Kingyo Used Books

Plot

The series takes place on a used manga shop, featuring vignette-style segments focused on various characters. It highlights the significance of manga in daily life and includes references to both popular and obscure titles, from the widely known Dr. Slump to the lesser-known Billy Puck.

Publication

Kingyo Used Books is written and illustrated by Seimu Yoshizaki. Yoshizaki first launched a series titled , which was published from 2000 to 2002 in Shōnen Gahōsha's Young King OURss special editions OURs Girl and OURs Lite. Two volumes were published on April 3 and June 26, 2003. Both volumes were re-released by Shogakukan on December 24, 2004. Kingyo Used Books was serialized in Shogakukan's ja manga magazine Monthly Ikki from March 25, 2004, to September 25, 2014, when the magazine ceased publication. The series was then continued via compiled volumes. The chapters were collected in seventeen ja volumes, released from December 24, 2004, to July 30, 2020.

In North America, the series has been licensed by Viz Media for English language release and it debuted on ''Monthly Ikki'''s English website Sigikki on July 30, 2009. Only four volumes were released from April 20, 2010, to October 18, 2011.

Volumes

• "The Components of Memory"
• "Hokusai Manga"
• "Far Away"
• "The Boy Detective Arrives"
• "A Country Without Manga"
• "Fujiomi-Kun"
• "The Sedori Business"
• "Billy and Grandpa's Curious Travelogue"
• "His View"
• "Yes or No"
• "The Other Side of the Window"
• "A Bundle of Papers"
• "Dad Again"
• "One Percent Man"
• "Star Traveler"
• "I Want to Be Happy"

Reception

Kingyo Used Books was one of the Jury Recommended Works at the 16th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2012.

Carlo Santos in his Anime News Network column "Right Turn Only" gave the manga a grade of "B", saying that "if you want to get a non-manga fan into manga, this is probably not the manga to give them." The critic went on to say, "Kingyo is, if anything, too fixated on giving history lessons, trying to drown the reader in footnotes and details rather than letting the series speak for itself."

References

References

1. "The Official Website for Kingyo Used Books". Viz Media.
2. Ellingwood, Holly. (June 23, 2010). "Kingyo Used Books Vol. 1".
3. link. [[Shogakukan]]. (30 June 2020)
4. "OURs Lite / Back Number's Collection 2002". [[Shōnen Gahōsha]].
5. 478592294X
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7. link. [[Shogakukan]]
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10. Nelkin, Sarah. (July 19, 2014). "Monthly Ikki Magazine Suspends Publication".
11. Ressler, Karen. (July 30, 2014). "Monthly Ikki Magazine's Individual Series' Plans Announced".
12. Mateo, Alex. (April 17, 2020). "Kingyo Used Books Manga Gets New Volume After 6 Years".
13. Pineda, Rafael Antonio. (May 14, 2020). "Kingyo Used Books Manga Ends in 17th Volume".
14. Loo, Egan. (July 16, 2009). "Viz Adds Saturn Apartments, Kingyo Used Books Manga (Updated)".
15. link. [[Shogakukan]]
16. "Kingyo Used Books, Vol. 1". [[Viz Media]].
17. link. [[Shogakukan]]
18. "Kingyo Used Books, Vol. 2". [[Viz Media]].
19. link. [[Shogakukan]]
20. "Kingyo Used Books, Vol. 3". [[Viz Media]].
21. link. [[Shogakukan]]
22. "Kingyo Used Books, Vol. 4". [[Viz Media]].
23. link. [[Shogakukan]]
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35. link. [[Shogakukan]]
36. "Manga Division – 2012 [16th] Japan Media Arts Festival Archive". [[Japan Media Arts Festival]].
37. Santo, Carlo. "RIGHT TURN ONLY!! Yotsuba and Britannians". [[Anime News Network]].