Guide to Buying Manga in India
Identify genuine manga, buy from trustworthy sellers and platforms, and build a collection of your own with confidence
A big hurdle for Indian manga collectors is the sheer number of fake copies floating around. These counterfeits might look convincing at first, but they are poor in quality, overpriced for what they are, and don’t support the amazing creators behind the work.
This guide will help you identify genuine manga, buy from trustworthy sellers and platforms, and build a collection of your own with confidence.
How to Spot Fake Manga
Genuine manga volumes have a few characteristics that fakes often miss:
Paper Quality: Manga, being a ‘pulp’ medium, has always been printed on pulpy, cheaper paper...but cheap does not mean poor quality! The exact type of paper is hard to pinpoint because it is often proprietary, but it tends to be somewhat heavy, off-white, and uncoated (which means it feels slightly rough and textured). “Heavy” is the keyword here: while you may see some transparency when the page is lifted, it should be completely opaque when it lies flat on the previous/next page, and you shouldn’t be able to see the art on the other side of the page. The pages are also firm and not floppy. Fakes often use standard printing sheets: thin, translucent, smoother and less pulpy, and a little too white. Each publisher has its own paper standards, but an unusually light book compared to others in the same series can also be a sign of fake manga. Keep in mind that some premium volumes such as the deluxe Vinland Saga volumes can use a smoother, whiter, more expensive paper, sometimes coated; colour pages also tend to be printed on coated paper, so they will be thick and smooth to the touch. Note that the paper will yellow with age, and used manga volumes can be quite yellowed. Note also that none of this advice applies to the original Japanese volumes and magazines, which are printed on much thinner paper.
Print Clarity: Text and artwork in real manga are sharp, clear, and free from smudges or pixelation. Fakes usually have blurry lines, inconsistent prints, pixelation, or misaligned panels, due to low quality printing.
Binding: Authentic manga have sturdy bindings that last. Fakes often have visibly flimsy and poorly glued bindings.
Cover: Most manga covers are glossy (i.e. shiny and reflective finish that is slightly ‘sticky’ to the touch; think magazine paper). Some series come with a matte finish cover, which means it’s more textured and non-reflective, like craft paper; Kodansha likes to do this for their ‘prestige’ series (eg: Witch Hat Atelier). Some covers might have embossing (which means a section of the cover is raised, such as the text) or other textural effects; Cat Massage Therapy, a slice of life series published by Seven Seas, has embossed cat paw prints on the cover. Many of these print treatments can only be done at professional printing presses. A bootleg printer will tend to go for the cheapest standard option, which is typically gloss. However, this will feel different from the gloss of an official volume cover. Remember how your school textbooks sometimes have plastic film peeling out from the corners? That’s the mark of cheap gloss. Look out for this flimsy film finish on your covers; official glossy volumes will never peel like that especially if they’re new. In short, if the cover finish for a manga is different from the usual, or has washed-out colors, that’s the sign of a fake
Color Pages: If a volume is known for having color pages at the beginning, and the physical copy doesn’t, that’s another sign of a fake copy.
Dimensions & Spine: All volumes with similar page count will generally have the same dimensions (length, breadth, as well as spine width) for a given series. The spine designs consisting of the publisher logo, title, and volume number should be consistent too.
Stacking the volumes together will make any inconsistencies apparent. (An exception to this is the Italian print mangas. Most English manga that can be bought in India are mostly either printed in the US or Canada and sometimes in Italy. The US and Canada prints are almost identical, only difference being Canada prints sometimes have slightly inferior page quality. The Italy prints are a bit different from the other two as the mangas are generally a bit thinner due to each page being thinner. So if you find your manga volume to be slightly thinner than other volumes that you own, you can check for its authenticity using the points listed above.)
Many publishers (e.g Viz, Kodansha) list the dimensions of the volumes on their website, which can be used for comparison.Suspiciously Low Prices: This is perhaps the single clearest ‘tell’ of all. The cost of manga actually has little to do with paper and printing (the price of paper has been in a free fall for the last couple decades). What you’re paying for is mostly three things: the cost of licensing from the Japanese publisher, the cost of translation into English, and the hidden cost of having a niche audience (i.e., even top-selling manga doesn’t sell as many copies as The Hunger Games, so the per-volume profit margins need to be higher to make up for that). Plus in the context of India, manga is imported from the UK/US, which means shipping costs and customs duties, and these add up! A real single volume usually costs ₹450 - ₹700 if published by Viz, ₹600 - ₹900 if published by Kodansha, and ₹800 - ₹1000 or even higher for other publishers. On the other hand, bootleggers only need to consider the cost of printing, and printing at low quality in India to boot! This lets them price it much lower, and they do so specifically to target cash-strapped audiences such as college students. If a single manga volume is priced significantly below ₹400, especially for popular titles, it’s almost certainly a fake. Similarly for boxsets, multiply by the number of volumes in it. Exceptions may exist, such as the My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999 manga series which has a subcontinent edition printed in India, and can be bought for as low as ₹350 per volume; and, of course, used bookstores can sell manga for as low as ₹75-₹150 a volume!
Where to Buy Physical Manga
E-commerce Platforms
Bookswagon
Trust: widely considered the go-to source for manga in India. Does not carry fakes. Your money is quite safe here. A+
Price: perhaps the best per-volume pricing of any online platform, consistently ₹100-200 cheaper than list price. This is acutely felt with Viz Media manga, which have had a price increase in India. A nominal shipping fee is levied per volume for volumes that are in-stock at an Indian warehouse; this fee disappears for imported volumes, curiously enough. Don’t forget to use the intro coupon for 100 off! A+
Payment and Convenience: somewhat dated and clunky site that hasn’t been updated in a hot minute, takes a while to load. Much better experience on browsers than on the official app. There is a “manga” section, modelled after the Barnes & Noble website. Search can be tricky for series with generic names (“Erased”, etc); search by mangaka name or ISBN. Used to use a different, somewhat temperamental payment gateway, but now uses Razorpay. Most common forms of payment accepted. The most important point to note is that cash on delivery is NOT an option, if that’s a dealbreaker for you. B
Speed: quite reasonable. Deliveries can take 3-4 days for popular titles (which are shipped from India), or ~3 weeks in case the manga needs to be imported first. Not all parts of your order will necessarily arrive at once. You’re not getting Amazon speeds, but that’s well offset by other factors. A
Packaging: sturdy cardboard sleeve packaging that hugs books tight, with a layer of bubblewrap to boot. Damage is quite rare. You might want to put bulky hardcovers and petite paperbacks in different orders, just to prevent crushing and bending of the latter, since the packaging is rather tight after all. A+
Customer support: well, there had to be a downside somewhere; can’t have overpowered characters can we? You shouldn’t have too many reasons to call them, but over the span of three calls you will probably acquaint yourself with every employee in their office, to give you an idea of how small this team is. There seems to be only one dedicated line for customer support and it is frequently busy. The situation doesn’t significantly improve once the line is picked up, with support staff putting on their best Houtarou Oreki impression. Staff will also initiate in Hindi and reluctantly switch to English; if you’re fluent enough, stick to the former as it seems to work better at conveying the specifics of your problem. Expect to be passed from employee to employee. Typically all you will need or can even obtain at best is a return. They don’t do replacements so you’ll have to reorder the book once you get your refund; for some reason there’s also a partial refund option where you get to keep the damaged volume, if that’s your thing. Outside of pressing issues, try to stick to email for problem resolution (don’t expect a speedy response here either). D
Amazon
The authenticity of manga completely depends on the seller. Transinfopreneur, U-Read Store, Cocoblu Retail and Atlantic Publishers are known to be trusted sellers. However, many fake sellers are also listed on Amazon, so need to be aware of that.
Though the above-mentioned sellers are mostly guaranteed to send an authentic manga, there have been cases where even they have sent a fake. In such cases the buyer can either exchange or return the manga within 7-10 days as all three sellers have a flexible return policy.
Occasionally great deals, but often more expensive than Bookswagon for nicher titles.
Usually faster deliveries compared to Bookswagon, but again depending on the seller.
Transinfopreneur generally provides secure packaging with vacuum sealed shrink wrapping, whereas Cocoblu Retail and U-Read Store often skimp on that front.
Reliable customer support and refund policy in case of any damaged books.
Flipkart
Only genuine sellers on this platform are Transinfopreneur and Atlantic Publishers. But seriously, just avoid it for manga. The platform is notorious for pirated manga sellers, often at deceptively low prices. Just. Don’t.
Few other genuine websites for buying manga. Can occasionally find mangas for good offers in these-
Offline Bookstores in Bengaluru
Authentic and occasionally has offers on some mangas
Can sometimes find few rare mangas here
Has a good collection of authentic mangas
Can sometimes find few niche and rare mangas here
They also have their own website where you can order
Has a good collection of authentic mangas
Sometimes have good offers on bundles and boxsets
Bargain Book Hut (Mantri Mall)
Has a small but good collection of mangas at decent prices
Crossword (many branches throughout Bengaluru)
Authentic but quite expensive, they almost sell at MRP at the stores
Selection limited to just the most popular titles from Viz
They have an online store as well, with occasionally good deals there
Sapna Book House (many branches throughout Bengaluru)
Similar to crossword, authentic but near MRP prices
They too have an online store
How to take care of your manga volumes?
Manga pages like many other novels tend to yellow over time due to the oxidation of the lignin polymer present in paper
Eventually manga pages will become yellow after a few years but to slow down the process here are some things that can be done-
Keep mangas in a covered bookshelf if possible
Keep mangas away from direct sunlight as UV rays drastically speed up the manga oxidation and yellowing
Don’t try to cover manga with plastic. It’s a common misconception that it prevents yellowing. But in humid places like India, plastic traps more moisture and speeds up the yellowing. And if you keep it near sunlight, plastic doesn’t block the UV rays either.
Having a couple of silica gel packets on your bookshelves help to absorb any excess moisture.
Legit Ways to Read Manga Online
Physical manga can be expensive and sometimes hard to get in India due to imports. There are some platforms for digital manga as well, which are officially available in India.
Chapter-wise
Shonen Jump (app) / Viz (web)
Manga Plus by Shueisha
K-Manga by Kodansha
Mangamo
Manga Planet
Manga Up!
Azuki
Comikey
INKR Comics
Volume-wise
Amazon Kindle
Bookwalker
Viz Media
Reading and collecting manga can be quite the fun experience. Tell us about your experiences of buying manga, in the comments section below!
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