6 / 34 |
| Vinland Saga | Omnibus (Hardcover) | 1 / — |
I never really bothered with Kodansha Comics much but I did acquire a couple volumes for the two series above many years ago, both of which are still in print so I plan to complete them when I can but it’s not a priority at the moment.
As of May 2022, all titles are currently in print, but are years behind schedule. Going forward I will be changing formats for Attack on Titan, opting for the Colossal Editions instead because it will be quicker and cheaper to complete the series.
Currently, I plan to expand the line-up with Edens Zero, Fire Force, Grand Blue Dreaming, I’m Standing on a Million Lives, Wave, Listen to Me! and Welcome to the Ballroom in the future.
I also plan to go for the box sets for Fairy Tail, The Quintessential Quintuplets and Rent-A-Girlfriend.
Seven Seas & Ghost Ship
| Title | Format | Vols. |
|---|---|---|
| Blue Giant | Omnibus | 1 / 5 |
| Booty Royale: Never Go Down Without a Fight! | Omnibus | 2 / — |
| Destiny Lovers (Series 1) | Singles | 8 / 8 |
| Do You Like Big Girls? | Singles | 2 / — |
| The Dungeon of Black Company | Singles | 6 / — |
| GIGANT | Singles | 6 / 10 |
| Hitomi-chan is Shy with Strangers | Singles | 3 / — |
| How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? | Singles | 6 / — |
| Monster Musume | Singles | 16 / — |
| Plus-Sized Elf | Singles | 6 / — |
| Who Wants to Marry a Billionaire? | Singles | 2 / 7 |
| World’s End Harem | Singles | 12 / — |
| World’s End Harem: Fantasia | Singles | 6 / — |
| Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs | Singles | 18 / 24 |
Seven Seas is probably the most frustrating publisher between all of the manga distributors out there, primarily because they don’t reprint their titles much especially as they get older despite the vast variety of genres they cover.
I have managed to get a lot of titles from their line-up but it’s mainly because leaving them later would result in losing out on the volumes. But as of May 2022 most of the titles I have acquired are in a safe position.
Currently I have considered picking up from the Seven Seas label The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Gal Gohan, Harukana Receive, Kingdom of Z, Made in Abyss, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, No Matter What You Say, Furi-san is Scary!, and Succubus and Hitman while on the Ghost Ship label 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You, 2.5 Dimensional Seduction, Does a Hot Elf Live Next Door to You?, Parallel Paradise, SUPER HXEROS, To Love Ru, and To Love Ru Darkness, and World’s End Harem: Fantasia Academy in the future.
Vertical
| Title | Format | Vols. |
|---|---|---|
| BLAME! | Omnibus | 1 / 6 |
Just a single series for Vertical which has recently announced that their manga stuff is now going to be under Kodansha so I’m curious to see how that will affect their print releases. Of the line-up of titles they have put out I’m mainly going to try and focus on BLAME! and the author’s other work Knights of Sidonia later if I can.
Viz Media
Shonen Jump
| Title | Format | Vols. |
|---|---|---|
| Black Clover | Singles | 10 / — |
| Blue Exorcist | Singles | 4 / — |
| Burn the Witch | Singles | 1 / — |
| Chainsaw Man | Singles | 10 / 11 |
| Death Note | Singles (Box Set) | 12 / 12 |
| Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai | Omnibus | 1 / 25 |
| Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End | Singles | 3 / — |
| JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1: Phantom Blood | Omnibus (Hardcover) | 3 / 3 |
| JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 2: Battle Tendency | Omnibus (Hardcover) | 4 / 4 |
| JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders | Omnibus (Hardcover) | 10 / 10 |
| Jujutsu Kaisen | Singles | 9 / — |
| Jujutsu Kaisen 0 | Single | 1 / 1 |
| Komi Can’t Communicate | Singles | 4 / — |
| Mashle: Magic & Muscles | Singles | 4 / — |
| Naruto | Singles | 3 / 72 |
| One Piece | Singles (Box Sets) | 70 / — |
| The Promised Neverland | Singles | 4 / 20 |
The Shonen Jump range has done well enough to remain in print. While some series released well over a decade ago might lose a volume or two, all of the major ones are currently still in print.
As of May 2022, all titles I have started collecting above are currently in print. I plan to expand the line-up with so many titles, but the more notable examples are Dr. STONE, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Parts 4 & 5, Kaguya-sama: Love is War, One Punch Man, Spy x Family and We Never Learn: BOKUBEN.
I plan to go the box set route for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and My Hero Academia as well.
SIGNATURE
| Title | Format | Vols. |
|---|---|---|
| Alice in Borderland | Omnibus | 1 / 9 |
| Asadora! | Singles | 1 / — |
| Fire Punch | Singles | 4 / 8 |
| Fist of the North Star | Omnibus (Hardcover) | 2 / — |
| Golden Kamuy | Singles | 1 / 31 |
| Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku | Singles | 2 / 13 |
| Jormungand | Singles | 1 / 11 [Dropped] |
| Maison Ikkoku | Omnibus | 2 / 10 |
| Master Keaton | Omnibus | 1 / 12 |
| Monster | Omnibus | 3 / 9 |
| Pluto | Singles | 8 / 8 |
| Tenjo Tenge | Omnibus | 11 / 11 |
| Terra Formars | Singles | 6 / — |
The SIGNATURE label is full of interesting titles. Jormungand unfortunately had to be dropped because one volume just stopped getting reprinted for over half a decade while the others stayed in print and I’m baffled how this even happened.
As of May 2022, I have now started revisiting the label as the titles are still in print for a fair amount of them. Terraformars and the Naoki Urasawa works like Master Keaton, Monster and Pluto will be focused on more before adding more newer titles.
That said the new titles I plan to add are 20th Century Boys, BEASTARS, Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, The Drifting Classroom, Goodnight Punpun, Mermaid Saga, Record of Ragnarok and Urusei Yatsura.
Misc.
| Title | Format | Vols. |
|---|---|---|
| Junji Ito’s No Longer Human | Omnibus (Hardcover) | 1 / 1 |
| Junji Ito’s Remina | Omnibus (Hardcover) | 1 / 1 |
| Junji Ito’s Tomie | Omnibus (Hardcover) | 1 / 1 |
| Junji Ito’s Uzumaki | Omnibus (Hardcover) | 1 / 1 |
| Neon Genesis Evangelion | Omnibus | 5 / 5 |
| Rurouni Kenshin | VIZBIG | 1 / 9 [Dropped] |
| Vagabond | VIZBIG | 1 / — |
As for the regular branded titles, Viz has a couple of titles here and there. I discontinued the VIZBIG version of Rurouni Kenshin in favour of the cheaper 3-in-1 omnibus due to age of those volumes and the whole thing with the author. I also plan to try and get Vagabond sorted sooner given how nice those books are.
Yen Press
| Title | Format | Vols. |
|---|---|---|
| Another | Omnibus | 1 / 1 |
| Azumanga Daioh | Omnibus | 1 / 1 |
| Highschool of the Dead | Omnibus (Hardcover) | 2 / 2 |
| Higurashi: When They Cry | Singles | 6 / 38 [Dropped] |
| Interspecies Reviewers | Singles | 1 / — |
| Is This A Zombie? | Singles | 3 / 8 [Dropped] |
| Prison School | Omnibus | 14 / 14 |
| Sekirei | Omnibus | 9 / 9 |
| Sekirei: 365 Days Without Her | Single | 1 / 1 |
| Yotsuba&! | Singles | 4 / — |
Considering Yen Press is focusing more on their light novel line-up (which is already strong), the manga side is slowly becoming uninteresting. That said I did pickup some titles here and there, with Prison School and Sekirei both completed for instance. Higurashi and Is This A Zombie? had discontinued volumes due to age so I stopped collecting them, then again both were adaptations which I’m avoiding more nowadays.
As of October 2021, the other titles are currently in print. Interspecies Reviewers and Yotsuba&! are pretty much the remaining two manga yet to be up-to-date. I plan to expand the line-up with Interspecies Reviewers Comic Anthology, Kakegurui, Kakegurui Twins, The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious, Monster Wrestling, Please Put Them On Takamine-San, Plunderer, RaW Hero, and Shibuya Goldfish in the future.
The Normanic Vault 