Doujin and non-commercial products

🦄 A little bit of positivity for everyone :D

Warning: Some countries hate loli and/or adult material, so buy at your own risk.

Getting Doujins

Mandarake is a good place to get doujins (and merchandise in general) from, but their catalog is mostly limited to pre-owned items (opened or new and sealed). But don’t worry, they are picky enough to detect hotglue, stains and any sort of damage in the products they sell, so go ahead and buy.

Now where the real fun (or money sink) begins: getting new non-commercial material from stores: Usually stores like Toranoana don’t sell nor ship overseas, but by using a forwarding service you can bypass that limitation and get access to a gigantic catalog of material.

Before placing your order make sure you have the correct kind of proxy, some of them charge flat rates per item, so those are generally not friendly to buy doujins (since doujins are relatively cheap), in this case is better to look for a proxy who charges a percent of each item’s price. Remember to look at their guidelines, some of them don’t like adult material.

Now if you are ordering compilations or a bit more expensive items (around 1500+ yen per item) that’s when you start considering using a proxy service with flat rates.

After you have picked a proxy or forwarding service, let them know what you want and ask for estimate fees, usually is either done by emailing them or filling a form at their site. This is when your wallet starts to hurt, since you are not getting second hand doujins directly, like in Mandarake’s case, you will be paying at least 30% more per item in just additional fees.

If you are okay with their estimate you can formally place your order, some will ask for upfront payment so make sure it’s a reputable proxy (see the proxy list). After that the rest is waiting, the items will be shipped locally to the proxy service, which might take a few days, then the proxy will contact you when your items are ready and ship them to you.

So, added to the original price you’ll have to consider some of the following charges:

• Proxy fees
• Local shipping
• Wire transfer fees
• Paypal fees
• Handling fees
• International shipping

You might be charged for some or all of them, so before placing the order make sure to ask for estimates and read the Proxy’s FAQs.

The major doujin stores in Japan to surf:

Mandarake (international side) - Must be paid for by your credit card if listed for adults. DHL is amazing for doujinshi because it can end up being cheaper than EMS and SAL and still be faster. Try asking for all shipping quotes in the comment section of your order.

Toranoana - Will ship to some forwarders (i.e, Big in Japan) and proxies. Your proxy will let you know if they can or cannot take orders from them.

MelonBooks - Has international shipping but you must use a proxy if you want to go for lewd items. They don’t ship to Big in Japan.

Alice Books - English options and ships overseas, official distributor but with limited selection.

Nagomi - Used and new books, EMS shipping and best of all paypal payment.

K-books - Not much of a webstore, but nice for visiting in person.

Suruga-ya - Has many old, hard to find doujinshi. Doesn’t state conditions, although most are passable. There is a barcode sticker on the doujinshi that can be peeled off without leaving any residue if done slowly. Paperback doujinshi come in plastic bags to prevent the sticker from damaging the doujinshi. Use a forwarding service. The checkout process is simple. Do NOT use their overseas Rakuten storefront. They handle orders done through it very slowly because it’s #3 in priority (main site then Japan-only Rakuten storefront), and with proxy fees the main store still ends up being cheaper than their Rakuten storefront because of the forced EMS and the markups.

Taking care of doujinshi Paper will eventually yellow, but you can greatly slow down the process with proper care. Sleeve your B5 sized doujinshi with Golden Age comic book sleeves available on Amazon, for larger A4 sized doujins use Treasury sleeves. Polypropylene bags are cheaper but they will wear out faster. Mylar bags will last a lifetime but are more expensive. Mylar bags are thicker, so you might have trouble fitting thick doujinshi into them. Leave your doujinshi out of sunlight. This goes for any other printed goods too.