Namely, I am not fluent in Japanese and thus these summaries may have large gaps of incomprehension or portions which are incorrect. I apologize in advance and encourage you to email me if you find an error or can fill in a gap. These summaries may contain SPOILERS for the series. Please do not reproduce these summaries in whole or in part without gaining my written permission first.

Do you recommend [name of manga on this site]?

If I mention the manga on this site, that must mean I like it. Do I recommend it, however... not exactly. Go over the information presented and make a decision for yourself - does the title sound like something you'd be interested in? Not everyone likes what I like, so without knowing your preferences, I could not give an outright recommendation.

Do you recommend [name of manga not on this site]?

Well, first off, I may not have even heard of the title you're talking about. Even if I have, I wouldn't recommend anything without knowing what you like in a manga first (see above.)

Will you put information about [name of manga] here?

That depends on if I like the series and if it's not already got lots of pages devoted to it online. Please don't ask me to put up information on specific series, however; I'll upload information when I get time and for titles I really like, and I spend more than enough money already on the series I'm currently collecting.

Where can I find these titles/where do you find these titles?

I buy most of my manga in Japanese or occasionally Chinese. I used to buy most of them new by going to Japanese bookstores like Kinokuniya or Asahiya; lately, there have been an excellent crop of used Japanese bookstores appearing in the Los Angeles area, including Book Market and Kamikaze Anime, where titles can sell for as little as $1/book. It's a great way to feed an obsession. I have never ordered manga online, although I did have a few friends pick up some titles when they visited Japan. I generally don't read scanslations because I have access to cheap manga and I have some knowledge of Japanese and Chinese, and because I just really, REALLY like having the book - it's so portable!

Where possible I provide the ISBN # so you can special-order the book from any Japanese bookstore, whether in person or online.

What's with the keywords?

Just a quick way to get a really rough sketch of what a series is about. If you're looking for sword-and-sorcery fantasy, you probably would skip all the futuristic or punk series.

And what about those warnings?

Some titles do have potentially sensitive issues, like shounen-ai or violence. It felt prudent to mention these immediately.

What is a 'phonebook'?

Before manga are published in the book (tankouban) format, they generally are run in monthly (or weekly or quarterly, etc) magazines... huge magazines, the size of a phonebook. The ink and paper quality is pretty cheap but it's a lot of series per phonebook. Since the phonebooks are more current than the tankouban, it's a good way to keep incredibly up-to-date with a series.

Who's that bishounen on the top of the page?