I recently picked up a Kindle Paperwhite to read some light novels (Overlord, Sword Art Online, etc). While I’ve been enjoying this greatly, I decided to get back into some manga so I may read the source material of many of the anime shows I enjoy, and try to quickly catch up in a series. However, this is where things get a bit complicated.

First of all, I don’t pirate stuff, so going through those avenues is out of the question. Next, there’s the excellent Viz/Shounen Jump app which is a good value ($3 a month), but it doesn’t include some of the manga I want to read and its UI is terrible, particularly if I’m trying to look for a particular volume. The other option is to simply buy the volumes (which is usually at a 40% discount on Amazon). But even then, the cost of say…20 volumes of One Piece is approximately $120.

It makes me question if I should even go into reading manga. Given most anime covers roughly 90% of the manga content (and more, including filler material), and all it costs is a Crunchyroll or Funimation subscription. Maybe I should just give up on manga altogether and save some money?

But at the same time, there’s nothing better than sitting next to a window, listening to relaxing music, and reading a good manga, which often has beautiful artwork and speeds along a 25 minute anime episode into just 5-10 minutes of reading one chapter. This is especially desired in anime such as One Piece where I have hundreds of episodes to watch…and no time to watch all of them.

So that’s where I’m at. Simply put, it’s Cost versus Time.