Borders is having a manga and graphic novel sale. Buy three, get the fourth free. (Okay, so I didn’t really need four more volumes of the stuff to read, but fiscal responsibility crumbed in the face of 25% off Fake, Imadoki, Iron Wok Jan, and Kindaichi Case Files.)
It was a good weekend for reading manga, too. I spent some very enjoyable time with Sgt. Frog Vol. 4 (James Schee has reviewed it at Reading Along). I also sat down again with Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and I realized that Christopher Butcher is right. A second, more meticulous reading heightened everything I liked the first time and brought everything together more clearly. (Christopher is also right about Iron Wok Jan, so he must be right about Paradise Kiss, too. The manga industry might as well just hold me upside-down and shake me until all my money is gone.)
My partner teaches design and has come across a series of books he really likes. One of them looks at manga, so I’m hoping I can con him into buying it as research material.