Excel Saga

Foggle · April 02, 2012, 12:13:11 AM

Hey E-K, I've located an absurdly cheap copy of volume 8 (this one usually goes for around $40+). If you promise to start reading Excel Saga eventually, I'll totally buy it for you. PM me your mailing address and I'll have it sent to ya directly. I'll keep an eye out for #7, as well (the rest are still in print, except for 5, which still sells for standard retail price since stores seem to have surpluses of it).

Dr. Ensatsu-ken · April 02, 2012, 12:21:04 AM

I couldn't ask you to buy a volume for me! I appreciate the offer, though.

Did you find the volume at a store near you or did you find it online? If its online give me a link to where I can order it from. If not then don't worry, I'll be able to locate a copy of volume 8 online myself. Don't worry, I'll be sure to start reading the series this summer. I also just realized that if my local bookstore still has it (which may be likely since I've seen the first few volumes of Excel Saga stopped in its manga section for years, completely untouched), I can just read it at the store without having to buy the volumes. That'd certainly make things a lot cheaper and easier.

Foggle · April 02, 2012, 12:23:45 AM

Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on April 02, 2012, 12:21:04 AM
I couldn't ask you to buy a volume for me! I appreciate the offer, though.

It's $9 including shipping. If you want to pay me back for it, you can always donate to the "keep AR running" fund later.

I just want to make sure you can pick this up since I haven't seen a price for it lower than $30 since 2007.

QuoteDid you find the volume at a store near you or did you find it online? If its online give me a link to where I can order it from.

Apparently Hastings doesn't know the value of this book.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1591162335/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

Dr. Ensatsu-ken · April 02, 2012, 12:34:05 AM

I'll go ahead and order it myself as soon as possible, but I can't do it right away since I don't carry my credit card one me when I'm in college in Philadelphia. I'll probably be going home this coming weekend, though, so I'm sure the offer will still be up until then, especially since it doesn't seem like Excel Saga is selling a whole lot, even when its available for cheap.

Foggle · April 02, 2012, 12:37:30 AM

Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on April 02, 2012, 12:34:05 AM
I'll go ahead and order it myself as soon as possible, but I can't do it right away since I don't carry my credit card one me when I'm in college in Philadelphia. I'll probably be going home this coming weekend, though, so I'm sure the offer will still be up until then, especially since it doesn't seem like Excel Saga is selling a whole lot, even when its available for cheap.

Cool, sounds good. And it helps that you can't actually access the Amazon page through the website itself... you have to Google Excel Saga Volume 8 for it to come up.

Dr. Ensatsu-ken · April 02, 2012, 12:42:54 AM

Yeah, it seems like a great offer. I'll definitely look forward to trying to get into the series this summer. That said, my concern right now is trying to even make it to the summer. Not to go off-topic, but my college semester is more brutal than ever this year, and while I'm staying in relatively good status in most of my classes, I'm so borderline in one class that its scary. That is of course my hardest class and we have the hardest exam in said class coming up this Friday, so I just hope I can at least get the minimum grade that I need on that exam to maintain a passing grade in the course.

Seriously, if I make it through this semester, I'll probably go out and buy every volume of Excel Saga that I can find to celebrate. Well, maybe not buy them, but I'll be eager to do something leisurely for a change, and reading is one of the first relaxing things I'll do, and I'll make sure that Excel Saga is on the top of my "to-read" list....which incidentally has absolutely nothing else on it right now, so ES is already there!

Foggle · April 02, 2012, 12:58:08 AM

Good luck with uni, dude. I left A&M after one semester because the work was far too difficult for me - I spent literally 90-95% of my free time studying or writing essays and I still got C's and D's in everything - so I can definitely sympathize. Currently not attending a university, but I'll be going to community college next semester unless I can find a fulfilling job in this shit economy before then. Incidentally, the early volumes of Excel Saga are much funnier to me now that I can understand the characters' motivations more.

Glad to hear that you're looking forward to reading it! I always feel sad about not having anyone to talk to about ES (and it's been this way since 2007, lol!).

Dr. Ensatsu-ken · April 02, 2012, 01:19:03 AM

Yeah, I'm studying every single day with little to no free-time in between, and I'm still in danger of failing this class. If I do, I'll pretty much be forced to stay back a year just so I can retake this one fucking class before I can move onto my P3 year, and that is of course another semester of expenses which I can't afford! Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Foggle · April 02, 2012, 01:21:41 AM

I'm sure you'll do fine. You've made it this far already, so don't give up hope! I wish I could say I was so determined, but I don't think I'm really cut out for higher education.

Hopefully one day you'll see a novel of mine on a bookstore shelf and I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that this gamble paid off.

Foggle · April 03, 2012, 12:27:55 AM

Motherfuckers! Hastings already jacked the price up to $32 + shipping.

Well, at least there's a scan for this one...

Dr. Ensatsu-ken · April 03, 2012, 01:11:21 AM

Heh, I guess somebody tipped them off as to how much their copy of Excel Saga was worth.

Its not biggie, though. Once the Summer rolls around I'll start looking wherever I can to see if any cheap offerings for volume 8 come up, and if not then I may just cave in and get the $40 volume IF I actually manage to find and read all of the other volumes up to that point.

Foggle · April 27, 2012, 11:45:39 PM

So apparently volume 23 made #4 on the New York Times Bestseller List for manga, and volume 24 will be coming out in November instead of April! That makes me very happy.

Dr. Ensatsu-ken · April 28, 2012, 12:35:15 AM

Did it state the actual number of copies that it sold. If its suddenly selling well, then that's a great sign for the series, but somehow it seems too good to be true. Of course, I am aware that manga sales have been down in the past few years, not that they ever sold that big, but they did sell considerably more back between 2005-2008 when the whole manga/anime craze was at its peak. Now only the top 5 or so selling manga ever really manage to sell enough copies to make a potential profit, but then again, since Excel Saga is in the top 5 that must mean that at least the one volume that made it to the into the top 5 must have sold fairly well.

Foggle · April 28, 2012, 12:39:05 AM

No sales numbers are listed. It probably didn't sell a whole lot, but this is the first time Excel's been on the list since the single-digit volumes, so it's a good sign regardless.

Foggle · May 04, 2012, 11:01:08 AM

More resulting goodness caused by making the Times' list? Viz is finally bringing Excel Saga to http://vizmanga.com, starting with volume 1 on May 14th! Each digital book will probably cost around $1-5 apiece, and presumably will include the notorious out of print volumes!

This might be the cheapest and best way to read the series if you can't find a way to read the books at the store or library, E-K.

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Excel Saga