November 2023 Manga Haul & Some Recent Shopping Tips/Thoughts!

One of my heavier hauls due to a boatload of Right Stuf preorders finally getting shipped to me from Crunchyroll. I came down with a fever a few hours after I filmed this so my voice is odd in a few places and I ramble on at the beginning about some recent shopping experiences.
shop.hakusen.jp/
www.merrymanga...
Thank you Ms. Questyen for the intro and outro!
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
uppbeat.io/t/h...

[@wilsonmcgill5031]

Yea the Crunchyroll UI has me wanting to pull my hair out trying to see when things are coming out. Also if an item in your cart goes out of stock you can’t even access the cart anymore and have to search every book in the cart to see what went out of stock. Just awful

[@thequestyen]

Yeah I don't understand how they had a site that was done so well and then didn't bring any of that over to the Crunchyroll site. Another horrid example is that they don't have preorder dates on their items unless you individually click on each book and then once you do that it resets all the filters you were using.

[@desertjane]

I love amazon. I had a couple of problems but they were resolved quickly. There return be quick and easy and I be getting the money back the Same day of return. I just be going to Barnes and second and Charles no these day

[@furihreunsicherheit3624]

Crunchy is soooooo unnecessarily difficult to navigate! From their cart not telling you what's out of stock (so they get click engagement as you have to comb through each item to figure out what is no longer in stock), to their pre-orders being scatter shot when trying to figure out what is coming out next (only to discover that you have to go through every single page because SURPRISE something is buried deep no thanks to their useless filters), and their wishlist acting wild in how it collates items... IT'S INFURIATING 😂 Whoever is managing their tech on the back end really need to think about the front end and user experience. With as much money Crunchy has to buy out their competition, they shouldn't be skimping on their UI. Great haul! Recently I've been getting into art books of my favorite series (since I can't justify other types of merch for myself 😅) and Scribbles has been such a delight.

[@thequestyen]

Yep it's almost so bad that it has to be intentional to keep clicking around on their site forever!

[@tonireadsmanga]

The complete lack of accessible customer service from Crunchyroll is what made me decide to stop ordering from them completely. I’ve had good experiences with Merry Manga so far but I think I’ll just be sticking with B&N for the majority of my purchases from now on. Also I think I can guess what small publisher you were talking about at the beginning and (if I’m correct) I had a very similar experience with them. Blue Flag is one of my favorite series, the ending is very divisive though (I think it’s good but that seems to be an unpopular opinion). The Orange box set is so nice, I’m trying to wait until I read my original copies to decide if it’s worth upgrading though. Great haul as always.

[@thequestyen]

The funny thing is the only time I've had to reach out to Crunchyroll customer service (to cancel a preorder title) they did it and got back to me within a day. Yeah Blue Flag is one that I had a couple volumes for at least a year or so and never finished collecting it so I figured now was the time. Looks up my alley!

[@quirrelhello]

Crunchyroll is garbage. I had a horrible experience with their customer service after getting a damaged manga for which I provided photos. It was difficult getting a response going back and forth for weeks. FInally they said I would be reimbursed for the item, but never actually got reimbursed. Then they just stopped responding when I told them this. Damn, Rightstuf will be missed. Going to try Merry Manga.

[@soniciris]

I've been getting most of my manga from InStockTrades (not the fastest in my experience, but the packaging is immaculate and the'damaged' clearance are cheap in great condition) and Books a million. (for the latter, 10% discount + either their periodic buy-2-get-1 or $10 off $50 makes a good deal) Buuuut I'm not a pre-order kinda gal or someone who's hasty so idk a recommendation for that lol

[@bizarreindividual4026]

I agree, I really miss the right stuff filter. I could do it down to not only publisher but also theme genre. Then I would go down and see what was coming out and what I didn’t have. I am a little lost to be honest with you, I don’t even know how to order anymore because I was so spoiled lol 😅

[@thequestyen]

We didn't know how good we had it!

[@bizarreindividual4026]

@@thequestyen exactly

[@bizarreindividual4026]

Between the sheets was so wild! Excited to hear your thoughts when you do read it

[@thequestyen]

I'm still missing one of those Erica Sakurazawa releases and then I'm going to read them all.

[@joshuaolaekeji1254]

Recently got dokudami as well. A bit outdated but great read overall.

[@thequestyen]

Yeah outdated doesn't bother me. Should be entertaining at least!

[@Floridameerkat93]

What coupon did you have from Crunchyroll that you used to buy the Orange box set?

[@thequestyen]

I don't remember which exact one. It was from the Right Stuf days when I preordered it probably 4 or 5 months ago.