Twelve Days of Merry Manga Advent Calendar
Twelve Days of Merry Manga!
Introducing for the first time ever, our Twelve Days of Merry Manga Advent Calendar!
This special holiday set includes 12 individually wrapped manga volumes, the first volume in 12 randomly assorted series, each labeled from 1 to 12 and can be opened on your chosen date. Just imagine unwrapping one manga a day starting December 1st to December 12th or December 13th to December 25th- the choice is all yours! Think of it as a special countdown to the holidays with a new volume surprise every day.
Variety of Genres
Manga volumes are selected from a variety of genres including but not limited to romance, drama, action, slice of life, fantasy and more! And we make sure to wrap each of them up in super festive gift wrap to add that "touch" of the holidays to this special advent calendar, adding an element of mystery and excitement to your experience.
How to avoid getting volumes you already own or have read:
If you're concerned about getting a manga volume you've already read (or own), please add a list of the volumes you don't wish to get, goodreads profile, anilist profile, spreadsheet or any other reading tracker you think will help to the order notes and we will do our best to accomadate. You can also reach out to us via message so we can discuss this.
What is included:
- 12 individually wrapped manga volumes (1st volumes in every series)
- Volumes feature randomly assorted genres
- Stickers/decals
*Only included in the Otaku Munchie Option
- 1 pocky box*
- 1 flavored asian drink*
- 2 asian snacks (e.g. cookies/chips/crackers/etc...)*
- 3 assorted face masks
Perfect Gift!
This manga advent calendar is a unique gift for avid manga readers and collectors alike who love the thrill of discovering new titles and series. It's also a great splurge buy for those who want to add a bit of surprise and joy to their holiday season.
So don't wait and shop this super awesome Merry Manga Advent Calendar and make your holiday season ANIME-ZING with Anitaku!!
*Please note, manga featured in pictures are only examples of what you can get with this set. Every Merry Manga Advent Calendar is different.
I ordered the books-only version of the Advent Calendar, so can’t say anything about the snacks.
To start with, the shipping was handled very well. Anitaku used a lot of filler paper and some bubble wrap to make sure the books remained stable during transport. Additionally, the whole box was labeled as fragile. The books all arrived in perfect condition.
Each one was wrapped mostly as shown in the listing’s pictures. They did add a ribbon and bow made out of thin red or green sparkly plastic ribbon. I was initially worried about needing scissors to open them since this type of ribbon is notoriously difficult to tare, but they were wrapped loosely enough that the ribbon slipped right off if you were trying to remove it. The only hiccup I had with the wrapping was when I was trying to find the numbers. They were written in black ink on a dark blue sticker dot, on black/dark green wrapping paper. Due to this they were hard to see in low light. To make them easier to spot, I would recommend using a red, green, or lighter blue sticker dot or using lighter colored wrapping paper. Once I did notice the stickers they were placed uniformly along the spine of the books and where already in order.
I was pleasantly surprised by the magnetic bookmark they included as an extra. I’ve had mixed experiences with this type of bookmark, so was expecting it to break quickly, but it’s proven to be very durable.
As for the content, here is a list of the books I received in the order I opened them:
One Piece vol 1, Blue Exorcist vol 1, Jujutsu Kasen vol 0, Jujutsu Kasen vol 1, Gokurakugai vol 1, Call of the Night vol 1, One-Punch Man vol 1, Frieren vol 1, Marriage Toxin vol 1, Seraph of the End vol 1, Absolute Boyfriend vol 1, and A Condition Called Love vol 1.
Each calendar is randomized, but from my sample there was a noticeable patter.This calendar seems to be heavily weighted toward Shonen and Viz titles. Out of the 11 Viz books books, there were 2 Shonen Sunday series, 1 from Shojo Beat, and the rest were Shonen Jump. A Condition Called Love was a Shojo and published by Kodansha, but it seems to be an outlier.
For me, this heavy focus on action series from Viz was a downside since I would have rather sampled a range of publishers. However, this does give the calendar a since of structure and Viz’s large catalog gives them a variety of genres and tones to mix and match. More importantly, this pattern is in line with what they show in their advertising. So, what you see really is what you get.
The only issue I had with the content was with getting both Jujutsu Kasen volume 0 and 1. The calendar’s description states plainly that it will include “the first volume in 12 randomly assorted series”, so when I got volume 0 of JJK I was confused. After doing some digging I found out that volume 0 was a sort of pilot episode for what would become the main series, so I figures they chose to include it as a “spiritual volume 1”. Then the next day had volume 1. I feel this went against the spirit of the calendar. If volume 0 is counted as volume 1, then volume 1 should be counted as a volume 2. Because of this I feel I only received the first volume of 11 random series and 1 extra, as these two volumes are part of the same series. I feel that only one of these should have been included (and that it should have been volume 1 to avoid the confusion with volume 0’s history).
Aside from that I was happy with the calendar. I gave them a list of series I already had and none of them were in the calendar. I also appreciated that the final volume was thematically aligned with the advent calendar. The first 11 books seemed random, but the plot of A Condition Called Love’s first volume focuses on a countdown to Christmas, which made it feel intentionally. It was a cute addition, but does make me wonder about the viability of ordering again for the next year. I don’t know if there are that many Christmas themed manga, although Anitaku could go with a more general winter theme.
My biggest issue with this calendar was the price compared to the value. For simplify, I rounded all values to the nearest quarter. When I picked up this calendar, I paid $165 USD with no tax or shipping. I don’t know if they had a sale going on at the time, but within the next couple of days the price increased to $170. All of the volumes were new prints, so the Viz titles were $12 and the final volume was $11. This brings the total retail value of the calendar to $143.
In order for this calendar to have a value equal to the price each book would need to be worth an average of $13.75. If you don’t care about the last day of the calendar being Christmas-themed and still wanted to buy from Anitaku, I would recommend buying 3 of they regular mystery manga boxes and just reaching into the box to pull one manga a day. The boxes currently go for $50 for 4 manga, so each one has a value of $12.50. If you have a friend of family member help, I...