THE LIBRARY
Collector guides, cover censuses, and edition answers, documented issue by issue. Every page answers one specific question, completely.
VAGABOND
30 shelves
The Vagabond Manga Gallery
Every Japanese tankobon cover of Takehiko Inoue's Vagabond, volumes 1 to 37, Morning KC, Kodansha, 1999 to 2014, each with its release date, ISBN, and story arc.
What Weekly Morning issues have Vagabond on the cover?
Sixteen documented Weekly Morning covers led by Takehiko Inoue's Vagabond paintings, 2008 to 2014, from the LAST exhibition issue to the 2012 comeback cover,…
Vagabond's art books: Sumi, Water, and the INOUENO catalogues
Takehiko Inoue's two Vagabond art books, Water (color) and Sumi (ink), both released October 23, 2006, their 2008 Viz editions, and the two INOUENO catalogues of…
Are the Vagabond covers the same in Japanese and English?
Yes for the paintings, no for the books: Viz's single volumes keep all of Inoue's cover art and re-letter it, while the VIZBIG omnibuses and the 2025 Definitive…
What is the Vagabond VIZBIG edition?
Viz's 3-in-1 omnibuses of Vagabond: twelve paperback volumes, 2008 to 2015, collecting tankobon 1 to 36 at 5.75 by 8.63 inches with bonus color and redesigned…
What is the Vagabond Definitive Edition?
Viz Media's 2025 hardcover line for Vagabond: large-trim 7.5 by 10 inch volumes collecting three tankobon each, textured covers with gold calligraphy, launched…
Which Vagabond edition should a collector buy?
The four ways to own Vagabond, Japanese singles, English singles, VIZBIG omnibuses, and Definitive hardcovers, weighed for reading, shelving, and collecting,…
How do you identify a first printing of Japanese Vagabond?
Read the colophon: Japanese first printings of Vagabond's Morning KC volumes carry the first-printing line and the release date together. The five checks, the…
The History of Vagabond
From the September 3, 1998 debut in Weekly Morning to the 2025 Definitive hardcovers: the history of Takehiko Inoue's Vagabond, its prizes, its art books, its…
What is Vagabond based on?
Eiji Yoshikawa's 1935 novel Musashi, the Asahi Shimbun serial that made Miyamoto Musashi a national hero, and how Takehiko Inoue's manga inherits its skeleton…
How does Vagabond differ from Yoshikawa's Musashi novel?
The seventy-Yoshioka battle is Inoue's invention, his Kojiro is deaf, and his Musashi follows no bushido: the documented differences between Takehiko Inoue's…
Who was the real Miyamoto Musashi?
The historical swordsman behind Vagabond: c. 1584 to 1645, undefeated across some sixty duels, founder of the two-sword school, and the author of The Book of…
Did Musashi and Kojiro really duel on Ganryu Island?
Yes: April 13, 1612, arranged by Hosokawa Tadaoki, Musashi late by boat with a sword carved from an oar, Kojiro with his long nodachi. The recorded facts of the…
Why is Vagabond on hiatus?
Health, a lost enthusiasm Inoue named himself, a punishing brush method, and a story its author keeps refusing to rush: the documented timeline of Vagabond's…
How many chapters does Vagabond have?
327 chapters: 322 collected in 37 volumes, and a final five, chapters 323 to 327 from 2015, that exist only in Weekly Morning. The full arc-by-arc count.
When did Vagabond start in Morning magazine?
September 3, 1998, in Weekly Morning No.40: chapter 1,
What was Takehiko Inoue's The LAST Manga Exhibition?
The 2008 Ueno Royal Museum exhibition where Inoue painted an original final chapter of Vagabond across museum walls: 100-plus works, daily sellouts, and the two…
How does Takehiko Inoue draw Vagabond?
Brush and ink, no speed lines, bodies drawn from anatomy, five assistants on backgrounds, watercolor for color: Inoue's documented method for Vagabond, in his…
Why are Vagabond's covers painted in watercolor?
Because the manga is a portrait of a life: Inoue's watercolor covers age Musashi's face across 37 volumes, feed the Water art book, and scale up into the Ueno…
How did Vagabond change Takehiko Inoue after Slam Dunk?
From shonen to seinen, pen to brush, victories to costs: how Vagabond reinvented the author of Slam Dunk, in his own stated aims and the documented results.
What has Takehiko Inoue done while Vagabond is on hiatus?
Real kept running, and then came a film: Inoue's work during Vagabond's long pause, from the continuing wheelchair basketball manga to writing and directing The…
Is Vagabond finished?
No: 327 chapters, an uncollected final five, an ending painted for a museum in 2008, and no word of cancellation from Inoue or Kodansha. The precise state of…
How many copies has Vagabond sold?
Over 82 million copies in circulation worldwide, reached without any anime adaptation: what the figure counts and why it is extraordinary for an unfinished adult…
What awards has Vagabond won?
The Japan Media Arts Festival Grand Prize and the Kodansha Manga Award in 2000, the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Grand Prize in 2002, and an Eisner nomination in…
Who is Sasaki Kojiro in Vagabond?
Inoue's reinvention of the legend: a deaf swordsman raised by Kanemaki Jisai, given six volumes of his own, and built into Vagabond's second protagonist on the…
What is The Book of Five Rings, and where is it in Vagabond?
Musashi's 1645 strategy treatise, written in Reigando cave in the last months of his life, and its place in Vagabond: the destination document the whole manga is…
Why is there no Vagabond anime?
No anime adaptation of Vagabond has ever been produced or announced, despite 82 million copies sold. The documented reasons: an unreproducible art method, an…
What other manga has Takehiko Inoue made?
Chameleon Jail, Slam Dunk, Buzzer Beater, and Real: the complete serial shelf of Takehiko Inoue besides Vagabond, and the 2022 film that capped the set.
How accurate is Vagabond as history?
The Yoshioka duels are real, the seventy-man stand is invented, Kojiro's deafness is Inoue's creation, and even Sekigahara has been re-argued by historians:…
What should you read after Vagabond?
Yoshikawa's novel in the Terry translation, The Book of Five Rings itself, William Scott Wilson's biography of Musashi, and Inoue's own Real: the four doors out…
VAGRANT STORY
14 shelves
The Vagrant Story Gallery
The two 2000 boxes of Vagrant Story side by side, Japan and North America, one painting printed two ways, plus the discs and editions a collector actually handles.
What is Vagrant Story?
Vagrant Story in one page: Square’s 2000 solo dungeon crawler, Yasumi Matsuno’s accused agent Ashley Riot, the dead city of Leá Monde, and a murder the player…
How was Vagrant Story made?
The making of Vagrant Story: development from January 1998, a research trip to Saint-Émilion, characters built from 320 polygons, faces 32 pixels wide, and…
Why did Famitsu give Vagrant Story a perfect score?
Vagrant Story’s Famitsu 40 out of 40, corrected and documented: it was the third perfect score in the magazine’s history, after Ocarina of Time and Soulcalibur,…
How does the Vagrant Story battle system work?
Vagrant Story’s battle system explained: the wireframe sphere and limb targeting, Chain and Defense Abilities, Break Arts, the Risk wager, and a crafting system…
What does the Vagrant Story ending mean?
The Vagrant Story ending, documented with its spoilers signposted: the city is the Gran Grimoire, the key is the Blood-Sin tattoo, Sydney is the duke’s son, and…
Who is Ashley Riot?
Ashley Riot, documented: the VKP’s elite Riskbreaker, the two contradictory pasts the game gives him, the Ultimania’s portrait of the perfect agent, and why even…
Why is there no Vagrant Story sequel?
Why Vagrant Story never got a sequel, from the record: modest sales beside its stablemates, Kawazu calling it the natural next remake candidate in 2007,…
How is Vagrant Story connected to Final Fantasy?
The Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy connection, documented: shared Ivalice vocabulary with Final Fantasy XII, the Gran Grimoire of Tactics Advance, and Matsuno’s…
What was cut from Vagrant Story?
What was cut from Vagrant Story, from Matsuno’s own E3 2000 interview: over half the scenario, the AI partners who would have fought beside Ashley, and the map…
Who translated Vagrant Story into English?
Alexander O. Smith and the English Vagrant Story: a Harvard classicist on Richard Honeywood’s young Square localization team, direct access to Matsuno, and the…
What strategy guides does Vagrant Story have?
The Vagrant Story guides shelf: Dan Birlew’s BradyGames book with its poster and its website exiled tables, and Japan’s three books, the beginner’s guide,…
Collecting Vagrant Story
Collecting Vagrant Story: the full edition census, Japan’s two budget reissues with their prices, North America’s two-disc package and Greatest Hits pressing,…
Who did the art for Vagrant Story?
The art of Vagrant Story, credited correctly: Akihito Yoshida’s characters and Hiroshi Minagawa’s direction, the Amano assumption audited, faces painted at 32 by…
VALKYRIE PROFILE
12 shelves
The Valkyrie Profile Gallery
Five games, one valkyrie: the 1999 original, Silmeria, Covenant of the Plume, Valkyrie Elysium, and the Lenneth port, with the Japanese and Western covers standing side by side wherever they differ. Here, they always differ.
The History of Valkyrie Profile
The deadline RPG of 1999: eight chapters, a Sacred Phase grade, 709,000 copies, and a Famitsu readers poll that ranked it the 27th best game ever made.
What Inspired Valkyrie Profile?
The creators on the record in 1999: the system came first, and Norse mythology was chosen because there, how you die is what matters.
The History of Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria
The best reviewed game in the series (84 on Metacritic), a Japanese chart topper, and IGN's Best Game No One Played.
How Does the Time System in Valkyrie Profile Work?
Periods, Sacred Phases, Hero Value, and the Evaluation that can end the game early.
What Are Valkyrie Profile's Three Endings?
C, B, and the hidden A ending that its director designed as an act of defiance, with the walkthrough derived Seal Rating steps labeled as such.
How Is the American Valkyrie Profile Different from the Japanese One?
Added cinematics, party wide armor, one cut cigarette, and a PSP port that reverted to the Japanese build.
What Are Sealstones in Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria?
Dais, shell, and spring, per the game's own manual.
The History of Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume
The series from the ground: Wylfred's revenge, born from a commercial for the first game.
The History of Valkyrie Elysium
The 2022 action revival, and the Japanese box art the West asked for by name.
The History of Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth
The port that kept the English cinematics, lost the English improvements, and replaced every anime scene with film.
What is the Valkyrie Profile Voice Mix album?
Sakuraba wove the game's own dialogue into arranged music. He called the search through a thousand lines of dark script a defining, sleepless job.
VAMPIRE HUNTER D
16 shelves
The Vampire Hunter D Novel Gallery
The Vampire Hunter D novel cover line documented: the 1983 Sonorama Bunko originals painted by Yoshitaka Amano, the 1992 hardcover Favorite Printings, the…
The History of Vampire Hunter D
The history of Vampire Hunter D from Hideyuki Kikuchi's first novel in January 1983 through two films, a manga, a PlayStation game, and the January 2026 volume…
How many Vampire Hunter D novels are there?
How many Vampire Hunter D novels are there? The honest answer is three counts at once: 41 novels in 53 volumes by April 2023, a numbering that has since reached…
Who is D, the Vampire Hunter?
Who is D? A dhampir engineered by the Sacred Ancestor, Dracula himself, more than ten thousand years old, who hunts the vampire Nobility of the year 12,090 for…
What is the Left Hand in Vampire Hunter D?
What is the Left Hand? A sentient symbiote with a face in D's palm, a creature called a Countenanced Carbuncle, who mocks D, swallows magic, and can raise him…
What is the Frontier in Vampire Hunter D?
What is the Frontier? The lawless edge of Earth in 12,090 AD, ten thousand years after a nuclear war the vampires planned for, ruled in patches by the decaying…
What did Yoshitaka Amano do for Vampire Hunter D?
Yoshitaka Amano has painted every Vampire Hunter D cover since 1983 and drew the interior illustrations for forty-three years. His role, his D design, and the…
What are the Vampire Hunter D art books?
The Vampire Hunter D art books: Coffin (1997), the Yoshitaka Amano Art Collection (2000), the Reader's Guide (2001), Kawajiri's 647-page Bloodlust storyboard…
How was the 1985 Vampire Hunter D movie made?
The 1985 Vampire Hunter D movie: made by Ashi Productions for the new home video market, directed by Toyoo Ashida with Yoshitaka Amano designs, released 21…
How was Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust made?
How Bloodlust was made: fan demand and Kikuchi's complaints started it in 1997, Madhouse and Yoshiaki Kawajiri spent four years on it, and the English track was…
Why did Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust become a cult film?
Why Bloodlust became a Western cult object: a charting DVD in 2002, a licensing quirk that kept the Japanese track off American discs for decades, and the GKIDS…
What is the Vampire Hunter D manga?
Saiko Takaki's Vampire Hunter D manga: launched worldwide on one day in October 2007, eight volumes adapting the 1980s novels, a cancelled American finale, and…
How can you read Vampire Hunter D in English?
Reading Vampire Hunter D in English: the DH Press paperbacks from 2005 in Kevin Leahy's translation, the numbering trap, the Dark Horse Omnibus program to Book…
What Vampire Hunter D games and audio dramas are there?
The Vampire Hunter D game and audio shelf: the 1999 PlayStation survival horror from Victor Interactive, the Japanese drama CDs with Kaneto Shiozawa, and…
What else lives in the world of Vampire Hunter D?
Beyond the 44 novels: the Greylancer prequels drawn by Castlevania's Ayami Kojima, the Dhampir Hunting spinoff, and Kikuchi's short stories, some of which exist…
How can you tell a first printing of Vampire Hunter D?
Collecting Vampire Hunter D: telling a 1983 Sonorama Bunko original from the 2007 Sonorama Selection reprint by ISBN block, the Aizoban hardcovers, the English…
VINLAND SAGA
20 shelves
The Vinland Saga Manga Gallery: All 29 Japanese Covers
Every Japanese tankobon cover of Makoto Yukimura’s Vinland Saga, volumes 1 to 29, Afternoon KC, Kodansha, 2005 to 2025, each with its release date and cover subject.
The History of Vinland Saga
From the April 2005 debut in Weekly Shonen Magazine to the final chapter in July 2025: the history of Makoto Yukimura’s Vinland Saga, its move to Afternoon, its…
Why Did Vinland Saga Leave Weekly Shōnen Magazine?
Vinland Saga began in Weekly Shonen Magazine in April 2005 and moved to Monthly Afternoon that December. The documented reason: Makoto Yukimura could not keep a…
What Are the Four Arcs of Vinland Saga?
Makoto Yukimura built Vinland Saga in four arcs: War (chapters 1-54), Slave/Farmland (55-100), Eastern Expedition (101-166), and Vinland (167-220), mapped to the…
How Many Chapters Does Vinland Saga Have?
Vinland Saga has 220 numbered chapters across 29 volumes, plus bonus stories, the Dogland Saga side story, and a reprinted 2004 one-shot. The arc-by-arc counts,…
How Did Vinland Saga End?
Vinland Saga ended with chapter 220,
How Does Makoto Yukimura Draw Vinland Saga?
Yukimura’s documented method on Vinland Saga: scenes composed mentally first, three assistants, twelve-hour days, a page a day, hand inking kept even after the…
Where Did Yukimura Research Vinland Saga?
The documented research behind Vinland Saga: Scandinavia in 2003, then Denmark, Iceland, France, Britain and Canada, full-scale models, and named Mi’kmaq…
Who Was the Real Thorfinn Karlsefni?
The historical Thorfinn Karlsefni: Icelandic explorer, husband of Gudrid, father of Snorri, leader of a Vinland settlement voyage, and how much of him the manga…
What Sagas Is Vinland Saga Based On?
The Saga of the Greenlanders, the Saga of Erik the Red, and the Flateyjarbok: the medieval Icelandic texts behind Vinland Saga, and what Yukimura took from each.
Is Vinland Real?
Vinland is real: the sagas’ landfall, the Norse site at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, and tree-ring proof of Europeans in the Americas in 1021, five…
Who Is Askeladd Based On?
Askeladd’s documented roots: Olaf Tryggvason, the slave who became Norway’s king, the Welsh Artorius lineage written into his name, and the Norwegian folktale of…
How Was the Vinland Saga Anime Made?
The making of the Vinland Saga anime: Wit Studio’s 2019 season and MAPPA’s 2023 season, director Shuhei Yabuta across both, and the craft problem of animating…
Why Did the Vinland Saga Anime Change Studios?
Season two of Vinland Saga moved from Wit Studio to MAPPA, but director Shuhei Yabuta, designer Takahiko Abiru, and composer Yutaka Yamada all stayed. What the…
What Did Yukimura Write Before Vinland Saga? (Planetes)
Planetes, Makoto Yukimura’s hard-SF manga of orbital debris collectors: Weekly Morning 1999-2004, four volumes, the Sunrise anime, and two Seiun Awards. The…
What Are the Vinland Saga English Hardcover Editions?
Kodansha USA’s Vinland Saga in English: fifteen two-in-one hardcover books from October 2013 to October 2026, keeping the Japanese cover art. The collector’s map…
What Is the Vinland Saga Deluxe Edition?
Kodansha USA’s Deluxe Edition of Vinland Saga: three-in-one hardcovers announced at Anime NYC 2022, first released February 6, 2024, and how it sits beside the…
Are Vinland Saga Covers the Same in Japanese and English?
Yes for the art, no for the lettering: Kodansha USA’s hardcovers reuse Yukimura’s Japanese cover paintings, verified side by side for volumes 1 and 29.
Why Does Vinland Saga Have Two First Volumes?
Vinland Saga’s volumes 1 and 2 exist twice: Shonen Magazine Comics editions in 2005 and Afternoon KC reissues with new covers in 2006, because the series changed…
How Can You Tell a First Printing of Vinland Saga?
Identifying first printings of Vinland Saga: the 2005 Shonen Magazine Comics editions of volumes 1-2, ISBN checks, and the colophon printing line explained. A…
WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP
10 shelves
The Weekly Shonen Jump Cover Gallery
Landmark covers verified for identification: the 1968 first issue, four debut covers, the Kochikame farewell, and the American premiere.
The History of Weekly Shonen Jump Covers
From the 90 yen biweekly of 1968 to the 6.53 million copy peak and the farewell cover that broke house policy in 2016.
What was on the first Weekly Shonen Jump cover?
Kujira Daigo, a racing driver, 90 yen, eight stories, and the pirate mark that never left.
Which Weekly Shonen Jump issue sold the most copies?
The combined New Year No.3-4 for 1995: 6.53 million copies, with Slam Dunk in colour and Dragon Ball running.
Why do some Weekly Shonen Jump issues have two numbers?
Combined issues cover two numbering weeks across a holiday, and the cover date is not the sale date.
Why is there a pirate on every Shonen Jump cover?
The Jump logo since 1968, named Journey in 2022, with a sideways sister called Jamie.
How does a series earn the Weekly Shonen Jump cover?
The cover follows the lead colour chapter, assigned by the editors on the reader survey evidence. Oda on the record.
Why did Kochikame get a cover for its final chapter?
House policy said no. Forty unbroken years, a Guinness record, and the first reprint in Jump history said otherwise.
Why did Shueisha reprint old Jump issues in 2017?
The Fukkokuban packs for the 50th anniversary: 1968 with 1995, JoJo 1987 with One Piece 1997, reproduced as they ran.
How were American Shonen Jump covers different?
Monthly, newly drawn, badged and barcoded, with no Japanese twin issue. The Viz system against the Japanese one.
WOLF'S RAIN
13 shelvesThe History of Wolf's Rain
The history of Wolf's Rain: Keiko Nobumoto's original anime at Bones, its 2003 Fuji TV run, the recap crisis, the DVD ending, and its long cult afterlife.
The Wolf's Rain Gallery: Key Art and Covers
Wolf's Rain key art and covers, verified: the series key visual of Kiba in both his forms, the first Japanese DVD cover, and the Viz manga volume 1 cover.
Who created Wolf's Rain?
Who created Wolf's Rain: writer Keiko Nobumoto, director Tensai Okamura, designer Toshihiro Kawamoto and composer Yoko Kanno, the Cowboy Bebop reunion at Bones.
Why do the wolves in Wolf's Rain look human?
Why the wolves in Wolf's Rain look human: they do not transform. They cast an illusion, and the series' saddest device is that humans only ever see the disguise.
Why does Wolf's Rain have four recap episodes in a row?
Why Wolf's Rain has four recap episodes in a row: production fell behind at a young Bones, the SARS outbreak is the cause most often named, and Fuji TV needed…
Why did Wolf's Rain end on DVD instead of TV?
Why Wolf's Rain ended on DVD: the television run closed unresolved at episode 26, and the final four episodes came as an OVA in January and February 2004.
Wolf's Rain's ending, explained
The Wolf's Rain ending explained, with interpretation marked as interpretation: the deaths on the mountain, why Darcia is refused, Cheza's seeds, the rain, and…
How is the Wolf's Rain manga different from the anime?
How the Wolf's Rain manga differs from the anime: two volumes, a restructured second half, Darcia recruiting Blue, a blinded Kiba, and an ending where the pack…
Yoko Kanno and the music of Wolf's Rain
Yoko Kanno's Wolf's Rain score: recorded in Japan, Poland, Brazil, the United States and Italy, two Victor Entertainment albums, and an Annie Award nomination.
Stray, Gravity, and the songs of Wolf's Rain
Stray, Gravity, and the songs of Wolf's Rain: Steve Conte's opening, Maaya Sakamoto's ending, Tell Me What the Rain Knows, and Heaven's Not Enough, with their…
Wolf's Rain in English: the Bandai release
Wolf's Rain in English: Bandai's seven DVD volumes, the Adult Swim run that skipped the recaps, the dub cast, ICv2's 2004 award, and the American soundtrack CD.
How to collect Wolf's Rain
How to collect Wolf's Rain: the Japanese DVD art, the Bandai limited edition with the Kiba plush, the Japan-only second soundtrack, the Borders manga box, and…
Why does Wolf's Rain endure?
Why Wolf's Rain endures: an original story that refuses comfort, a pack played as animals rather than heroes, Kanno's score, and an ending fans still argue about.
WRESTLING GAMES
6 shelves
The Wrestling Games Gallery
Five games, one engine room: Revenge, WrestleMania 2000, Virtual Pro Wrestling 2, No Mercy, and Here Comes the Pain, covers first.
Why is WWF No Mercy considered the greatest wrestling game ever made?
An 89 on Metacritic, a million copies, and a fan vote it wins at 80.5 percent, twenty-five years on.
Why did some copies of WWF No Mercy erase your saves?
The first cartridges could wipe your whole game. THQ's exchange fixed so few that the fixed ones are the rare ones.
What is Virtual Pro Wrestling 2, the Japanese game behind No Mercy?
Ninety-eight wrestlers, one license, and the engine No Mercy inherited. The best wrestling game America never got.
Why is WWE SmackDown: Here Comes the Pain considered the best of its series?
The SmackDown series' best reviews, its first Elimination Chamber, and a season mode with a memory.
What was the AKI engine, and why did its wrestling games feel different?
Momentum instead of health, and big moves you have to earn. The system every wrestling game is still measured against.
X
13 shelves
The X Manga Gallery
All eighteen volumes of CLAMP’s X documented: the complete English cover run pictured, every Japanese Asuka Comics release date and ISBN, and the 2023 Premium…
The History of X
X began in Monthly Asuka in May 1992, ran through earthquakes, a film, a TV series, and a hiatus that never ended. The documented history of CLAMP’s apocalypse.
Who Are the Seven Seals and the Seven Angels?
The Dragons of Heaven and the Dragons of Earth, member by member: the seven who protect humanity, the seven who would end it, and the two dreamgazers who watch them.
Who Are Kamui and Fuma?
One name, two boys: Kamui Shiro, who must choose the world’s fate, and Fuma Monou, the best friend fated to become whatever Kamui refuses to be.
Why Was X Never Finished?
Not a cancellation and not a feud: the documented record, from CLAMP’s own 2004 PUFF interview, of earthquakes, a murder case, and an ending a magazine could not…
What Is the X Movie?
Rintaro’s 1996 film: 97 minutes, Nobuteru Yuki designs, X Japan on the theme, real Tokyo photographed street by street, and an ending the manga never gave.
How Does the X TV Series End?
Kawajiri’s 24-episode series follows the manga faithfully, then has to finish it. How the 2001 ending works, and how it differs from the film and the page.
How Does X Connect to Tsubasa?
In Tsubasa’s ruined Tokyo, the Dragons of Earth hold the government building’s water and Kamui and Subaru are vampire twins on the run from Seishiro. The…
What Are the English Editions of X?
Viz’s X/1999 singles, the retitling, the Animerica Extra serialization, and the 3-in-1 omnibuses that restored the right-to-left page. A complete English map.
The Tarot Art of X
Each original volume of X hid a major arcana illustration on its jacket flap. How CLAMP built a tarot into a manga, and how Kadokawa turned it into nineteen…
What Are the X Art Books?
X ZERO and X INFINITY, the two Illustrated Collections: what is in them, when they appeared, and why ZERO holds the tarot card the manga volumes never printed.
How Can You Tell a First Printing of X?
The colophon test for the Asuka Comics volumes, the connecting spines, the flap tarot, and how the 2023 Premium Collection differs at a glance.
Collecting X
A field guide to the shelf: the Asuka set and its spines, the English singles and omnibuses, the art books, the tarot cards, and the film and series on disc.
YAKUZA
30 shelves
The History of Yakuza
From a rejected 2005 pitch and a 2.4 billion yen budget to the fastest-selling week in series history: the full history of Sega's Yakuza, now Like a Dragon.
In what order do the Yakuza games go?
Every main Yakuza and Like a Dragon game in release order with Japanese titles and dates, the spin-offs, and how the story order differs from the release order.
What is the first Yakuza game?
The 2005 PlayStation 2 original: Nagoshi's rejected pitch, a 2.4 billion yen budget, novelist Hase Seishu on the script, and a million Japanese sales.
Who is Toshihiro Nagoshi?
Toshihiro Nagoshi: Sega lifer from Yu Suzuki's AM2 to chief creative officer, creator of Super Monkey Ball and Yakuza, and the man who bet on Japanese adults.
What is Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio?
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio: the Sega team named after its own game, from Amusement Vision through the Nagoshi era to Masayoshi Yokoyama's leadership since 2021.
Is Kamurocho a real place?
Kamurocho is fictional, but its streets are Kabukicho's: the gate, the Don Quijote, the theater, and two more districts mapped from Osaka and Yokohama.
Why is the first Yakuza's English dub famous?
Mark Hamill as Majima, Michael Madsen, a script rewritten to chase Grand Theft Auto, and no room on the disc for the Japanese voices: the 2006 Yakuza dub.
What was cut from Yakuza 3 in the West?
Hostess clubs, 21 substories, mahjong and shogi: what Sega removed from Yakuza 3's 2010 Western release, and how the 2019 remaster put it back.
Did Yakuza almost die in the West?
Yakuza 5's three-year gap, a fan campaign, and Sony funding the localization itself: how the series nearly ended in the West, and who saved it.
How did Yakuza 0 save the series?
A 1988 prequel, bubble-era money, two young protagonists, and memes that traveled: how Yakuza 0 turned a dying Western niche into Sega's flagship.
Why did Yakuza change its name to Like a Dragon?
The series was always called Ryū ga Gotoku,
Why did Like a Dragon become a turn-based RPG?
An April Fools video, a creator's tall tale, and his successor's correction: the real story of how Yakuza traded real-time brawling for Dragon Quest battles.
What is Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth?
The 2024 entry: simultaneous worldwide launch, a million copies in a week, Ichiban and Kiryu sharing the lead, Hawaii, and a whole island resort to build.
Who is Ichiban Kasuga?
Ichiban Kasuga: the Dragon Quest-loving ex-yakuza who took over the series in 2020, voiced by the man who once played its first villain.
Who is Kazuma Kiryu?
Kazuma Kiryu, the Dragon of Dojima: twenty years, nine main games, one grey suit, and the most reluctant legend in the medium.
Who is Goro Majima?
Goro Majima, the Mad Dog of Shimano: Mark Hamill's most forgotten role, Zero's tragic co-lead, and in 2025 the star of his own pirate game.
What are the Judgment games?
Judgment and Lost Judgment: RGG Studio's detective spin-offs starring Takuya Kimura, a recasting scandal, and a PC standoff that nearly ended the branch.
What are Yakuza Kenzan and Ishin?
The studio's period pieces: the modern cast recast as samurai two centuries apart, Miyamoto Musashi and Sakamoto Ryōma, and the nine-year wait for Ishin's remake.
What is Yakuza: Dead Souls?
Of the End in Japan: the 2011 zombie spin-off that quarantined Kamurocho, armed its heroes, and became the series' Western low-water mark.
Yakuza box art: Japanese vs English editions
Four verified Japanese and Western box-art pairs: Kiwami, Kiwami 2, Like a Dragon and Infinite Wealth, and what each market was being sold.
What are the Yakuza Kiwami remakes?
Kiwami,
What is the Dragon Engine?
RGG Studio's in-house engine since Yakuza 6: seamless cities, physics combat, measured streetlight, and the one game that left it for Unreal.
Yakuza beyond the games: film, TV, stage and manga
Takashi Miike's 2007 film, two Kurohyo TV dramas, the 2015 stage play, Amazon's 2024 Like a Dragon series, and Sega's own Kamutai Magazine.
Why does Yakuza have so many minigames?
Karaoke, cabaret management, arcades full of real Sega classics, and a chicken on the payroll: the minigame density is the series' theory of a city.
How many copies has Yakuza sold?
27.7 million copies by 2024, per entry: the 2005 million, Zero's two million, Like a Dragon's record 3.5 million, and Infinite Wealth's fastest week.
What is Yakuza 6: The Song of Life?
The Dragon Engine's debut and Kiryu's billed farewell: Onomichi, a baby, a faked death, and the grey suit hung up, for a while.
What is Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name?
The 2023 side story that un-retired Kiryu: agent Joryu, Daidoji faction missions, and the bridge between Yakuza 6 and Infinite Wealth.
What is Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii?
Majima's solo game: amnesia, a pirate ship, naval battles in the Pacific, and twenty years of scene-stealing paid off in 2025.
What is Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise?
Hokuto ga Gotoku: RGG Studio's 2018 crossover, Kenshiro rebuilt on Yakuza's systems in the city of Eden, and the West actually got this one.
What is Kurohyō, the Yakuza series that stayed in Japan?
Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku Shinshō: two PSP games, a younger and angrier Kamurocho, TV dramas, a manga, and no localization, ever.
YOKOHAMA KAIDASHI KIKO
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Is Yokohama Kaidashi Kiko available in English?
Yes, complete since 2024, after 28 years. Three editions of covers, compared.
YOSHITAKA AMANO
18 shelvesWho is Yoshitaka Amano?
The artist hired at 15 who drew Gatchaman, the Vampire Hunter D novels, the first Final Fantasy games and their logos, then became a gallery painter.
How did Yoshitaka Amano start at Tatsunoko?
A Tokyo trip at fifteen, a portfolio shown to Tatsuo Yoshida, and a company dormitory: how a Shizuoka schoolboy joined the Speed Racer studio in 1967.
Who designed the characters in Gatchaman?
Gatchaman's bird-suited five were a Tatsunoko team creation: founder Tatsuo Yoshida led, and teenage Yoshitaka Amano worked on the designs from 1972.
What did Yoshitaka Amano do after leaving Tatsunoko?
He quit at thirty in 1982 and went freelance: Twilight Worlds in S-F Magazine, four straight Seiun Awards, and the novel covers that made him famous.
Who illustrated the Vampire Hunter D novels?
Yoshitaka Amano has painted every Vampire Hunter D cover since the first novel in 1983. His D, all hat and cloak, overruled the author's own image.
What was Yoshitaka Amano's role in the 1985 Vampire Hunter D film?
Amano was the film's character designer, but director Toyoo Ashida redrew parts of the cast, and Amano has said he was not pleased with the result.
Who did the art for Angel's Egg?
Angel's Egg is Mamoru Oshii's direction and Yoshitaka Amano's world: Amano is co-creator of the story and the film's art director, and it shows.
Who illustrated the Guin Saga novels?
Four artists in relay: Naoyuki Kato, then Yoshitaka Amano for volumes 20 to 57, then Jun Suemi and Shinobu Tanno, across a saga running since 1979.
Did Yoshitaka Amano draw Elric?
Yes: from 1984 Amano illustrated the Japanese Elric editions, plus Corum and Erekosë. Moorcock praised the covers and wrote a preface for Amano.
What is The Sandman: The Dream Hunters?
A 1999 prose novella by Neil Gaiman, painted throughout by Yoshitaka Amano. It won the Bram Stoker Award, and the folk tale behind it never existed.
Who designed the characters in the first Final Fantasy games?
Yoshitaka Amano designed the characters and monsters of Final Fantasy I to VI, working from text descriptions, and returned as designer for IX.
Who draws the Final Fantasy logos?
Every main Final Fantasy logo wears a Yoshitaka Amano emblem. The format began with FFIV's Kain, and he redrew the first three games' marks later.
Why does Amano's art look different from the Final Fantasy games?
Amano paints the interpretation, not the sprite sheet. His Final Fantasy figures are taller, paler and stranger than the characters you control.
Who did the art for Front Mission?
Amano drew Front Mission's people, all forty of them, and Kow Yokoyama built its machines: the 1995 strategy game's split authorship is its look.
Who illustrated the Arslan novels?
The original Arslan novels wear Amano art: he illustrated the Kadokawa edition's ten volumes from 1986. The current edition is Shinobu Tanno's.
Why did Yoshitaka Amano start painting on aluminium?
In late-1990s New York, Amano turned fine artist: acrylic and automotive paint on aluminium box panels, his cartoon icons rebuilt at room size.
What are the best Yoshitaka Amano art books?
From Maten in 1984 to The Sky's three Final Fantasy volumes and the 328-page Beyond the Fantasy biography: the Amano books worth shelf space.
What inspired Yoshitaka Amano's style?
Neal Adams comics, Peter Max psychedelia, Art Nouveau, ukiyo-e and a lacquer worker's household: the five ingredients of the Amano line.
YS
16 shelvesThe History of Ys
From a 1987 PC-8801 cartridge of ideas to Ys X: Falcom's action-RPG series, nearly four decades of one adventurer, documented.
Ancient Ys Vanished: One Story in Two Games
Ys I (1987) and Ys II (1988) were designed as a single game and split in two: the duology that founded Falcom's series, its six Books, and its floating land.
What is bump combat?
The Ys signature: no attack button. How Falcom's off-centre collision combat worked, why it was built for kindness, and where it still lives.
Ys Book I & II: The CD-ROM Landmark
Hudson Soft's 1989 PC Engine CD remake and its 1990 TurboGrafx-CD release: Red Book audio, animated scenes, and some of the first voice dubbing in games.
Ys III and the Felghana Remake
Wanderers from Ys (1989) turned the series sideways; The Oath in Felghana (2005) rebuilt it into one of the most loved action RPGs of its decade.
The Music of Ys: Falcom Sound Team jdk
Koshiro, Ishikawa, and the anonymous-by-design sound team whose collective name hides some of the most famous melodies in RPG history.
The Ys Anime: Two OVA Series
Ancient Ys Vanished (1989-91, seven episodes) and Castle in the Heavens (1992-93, four): the games' story told as early-90s anime, scored by Falcom's…
Ys IV: The Game That Exists Twice
Falcom wrote one scenario bible and licensed it to two studios: Hudson's Dawn of Ys and Tonkin House's Mask of the Sun (both 1993), resolved by…
Ys V: Lost Kefin, the Missing Kingdom
The 1995 Super Famicom entry that changed the controls, softened the difficulty, and became the one mainline Ys the modern era left behind.
The Napishtim Engine Trilogy
Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim (2003) rebuilt the series in 3D; The Oath in Felghana and Ys Origin (2006) made that engine sing.
Ys Seven and Memories of Celceta: The Party Era
Ys Seven (2009) gave Adol a party and three weapon types; Memories of Celceta (2012) rebuilt Ys IV on the same system for the 25th anniversary.
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
The 2016 shipwreck that became the series' breakthrough: a castaway village, two timelines, and the most loved Ys of the modern age.
Ys IX and Ys X: Monstrum and Nordics
Monstrum Nox (2019) turned a prison city into a playground; Nordics (2023) took a young Adol to sea for the series' 35th anniversary.
Ys on Paper: The Manga and Novels
Novelizations from the 1980s onward, two rival Mask of the Sun manga, anthologies, and the Tribute: the paper branches of a game series.
The Art of Ys, Era by Era
From PC-88 key art to the Taue illustrations and modern key visuals: how one adventurer has been drawn for nearly forty years.
Why Ys Endures
Four point eight million copies by 2017 and a series still sailing: the case that Ys is not a failed giant but a successful permanent.
YU YU HAKUSHO
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Why did Yu Yu Hakusho end?
Togashi ended it himself: his body, his standard for the work, and a life outside the desk, in his own Yoshirin de Pon! account.
Why did Yu Yu Hakusho change from detective stories to tournaments?
Planned from the start, on the Kinnikuman model: detective cases first to establish the cast, then the Dark Tournament.
Does the Yu Yu Hakusho anime end differently from the manga?
Yes, after the tournament: the manga deposes King Enma and Genkai dies. The anime leaves both out and ends brighter.
What happened to Yu Yu Hakusho after the manga ended?
Kanzenban editions, the 2018 OVAs, stage plays in 2019 and 2020, and Netflix live action in 2023 at number one worldwide.
ZELDA
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The Zelda Games Gallery
Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask: both boxes for each, their histories, and the Twilight Princess guides.
The History of Twilight Princess
Built for the GameCube, mirrored for the Wii launch: how the realistic Zelda was made, scored, and sold 8.85 million.
The History of Ocarina of Time
The first 3D Zelda: Z-targeting, a 32-megabyte cartridge, and a Metacritic 99 no game has passed.
The History of Majora's Mask
A new Zelda in fifteen months on a borrowed engine: three days, 24 masks, and the moon.
The Japanese Zelda Books
The full library: 109 verified Japanese Zelda books, pictured and documented.
Did Japan get a GameCube guide for Twilight Princess?
No, and the reason is in the sales numbers. The four Japanese guides, explained.
What inspired The Legend of Zelda?
A childhood spent exploring the countryside around Sonobe, in Miyamoto's own telling.
Which Japanese Zelda guides were never released in English?
All 32 licensed guides, listed with publisher and year. Not one of them was released in English.
How was the Legend of Zelda's main theme written?
Overnight, as an emergency: Koji Kondo's planned Ravel Bolero arrangement was still under copyright, so he composed the replacement in a single night.
What is a Wonder Life Special Zelda guide?
Wonder Life Special is Shogakukan's Nintendo Official Guidebook label: the licensed house line for Japanese Zelda guides from 1992 to the Switch era.
How many Japanese guides did Ocarina of Time get?
Three licensed Japanese books chased Ocarina of Time at launch: the Wonder Life guide, a Dengeki mook, and an encyclopedia that changed publishers.
Is the Japanese Ocarina of Time guide cover the same as the American?
Same painting, different crop: Japan prints the full Ocarina guide painting with Ganondorf in the storm, while the US Nintendo Power cover cuts it in.
Why does the Japanese Majora's Mask guide cover look so different?
Japan's Majora's Mask guide cover is an extreme close crop of the mask itself, one huge eye on black, where both American covers show the whole mask.
How many Japanese guides did Twilight Princess get?
Five Japanese guides cover Twilight Princess: four licensed rivals in early 2007, plus a Wonder Life book for the HD remaster nine years later.
How many Japanese guides did The Wind Waker get?
Four licensed Japanese guides raced The Wind Waker in early 2003, from a 144 page Nintendo DREAM book to Enterbrain's 432 page Complete volume.
Why did Skyward Sword get four Japanese guides on one day?
All four licensed Japanese Skyward Sword guides share one release date, December 20, 2011, but run from 239 to 480 pages. Four publishers, four bets.
Why was the Japanese A Link to the Past guide split in two?
Shogakukan split its A Link to the Past official guidebook into two volumes sold two months apart in 1992, top and bottom halves of one big game.
What Japanese guides did Link's Awakening get?
Link's Awakening earned licensed Japanese guides in three different decades: two for the Game Boy original, one for DX, and one for the Switch remake.
What Japanese guides did The Minish Cap get?
Three Japanese guides covered The Minish Cap in December 2004, and the Shogakukan cover uses key art the American Nintendo Power cover replaced.
What was the Ocarina of Time Encyclopedia?
The Ocarina of Time Encyclopedia is one reference book that exists under two publishers: Aspect in 1999, then Enterbrain in 2000. Same book, two hunts.
What is a Perfect Program Zelda guide?
Perfect Program was Takahashi Shoten's GAME BOOKS line of third party Zelda guides, outside Nintendo's licensed guidebook circle. The distinction matters.
What Japanese guides did the handheld Zeldas get?
Japan's handheld Zeldas kept the licensed guide tradition alive for two decades, from the Oracle games to Tri Force Heroes, mostly under Shogakukan.
What Japanese guides did the Switch Zeldas get?
On Switch the Japanese Zelda guide trade changed hands: Shogakukan and Famitsu for Breath of the Wild, Kadokawa for Tears of the Kingdom, Dengeki for Echoes.
What Japanese guides did the Zelda remakes get?
The 3DS and Wii U remakes restarted the Japanese guide races: four licensed books for Ocarina 3D alone, and a Majora 3D cover identical to Prima's.
What Zelda music books were published in Japan?
Japan published Zelda as sheet music for thirty years: five Doremi books, four Yamaha volumes, and a 2025 analysis of the series and its music.
What are the Nagasakiya Zelda cards?
The Nagasakiya cards are a 1998 Japanese candy toy card set for Ocarina of Time, printed by Amada for a confectionery company. No checklist was ever published.
How can you tell Nagasakiya cards from Carddass cards?
Two Japanese Ocarina card sets, two makers, two systems: candy toy Amada cards for Nagasakiya in 1998, Bandai vending cards in 1999. Here is the split.
What do the points and hearts on Nagasakiya card backs mean?
Every Nagasakiya back carries a Zelda Item Guide panel, a three digit points value in a green rupee, and heart icons. What the points were for is undocumented.
Which Nagasakiya Zelda cards are holographic?
Only four Nagasakiya cards are confirmed holographic from photographs: No. 5 Sheik, No. 11 Ganondorf, No. 25 Link and No. 48. The rest are claims.
What is Nagasakiya Zelda card No. 48?
No. 48 is the Nagasakiya set's full bleed holographic battle painting: Link and Sheik against a Moblin horde, with Stalfos below and a red sky.
What is Nagasakiya Zelda card No. 25?
No. 25 is the confirmed holographic young Link card: lunging at the viewer over a pink and purple marbled field, Deku Shield on his arm, 086 points.
What is Nagasakiya Zelda card No. 45?
No. 45 is the Nagasakiya ensemble card: both Links, Zelda, Sheik, Epona and Hyrule Castle under Ganondorf's looming face, with the Master Sword on its back.
What is Nagasakiya Zelda card No. 22, the Spin Attack card?
No. 22, the Spin Attack card, shows young Link mid spin slash in an orange arc among Biri and Bari, and its art returned a year later in Bandai's set.
Is Carddass No. 42 the same picture as Nagasakiya No. 48?
Yes: Carddass No. 42 and Nagasakiya No. 48 print the identical battle illustration, one as a framed prism card, one as a full bleed candy card painting.
What was the 1999 Bandai Carddass Zelda set?
Bandai's 1999 Carddass set is a closed checklist of 42 Ocarina of Time cards from vending machines and banded boxes, opening and closing with prism cards.
What was the 2007 Enterplay Twilight Princess card set?
Enterplay's 2007 Twilight Princess set: 86 cards with silver and gold foil tiers, sold in packs with a foil, a tattoo and a sweepstakes card in every one.
What was the 2016 Enterplay Zelda card set?
Enterplay's 2016 set covers five Zelda games in 117 cards plus stickers and tattoos, with nine gold foils and two foil poster cards that photograph flat.
How is Japanese Zelda II different from the NES version?
The Japanese Zelda II is a harder, stranger game: equal levelling costs, a save system that drags stats down, grey dungeons and an extra sound chip.
Why does A Link to the Past have a different name in Japan?
In Japan it is Triforce of the Gods: Nintendo of America's rules on religious references renamed the game, its priest, its church, and even its box art.
What are the three versions of Ocarina of Time?
Nintendo 64 Ocarina of Time exists in three cartridge versions, 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2, told apart by a punch code and by blood, chant and glitches.
What was Ura Zelda?
Ura Zelda was the 64DD expansion Ocarina of Time never got: finished, shelved with the hardware, and reborn on GameCube as Master Quest in 2002.
How does saving work in the Japanese Majora's Mask?
Japanese Majora's Mask gives you three save files and no quicksave: the owl statues only warp, and the Song of Time is the sole way to save.
What were the Satellaview Zelda games?
The Satellaview Zeldas were broadcast, not sold: four weekly hours of BS Zelda in 1995 and Ancient Stone Tablets in 1997, with live voice acting streamed in.
What was Navi Trackers?
Navi Trackers is the third game hidden in Japan's Four Swords Adventures: a fully voiced stamp rally with Tetra that the West never received.
Why did Philips make Zelda games for CD-i?
The CD-i Zeldas exist because a collapsed Nintendo Philips CD deal left Philips holding a character license, with almost no supervision attached.
What Japanese Zelda soundtrack CDs were released?
Japan kept Zelda on CD for decades: an 82 track Ocarina album in 1998, five disc Breath of the Wild and Skyward Sword sets, and a live concert album.
What are First 4 Figures Zelda statues?
First 4 Figures has made limited, numbered Zelda statues since 2006, from a seven inch Adult Link to a twenty five inch Link on his Loftwing.
What Zelda figures did Good Smile Company make?
Good Smile put Zelda into its two signature Japanese figure lines: articulated figma Links and chibi Nendoroids, starting with Skyward Sword and Wind Waker.
How many Zelda amiibo are there?
Twenty six figures in the dedicated Zelda amiibo collection, plus six Zelda fighters in the Smash Bros line: thirty two Zelda amiibo in total.
How was Breath of the Wild's Japanese Collector's Edition different?
Japan's Breath of the Wild Collector's Edition bundled the Rider Link amiibo and an alternate cover the West never got, and skipped the case and coin.