Kingyo Used Books

Kingyo Used Books (Japanese: 金魚屋古書店, Hepburn: Kingyoya Koshoten) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Seimu Yoshizaki. It follows the happenings which revolve around a small used manga store, specializing in old and obscure manga. A first series, titled Kingyoya Koshoten Suitouchō, was published in Shōnen Gahōsha's Young King OURs's special editions OURs Girl and OURs Lite from 2000 to 2002, with its chapters collected in two volumes. Kingyo Used Books was serialized in Shogakukan seinen manga magazine Monthly Ikki from 2004 to 2014, when the magazine ceased its publication. It was then published via compiled volumes, with the final volume released in 2020. The series is collected into seventeen tankōbon volumes. Kingyo Used Books was licensed in North America by Viz Media under their Viz Signature Ikki label.

Kingyo Used Books
First volume cover
金魚屋古書店 (Kingyoya Koshoten)
Genre	Comedy[1] Slice of life[2]
Manga
Kingyoya Koshoten Suitouchō
Written by	Seimu Yoshizaki
Published by	Shōnen Gahōsha Shogakukan
Imprint	Young King Comics Ikki Comix (re-issue)
Magazine	OURs Girl OURs Lite
Demographic	Shōjo, seinen
Original run	2000 – 2002
Volumes	2
Manga
Written by	Seimu Yoshizaki
Published by	Shogakukan
English publisher	NA: Viz Media
Imprint	Ikki Comix
Magazine	Monthly Ikki (2004−2014)
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	March 25, 2004 – June 30, 2020
Volumes	17

Plot

The story revolves around a used manga store, and has a series of vignette-style chapters revolving around different characters. It extols the value of reading manga in one's life, and is notable for having references to several well-known, as well as obscure manga, from the smash-hit Dr. Slump, to the rarely heard-of Billy Puck.

Publication

Kingyo Used Books is written and illustrated by Seimu Yoshizaki. Yoshizaki first launched a series titled Kingyoya Koshoten Suitouchō (金魚屋古書店出納帳), which was published from 2000 to 2002 in Shōnen Gahōsha's Young King OURs's special editions OURs Girl and OURs Lite.^[3][4] Two volumes were published on April 3 and June 26, 2003.^[5][6] Both volumes were re-released by Shogakukan on December 24, 2004.^[7][8] Kingyo Used Books was serialized in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Monthly Ikki from March 25, 2004,^[9] to September 25, 2014, when the magazine ceased publication.^[10] The series was then continued via compiled volumes.^[11][12][13] The chapters were collected in seventeen tankōbon volumes, released from December 24, 2004,^[14] to July 30, 2020.^[15]

In North America, the series has been licensed by Viz Media for English language release and it debuted on Monthly Ikki's English website Sigikki on July 30, 2009.^[16] Only four volumes were released from April 20, 2010,^[17] to October 18, 2011.^[18]

Volumes

No.	Original release date	Original ISBN	English release date	English ISBN
1	December 24, 2004[14]	978-4-09-188553-1	April 20, 2010[17]	978-1-4215-3362-9
"The Components of Memory" "Hokusai Manga" "Far Away" "The Boy Detective Arrives" "A Country Without Manga" "Fujiomi-Kun" "The Sedori Business" "Billy and Grandpa's Curious Travelogue"
2	August 30, 2005[19]	978-4-09-188554-8	October 19, 2010[20]	978-1-4215-3366-7
"His View" "Yes or No" "The Other Side of the Window" "A Bundle of Papers" "Dad Again" "One Percent Man" "Star Traveler" "I Want to Be Happy"
3	March 30, 2006[21]	978-4-09-188315-5	April 19, 2011[22]	978-1-4215-3367-4
4	March 30, 2006[23]	978-4-09-188346-9	October 18, 2011[18]	978-1-4215-3368-1
5	May 30, 2007[24]	978-4-09-188365-0	—	—
6	December 26, 2007[25]	978-4-09-188390-2	—	—
7	July 30, 2008[26]	978-4-09-188420-6	—	—
8	January 30, 2009[27]	978-4-09-188439-8	—	—
9	September 30, 2009[28]	978-4-09-188477-0	—	—
10	April 28, 2010[29]	978-4-09-188515-9	—	—
11	November 30, 2010[30]	978-4-09-188332-2	—	—
12	June 30, 2011[31]	978-4-09-188549-4	—	—
13	February 29, 2012[32]	978-4-09-188574-6	—	—
14	December 27, 2012[33]	978-4-09-188610-1	—	—
15	November 29, 2013[34]	978-4-09-188637-8	—	—
16	July 30, 2014[35]	978-4-09-188660-6	—	—
17	June 30, 2020[15]	978-4-09-188699-6	—	—

Reception

Kingyo Used Books was one of the Jury Recommended Works at the 16th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2012.^[36]

Carlo Santos in his Anime News Network column "Right Turn Only" gave the manga a grade of "B", saying that "if you want to get a non-manga fan into manga, this is probably not the manga to give them." The critic went on to say, "Kingyo is, if anything, too fixated on giving history lessons, trying to drown the reader in footnotes and details rather than letting the series speak for itself."^[37]