Welcome fellow Manga Hunters!
So, who is That Manga Hunter, and what can you expect?
Coming straight out of the About page, ThatMangaHunter is my personal website, stating my opinions about manga (and other related geeky topics). My posts will include tips and tricks on collecting manga, manga reviews and recs, manga art, and more! Outside of manga, I will be talking about anime and other media such as video games and movies/TV. I'll say 90% of this site is devoted to manga and 10% to everything else.
About Me
I'm a 30-something fujoshi and avid manga and anime fan based in Los Angeles, CA. This personal website is a hobby of mine, and I am using it to share my love of manga with others as well as learn more about digital media and other stuff I can use in my day job. Besides being an avid reader and collector of manga, I enjoy watching movies, reading romance, mystery, and general fiction novels/audiobooks, playing video games (mostly visual novels, otome games, and point-and-click adventure games), playing board games, and logging offline to enjoy life. My sun sign is Aquarius, and I'm 90% sure that my moon sign is Taurus. I am 100% an ESTP. Finally, I like Piña Coladas and getting caught in the rain.
About the site name "That Manga Hunter"
Admittedly not the best name as variations of Manga Hunter already exist across the web. Not to mention that I am now competing against Hunter x Hunter in searches and SEO. (Never read the manga or anime, but I may consider it now for synergy, lol.)
I considered going niche with the name. I thought of detective names/motifs, thinking I could just focus on mystery/thriller/crime manga but scrapped the thought. Focusing solely on mystery manga is too limiting as there are not enough manga books to explore, and it would just lead to angry rant posts. I mean observe:
Compare it to other categories say romance:
While not the perfect metric, I find RightStuf is helpful in cutting through the clutter in searching for new manga to read. They are a dedicated manga/anime site, and they have a decent search and sorting function. Plenty of places to buy manga (and anime) today compared to when I started many moons ago.
In the end, I wanted a name that is flexible. I liked the idea behind the word hunter: "one that searches for something," and I can imagine myself always searching for something and that something is manga. Add a "That" to distinguish myself (enough hopefully), and put it all together, and you get That Manga Hunter.
I can never be a "master" and don't care to be one. I'm a hunter. I'll hunt down manga and information surrounding it, and I'll share what I find here and elsewhere. Hope, you'll come along with me for the ride. This will be a 3-year project/experiment. I'll revisit my name, website, and brand in late 2024/early 2025.
Since March 2022
I started ThatMangaHunter a year ago in March 2022. My first blog post was my review of New York, New York v. 1 by Marimo Ragawa, and this "about me" post has been a year in the making, lol. This is my 65th post!
What do I read?
I'm an avid manga reader who's on the lookout for BL/yaoi, mystery, comedy, supernatural, fantasy, and romance manga. Specifically, I enjoy all sorts of mysteries, comedies, and supernatural tales, but when it comes to romance, I gravitate towards smut and romcoms. I also tend to enjoy harlequin romance-esque drama and soap operas. I like "trashy" romances too. Like romance, I tend to be a bit picky with fantasy tales. I'm not a big fan of isekai. I just happen to like some manga series that are isekai, and there is a difference, lol. I gravitate towards fairytales (and the adjacent mythological stories, folklore tales, and legends), low fantasy stories, and magical realism stories. My least fave genres are horror, sci-fi, and westerns, so don't expect too many entries based purely on those genres. Finally, I tend to watch action/adventure rather than read them.
Thematically speaking, I don't read a ton of sports or music manga (save that for anime watching) nor do I read a ton of stories about giant robots or food. I love smut so expect some NSFW posts. This is not a "kid-friendly" or "family-friendly" site. (18+ adults only, please!) I'll warn you should I post something risqué. Also, I mostly focus on manga released post-2010s. I really hold the belief that there is no better time to be a manga fan than today, and I like to talk about manga that's currently releasing in English or Japan right now as opposed to manga of old, especially 1990s or before. So, don't expect too many reviews or posts about manga from the 90s and before.
How I read—I read and collect manga both digitally and in print. For digital manga, I mostly use my Kindle e-reader. Besides the e-reader, I use my computer and android tablet. Sometimes, I read on my android phone. I also read a lot thanks to my local library.
Lastly, my posts will mostly emphasize and promote licensed works. If I talk about unlicensed stuff, it's because 1) I finished the entire series on the dl and must talk about it (lol) and/or 2) I really want to see the work licensed in English.
What do I watch?
I watch BL/yaoi, mystery, comedy, fantasy, supernatural, and romance anime. I haven't delved into the world of live-action Korean, Japanese, and Chinese dramas so don't expect too many entries on those topics. As mentioned in the previous section, I tend to watch my action/adventure content. As for collecting, I don't tend to buy as much anime now as I did back then. As for streaming, I watch anime via Crunchyroll and Netflix mostly, and I watch anime on Prime and elsewhere occasionally like Hulu and Disney+.
Again, my posts will mostly emphasize and promote licensed works. If I talk about unlicensed stuff, it's because 1) I finished the entire series on the dl and must talk about it (lol) and/or 2) I really want to see the work licensed in English.
What's your favorite anime and manga?
Glad you asked! You can judge my taste in manga, anime, and anime films below:
Want to know the full story behind my manga picks? Check out this post. Eventually, I will talk about my favorite anime shows and films.
What's in my collection?
I won't be doing collection hauls and updates on this site very often. My current physical manga collection looks like this:
To get the full details behind my physical manga collection, you can visit this post. I also collect digitally, and to learn more about that, you can visit this post.
I'm slow at updating my anime collection. (I'm called That Manga Hunter, after all.) It looks like this:
I'm not as diligent at watching anime as I am at reading manga so a few of these series have still gone unwatched; some for longer than I care to admit. 🙈 You can read more about that here.
How often will you update your blog?
No, seriously. How often will you update the blog?
As I explained above, That Manga Hunter is neither my day job nor my side hustle. Realistically speaking, I'm aiming to update the blog monthly. I'm planning to write at least 52 posts a year. (I wrote 54 posts last year!) Some months will be heavy on content; others not so much. To keep abreast of everything that's going on be sure to follow me on socials or subscribe to the e-newsletter.
What do you write about?/What will you write about?
I have mostly written about manga. So far, I have written:
✅ Guides on manga collecting
✅ Manga tips and tricks
✅ Recommendation listicles
✅ Reviews
✅ Quarterly news roundups
✅ Manga and anime think/opinion pieces
✅ Posts about me—my collections, likes, and wants
✅ Articles and essays involving research exploring business/industry, fandom, manga, and manga consumption
✅ Anime - 7 posts on anime so far
✅ Random posts like anime-related OPs and EDs you can sing at Karaoke and manga panel ideas for you to present at the next anime convention ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
With the exception of quarterly news roundups, I anticipate writing more of the above. Additionally, I have several ideas rattling around in my head, and they include: ✅ An essay about "honorary shoujo"
✅ An essay about Seven Seas' Steamship brand
✅ A second post about my most wanted English licenses
✅ Recommendation post featuring manga from the Kodansha "digital vault"
✅ Ridiculous ways to find your next manga read
✅ Manga journaling
✅ My favorite mangaka
✅ My favorite anime shows and films
✅ Manga Reviews—The Case Files of Jeweler Richard v.1-3, Game Between the Suits v. 1, New York, New York v. 2, The Decagon House Murders (full review), and possibly a full review of Scattering His Virgin Bloom
✅ Novel/Light Novel reviews—The Decagon House Murders and The Case Files of Jeweler Richard v. 1-2
✅ ...And more! So, stay tuned!
Why should you follow me?/Who should follow me?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Okay. In all seriousness, you should follow me if you are 18+ and:
✅ Enjoy "shoujo" and "josei" manga
✅ Enjoy manga outside of Shonen Jump/Shonen Sunday magazines and brands (or you want to expand your tastes beyond them)
✅ Are a "fujoshi"/"fudanshi"/"fujin"
✅ Love mystery manga (or want to "get into" it)
✅ Enjoy smut romance manga (or want to "get into it)
✅ Love articles and essays on business/industry, fandom, media, and media consumption (like Should Shojo Beat Grow Up? or Show Me The Shoujo!)
✅ Like recommendation and shopping guide listicles such as this Halloween manga recs post More upcoming, interesting, and new manga releases of 2023
✅ Have been in the manga game for a while and looking for something new or you took a break and are just returning to the manga game (Check out my "beginner" manga guide or OOP manga hunting guide)
✅ Looking for more opinions and reviews on recently released manga that not enough people have read or talked about like Love & Heart, Outbride: Beauty & the Beasts, or I'll Never Be Your Crown Princess!
✅ Like random music, movie, and other pop culture references just everywhere
✅ Don't think that shoujo manga (and anime) is in decline and think that there are great series being released now in Japan and in English...but we're not getting the best stuff licensed (see The 'Awesome' Manga Left Behind)
✅ Enjoy reading random articles/listicles every now and again because...content (and inspiration struck) like Karaoke Night or Manga Panel Ideas
If you are 18+ and answered, "hell, yeah!" to any of the above, then, pull up a chair, fellow hunter! You're in the right place.
Where can you find me?
Follow me on Twitter @ThatMangaHunter for updates to the site and blog. It's my most used and interactive platform. I retweet. I post. I do a lot of stuff there. I'll continue to be active on Twitter until it dies.
Follow me on Instagram @ThatMangaHunter to see hauls, artistic manga photos, my arts and crafts, and more.
Follow me on Tumblr @ThatMangaHunter where I keep my monthly reading/watching posts and make lists and recommendations.
Follow me on Tiktok @ThatMangaHunter. (I'll start posting soon...)
Catch me on MAL.
Challenge me to a game of chess on Chess[dot]com. My username is ThatMangaHunter.
If I add more social media platforms or channels, I'll let you know!
Subscribe to my newsletter for site and blog updates as well as manga industry news you can use. Contact me via the form on my contact page.
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