Manga. It’s nearly impossible to obtain one absolute favorite and not slowly start to over stack your already strained bookshelves with thousands more. Especially if you are like me and have a Japanese book store within a short transit distance, multiple online shops to buy from and even a shop downtown that sells used and new books, it gets too easy to just buy more Manga and comics in general.
However, due to a blend of having massive amounts of energy to declutter and forcing yourself to contain my collection, I realized I had to figure out how my bookshelves were going to get organized.
All of these are personal tips that I used to narrow my collection down while I had the time to do so. Please remember that you don’t have to lessen your collection, especially if your collection isn’t putting you in hardship.
1. Compile everything you have into one space.
You really need to take inventory of everything you have. For me I had manga in two different places because when I moved most of my books were placed in my toy box because it was the sturdiest thing to put them in and the rest that couldn't fit in a large black trash bag. Seeing all of your manga will help you take inventory of what you do have, don't have and might want to update. Make sure you have a large clear space with a mat to place everything on.
2. Break them down by series.
This will make your life easier when placing them back on your shelves in the order you like. Or in alphabetical order based on title or Author. Its all up to you. It really makes everything look put together when you see your collection sectioned by series and not thrown together at random. Besides that this step helps you see which series you didn't keep up with getting more volumes for and what you read but didn't feel like continuing at all. I had several standalone first volumes that I remember reading but just didn't want to continue buying.
So far so good right?
3. Taking note of missing volumes.
Life gets in the way and you miss a few volumes. Don't worry! For the most part you can get those missing volumes of your favorite series as long as you took note of it and use the internet to find it new and or used. This is also be a big help in not obtaining a copy of a volume you already own.
4. Extra volumes go into the sell pile.
It happened to me twice. I don't know how but I had two of the same volume 6 but somehow I forgot I bought it before! Just saying if you got extra and its still new sell it for regular price if you can. If you don't want to sell it and its a volume 1 you could give it to a close friend. Who knows maybe someone else will like it as much as you do.
5. Keep your favorites, sell the rest and move digitally.
This is where I really had to make hard choices. The manga I was close to finishing and really wanted to keep stayed while I sold the shattered random volumes of other series. You need to remember that you don't need to have every single one of your favorite manga in your physical collection. If you found and or pay for a decent manga app you can have your favorites all on your phone/tablet! However please be mindful of your storage space on your devices. Sometimes it is worth getting a phone with removal storage, large cloud storage or even investing in a large online drive. If it has been difficult to find volumes in stores or ordering them online, it might be best to go digital as long as its updated on the manga site of your choice.
6. Would you buy this series if a HARDCOVER or COLLECTOR EDITION came out?!
I wanted to bring this up because some older manga will be reprinted in a hardcover or collector edition, like FullMetal Alchemist and Soul Eater for examples. This is a pain because if you already have the full series physically or digitally you need to ask yourself are you willing to get rid of these to obtain the new editions or do you have the money to shell out and the space to hold EVERYTHING. However if you love the series but didn't collect the volumes yet, the hardcover or collector edition is a great opportunity to get them all!
The FullMetal Alchemist is so pretty in hardcover!
Bonus. Placing rated M and adult manga in a separate space or hidden, especially if you have people visiting your home and you don't want them to see it. Depending on how your shelf space is you might be able to place manga behind the others you organized. My bookshelves are pretty deep with a closed back so once I line all the volumes up I placed the adult manga in the back. If people don't actually go looking at your manga you could get away with placing them within the rest.
Personal example!
The reason why I curated these tips is because I wanted to share my actual experience. It took me two years to really let go of a lot of stuff (clothes, stationery and small items) and I finally got comfortable to do this with my manga. I know there are many people like me that have been collecting for over a decade but couldn't find the heart to condense the collection. It is ok to keep collecting! You don't have to let go, but when you tell yourself everything has to fit in a certain space, which is exactly what I did, you need to make a choice and I hope these tips help you on your journey.
Thank you for making it this far! Please remember to try and support the official release to keep our favorites going, and I will see you next time. <3
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