I’ve been watching anime since The CW had 4kids. Which was an awfully long time ago. I’d wake up at odd hours on a Saturday morning just to catch a glimpse of Dragon Ball Z Kai or Yu-Gi-Oh. My parents didn’t like me watching those shows since they believed it was targeted towards boys.  

I didn’t like their nagging, so I stopped watching my shows. Until I stumbled a crossed Fullmetal Alchemist.  

I ran through it like water. It took me a month to finish both the first and second adaptations, FMA was original a manga, written by Hiromu Arakawa. It had such a positive impact on my life that I had promised myself that when I got enough money, FMA would be the first manga series that I would buy for myself.  

I watched it during the first year of high school, and still hold the same opinions that I held then. It is one of the greatest shows that I’ve ever watched. I wanted to start my manga collection with this series as a memento, I guess.  

That ended up not being true. I sadly got into Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure around the time of me getting my first job.  

When I finally got my first paycheck, I made a beeline to Barnes and Nobles and purchased JJBA, from part 1 to 2. These weren’t the single volumes, rather the big bible length books that mashed the span of each arc to at least 2 or 5 books.  

For the first few days, I couldn’t hold the books with my bare hands because I feared damaging the pages, so I wore gloves. Looking back on that now makes me laugh. They were extremely expensive. Even though I was tremendously happy about my purchase and witnessing the start of the growth of my collection, I don’t think I’ll ever allow myself to spend that much money on books again.  

I’m still planning to expand my Jojo collection to part 5. From part 6 to Araki’s recent releases, the series’ mangaka, I plan on getting them raw, meaning that they won’t be translated into English or any other language. It will just be in its original form.  

My most recent purchase was the 1st edition of Vagabond. A friend recommended it to me, and I’m just now getting around to reading it.  

I am hopeful that one day I’ll get the chance to add FMA to my collection.