I want to read manga, but I'm broke

[LastLfan]

The title says it all, is there a LEGAL manga reading site for free. Something similar to crunchyroll,(don't modsnip me I only want legal sites) i know there was a thread like this but that was two years ago. Any help?

[mechana2015]

No such thing exists for free currently as far as I know. I do know some members have had good luck with their local library system.

[Mullet Death]

The best you can hope for is to save as much money as you can while reading. It's good that you're looking for digital stuff because obviously it's cheaper. The first volume of the Bleach manga, for example, is $4.99 as a Nook book but $7.95 as a paperback. I donna know just how broke you are, but there's also a deal to get Weekly Shonen Jump for $20 this year which I'm coincidentally signing up for right this second. Never read it before but it sounds all right to me.

You can definitely read all the manga you want via the library, but I've been down that road before and there's a strong chance you'll have really long wait times so you're probably better off buying whatever you can.

[mechana2015]

Also in the vein of saving money, look for omnibus editions. They'll be 3 volumes in one book for about 15 dollars (or about 12 on amazon), saving you 15-20 dollars on those 3 books.

[mysngoeshere56]

I've done my homework when it comes to reading manga on a tight budget, because I do have various financial limitations too. I don't get to buy manga as often as I like because of my financial situation, but when I can treat myself to it, I make sure to do it as sparingly as I possibly can with money. I don't know of any legal streaming sites for manga either (though I'll admit, it'd be awesome if they existed), but there are typically other options.

Also in the vein of saving money, look for omnibus editions. They'll be 3 volumes in one book for about 15 dollars (or about 12 on amazon), saving you 15-20 dollars on those 3 books.

This.

I do read most manga at my library. I don't typically have to worry about long waits and such, but I'm fairly lucky in that sense because I live in a large city. Definitely check your library to see if there are any good series there, and if so, enjoy them to your heart's content without having to worry about paying for them!

If I see something I *really* want to buy because I love it enough to and/or can't find it at my library, I'll most likely turn to Amazon. Depending on what I'm looking for, I usually find very low prices, regardless of shipping. I'll usually wait until I'm at a point when I know I'll have enough money (birthday money, Christmas money, somehow find a gift card, etc.) and then buy several "used" volumes at low prices until I reach $25. Amazon-fulfilled packages that cost at least $25 are eligible for free shipping, and packing them with cheap and used manga helps make sure that I will have the best deal possible. Omnibus editions also help add bulk to an order of manga without taking up all $25. I got about $110 worth of manga for less than a third of that price when I got some money for my last birthday.

Do make sure to check other sites to see if anywhere else is offering it cheaper, though. Believe it or not, I got a really good deal on Barnes & Noble's website once. I wanted a rare, out-of-print volume that was going for around $100 on Amazon (which my financial situation *definitely* wouldn't have allowed, but I wouldn't have paid that much for it even if it did). Sure enough, hardcore research and persistent refusal to buy at such a high price helped me find the volume for $11 at B&N's online store, which was the actual list price along with tax. Snagged one of the very last copies.

[skreyola]

I think a new legit site was mentioned on these forums a little while back... Jmanga, it's called. Mostly a platform for buying manga digitally, but the last time I visited, they had some full manga volumes available at no cost, but mostly previews (first chapter or so of the volume). Legit, but unfortunately, their catalog browser is not very user friendly if you're looking by price. Anyone have more experience with this site than I do?

[mechana2015]

Jmanga Closed in May, and it's site is a zombie shell that displays a list of manga they used to offer, but everything is 'not for sale'.

[Mullet Death]

^^^Are you sure? I thought JManga was replaced by emanga.

[mechana2015]

Just looked it up, visited the JManga site, it's as stated above, also found an article about JManga deleting all the manga that anyone had on their ereader program. eManga has been around since 08, so it's definitely not a replacement. I don't recognize any of the manga they have though (and they're advertising a lot of non CAA safe manga), so shopper be warned. They're also not exactly notably cheaper... 7.75 US for a volume ain't that great a deal for a digital copy IMO.

[skreyola]

That's disappointing.
They should clear the server and put up a notice, if they're not a going concern.