Click. Wait. Drag. Drag. Click. Wait. Drag. Another night, and here he is, a young teenage boy whipping his mouse about like a lasso. His eyes feel as if the computer screen before him is sucking their squishy selves in. More clicks, broken English (why couldn’t a better group be scanlating this?). Already licensed? Website shut down? Well, there goes my evening.

I’m kind of an odd case. Back in my day, I didn’t read a lot of scanlations online, namely because back then my eyes were quite feeble. Paper and ink were much less strenuous, and I could read manga anywhere, like on my favorite spot, the toilet!

But like numerous other readers across the globe, I still want to read, and I kinda want it ASAP (as soon as published, can’t rush genius!). It’s a pain in the butt to have to deal with rushing to your local bookstore, praying they have the series you’re following, and then shelling out 9 or 11 bucks. Once you’re done reading, you then wait weeks for the next compiled volume. Okay, so online reading solves this quite nicely. Plenty of translators and scanners out there, and yet the man comes around every now and then to crash the party. Bummer dude.

So, how can we get around the man while satisfying our need for instant gratification? I see two solutions to this.

1. Get a weekly subscription to your magazine of choice. Though this hinges on whether or not you live in Japan and can read Japanese.

2. You get this magic book, which instantly speeds to you a new chapter or volume when it’s done. And if you’re like me from my teenager days, you won’t have to forfeit your eyes! Continue reading »