Manga 3-in-1's Way of Future?

Off the top of my head, some of the longest running manga--or, basically Japanese comics, and typically black and white--are Bleach, One Piece (which apparently is ONLY halfway done...how?), Naruto (which just ended), Dragon Ball, Fairy Tail, Berserk, and Full-Metal Alchemist. Several series are on the way to this mark, such as the totally unpopular and unknown Attack on Titan, while other series have already ended in a decent amount of volumes, like Deadman Wonderland and Death Note.

The thing about most of those really long series is that they all have something in common: collector's editions. Except for Berserk and Fairy Tail. That just takes up more room on your shelf. But typically you'll see them contained to arcs or containing maybe the first five volumes in a real special edition, such as AoT's Colossal Edition--a pretty cool collection of the first five volumes, or the "Black" Death Note edition, in which nothing is really different except the pages are darker and have a black border.

What I'm here to discuss today, though, is a little trend I'm picking up among the longer series, or at least, the more popular ones. This is the "3-in-1," in which three sequential manga volumes will be released in a big one for a bargain price. Typically, a manga volume is about $9.99 at a bookstore, cheaper on Amazon. So if you figure in three volumes into a $14.99 value, you feel like you're practically robbing the place.

I love the 3-in-1's. For someone who isn't invested yet in a series but wants to, and maybe doesn't have the time to watch all three hundred episodes of Bleach or however many episodes of Naruto/Shippuden are out, this is a great way to catch up.

It's also cheaper, and way more legal. There are few places where you can catch up on these series without having to pay for it. Sure, there are sites such as Hulu that have what you need, but the time it would take to sit through most of Dragon Ball with ads is horrendous compared to simply reading what's basically a comic.

Granted, I figure myself as a fast-reader. Some people may prefer visuals to reading, which is fine. You get a little more out of anime than manga since you can put voices to characters as well as the usually awesome score.

But if you're looking to simply catch up quickly, without the hastle of filler parts, then the 3-in-1 is the way to go. It's basically like reading one long book, and is actually similar to binge-watching a series as you're plowing through chunks of it as you go along. You can see how seamlessly the story flows from chapter to chapter, from volume to volume.

To spin a little tale, I got into Bleach because it was midnight and Toonami had just come back on the air and I figured, "Well, what the heck," and I watched through all of season fourteen. It was really freaking cool, with all the fights and all the different character abilities. Plus the Final Getsuga Tensho. Epic.

Yet, I was confused. Who was this Renji, this Chad man? What was so important about Orihime? How come Ichigo transformed like a billion times and why is Aizen so chill? I needed to get to the source, but I didn't have nearly enough time or patience to find and then watch all the preceding episodes of Bleach. Thirteen seasons is a daunting task, and when none of it is on Netflix, it's even worse.

I came across the 3-in-1 and ran right through the first two volumes in no time, instantly hooked on the story. The introduction of Renji and Byakuya at the end of the sixth regular volume was great because I'd already seen them in the series,and looked forward to what was essentially their origin. I've been reading the 3-in-1 for Bleach ever since. I know I'll catch up to it eventually and have to start reading the regular volumes, but for now it goes through volume 27, and by March-ish of next year (2015) they'll have gone through volume 33, out of only 62. I've got time.

Speaking of time, though, if you're like me and want to get into everything cool happening now, then you also want to get into the very time-consuming series that is Naruto. It just ended on it's 700th (!!) chapter. A fan of the anime through the third season before I thought I was cool and stopped watching cartoons (what a fool I was), I decided to check out the final chapters of the manga to see if I could relate. Lo and behold, I could, but I wanted to see what the heck had gone down in the time between my stopping and this final chapter. There is a crap ton of stuff for me to read, but with the Naruto 3-in-1s, I feel pretty confident I'll be able to refresh my memory in no time.

Honestly, I hope that the 3-in-1s are the way of the future. It makes manga way more accessible to people on a budget who would like to collect, like me. It also makes it less scary to see fifty or so volumes on a bookshelf at any given time. Of course, there are sites that allow you read this stuff for free, but, that's a debate for another time.

I'd love to see Dragon Ball and eventually Fairy Tail do this tactic. Partly because most vendors don't have the entirety of either series at their disposal, and also because I'd like to see what Fairy Tail is like without the filler. And the characters are drawn different.

And I've gone off topic.

3-in-1s yay!


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