Tankobonbon's Next Era

Hi, y'all. It's me again, Bon. Christmas is almost here! www

If you don’t feel like reading all this chunk of text, or if you just wanna hear me with not enough sleep ramble about the end of the bookstore, I recorded myself saying this, so this is for you (audiobook??? boncast??? LOL). (Also, Apple Watch mic is heavenly... that's the mic, and pls uh... forget about me tryna figure it out for the first few seconds... and my fam playing with my cat in the background thx HASDHDHDSA)

In case you missed it, I mentioned back in June that the bookstore part of Tankobonbon will close at the end of the year. Although the main series is over soon, its spin-off, the lounge, will continue to be open in 2026. You think Gintama is the only series with final-super-final-really-the-end-but-not-really-the-end.mp4 but not really ending? (lol)

Manila International Book Fair 2025 attendance

This is going to be Tankobonbon's final year at MIBF (as a bookstore, at least?) and will be our fourth year attending! The first year was the most exhausting I actually passed out. We were at the very back but so many people came. It was a small interior booth, a long white table, a bunch of books, a printed sign of MANGA in bond paper, and a dream. But it was okay because a lot of people realized MANGA IN THE PHILIPPINES!!! FINALLY!!! and it was quite a moment. In the second year the only thing I remembered was that an SB19 member showed up at the stage behind our booth so... a lot of people flocked the booth... but not for manga (HAHA). I didn't even see the stage! Last year we had two booths and there were all sorts of games, samplers, freebies, stage events, and all the cool stuff as I reached out to manga publishers (thank you again!).

This year, none of that. This is just a simple booth with our books for sale just like the first year. Clearance sale. Everything is 30% off and deducted upon checkout. Everything. Please help me get rid of everything. Cash, card, QR is okay like usual, but take note that no free wifi during the event so make sure you have data. If cash, I hope you have the exact amount, else I might need to buy my 24th drink outside and be very bloated just to have change! (Haha real events)

Free entrance ticket

For free entrance, print this ticket and show it at the door (digital/phone copy not allowed, it MUST be printed on A4 photo paper or thick paper): https://bit.ly/MIBF2025ticket

If you visit the lounge today, you can ask the counter for a ticket, even if you don't buy anything. Also, every shipment includes a free ticket. Please invite your friends!

Freebies? Restocks?

No freebies, just the paper bag (lol). However, we'll have all our stamps from last year's MIBF in our booth, if you missed the chance to stamp something. No prizes or dedicated paper for it though.

No restocks, no new books, whatever's on-hand from the bookstore on the day of the fair is what you'll see there. If it's not in stock in the site now, it's not gonna be there., so please utilize our backorder forms while they last. Don't worry, I bet other bookstores will have what you're looking for. Manga finally appeared in MIBF after all these years. It's a good thing! Progress!

Location

Our booth's location is not the best like last year as we're AT THE VERY BACK OF THE SECOND FLOOR. I repeat. THE VERY BACK OF THE SECOND FLOOR. Yes. We gon' close anyway, what's the use of flashy marketing (lmao).

If you take the escalator on the right side of SMX (the one near MOA and not the church), enter on the first door of the second floor area, the rightmost door and go straight, to the very back, that's our booth. Can you imagine it? I'll draw it for you.

Aren't I the best artist? (LOL) I'll be at the booth all MIBF days (as long as I don't pass out) and if anything fun is happening there... no, I don't have anything planned. Say hi, I guess? Haha. If there's a very very very ultra rare miracle that books are out so early, I'll still be at the booth and just sit there. I paid hefty for that booth, so I'm gonna maximize every cent paid.

Physical store status while in MIBF

Welp. The physical store will be closed from Sept. 9-15 cause of MIBF. Don't show up there waiting it will be open! We're at SMX!

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Post-bookstore effects

The website

The website will still be up. It's a database built by so many hardworking people, after all. It's also visited by a lot of people, even outside the country, as a reference on many things. I'm not a fan of getting orders, actually, as that asks for more work (lol) but I love every part of enhancing the site and adding books. It won't be as super updated as before, but I'll try keeping it "active" when I can. There will be some changes here and there though.

The website is also useful for people visiting the lounge as they can see if a book is in the shelf or not. So for lounge purposes, it has to be up.

I still haven't forgotten about my many many plans for the website such as filtering them by tags and tropes, adding preview links, and all other helpful things. Since it won't be a bookstore anymore next year, I'm sure the site's views would plummet, but I am its #1 fan (and #1 absolute hater), and as long as it's helpful to me and at least one of my braincells can keep up with it, I'll keep paying for its domain (LMAO).

The "add to cart" or order buttons will be substituted into a redirect page to a bunch of bookstores so you can easily visit their page and order. Don't worry, it won't be those affiliate "link in bio"-poi stuff. I won't earn anything from your clicks. I rather you have a safe buying experience. So, if you're looking for a Tankobonbon alternative, I gotchu.

The accounts

All customer data, everything including your ability to login, will be deleted from the website at the end of the year. The Help Center and Shelf sites will be gone too. Please screenshot/save/copy your wishlists for your future use. I can't see your wishlists so I can't really export them for you.

For your Bonbons, please use them, please convert them and use them. I've also unlocked a reward that converts some points to books, if you're interested in it (available in September). Points are not convertible to cash. If you can generate a discount code, you can use it on MIBF. If not, share them to someone you know who can use it for you. Do not sell them. Don't be that person.

The social media

Will the social media come back from the dead? I don't knoooooow. We'll see. Probably only when there is cool stuff to share such as new books added to the lounge. I'm not a social media person anymore so I don't really check it. So I'm grateful for the help our social media reps did for the bookstore back then. To my surprise, however, even if the social's media's dead this year, it's the busiest I've ever been with orders. Where are y'all coming from???

#Tankobind

Anyway, if you've been with Tankobonbon for a while too, you know there's an end-of-the-year summary called Tankobind. I'll still do that as my final gift for you bookstore folks. Make sure you have at least 5 different series purchased this year to qualify.

Ecologi

And, you probably don't know it, but we've been funding Ecologi to plant trees from your orders. It's almost 4,500 trees! Hooray! Thank you all for your gift of impact all these years.

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For the remaining year

There's still a lot of days left before the bookstore closes, so don't worry! You still have time to squeeze in last minute orders, backorders, and pre-orders. Here are some dates to be wary of:

September 9-15:
- The physical store (bookstore + lounge) will be closed due to MIBF.
- Sept. 10-14 (Wed to Sun) MIBF attendance
September 30:
- Pre-order and backorder form closes
- Last day to place on-hand orders online
- Last day to purchase books on the physical store
- Any remaining backorders will be canceled
October 31:
- Last day for Hold orders. Any orders after this date will be force shipped or canceled.
- All Bonbons and discount codes will be forfeited.
November:
- Buffer month. If there are any late arrivals from October pre-orders or backorders, as well as any leftover orders needing to be shipped, then it will be shipped during this time.
December:
- Year-end summary (Tankobind) will be distributed for users who purchased at least 5 different series this year.
- Website's transition period from a shopping website to a browsing website. Add to cart, cart, checkout, etc. will be gone.
December 6:
- The physical bookstore is officially closed.
December 31, 2025:
- Bye bookstore!
- Logging in will no longer be possible
- Help Center and Shelf will be inaccessible

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The manga lounge in 2026

The lounge is closed from December 6 to January 6. The lounge will reopen its doors on some-day-I'll-announce-one-day in 2026. It's the holidays during that time, yes, but it will also give us time to renovate the place from the remnants of the bookstore to more room for the lounge. Same location, nothing changes there, it's just that the bookstore part also becomes the lounge. Better seating arrangement, easier access to books, even more books, nicer lights, more plugs, faster wifi, and just... comfier vibes and place to read than what it is now. While I'd love to make it like a library and everything is free, your taxes don't go to me, so no. Since rent continues to be a thing in 2026 (smh), we still have to charge people for staying in the lounge... but with some changes.

Entrance fee change

I'll pay for most of the expenses out-of-pocket as a form of appreciation for everyone's support towards the bookstore and it just feels right to as I continue to advocate for more people to read manga. Although I'd need some help in that. On a big picture, I'm technically renting the place to store my manga, and you're there to help me pay my rent as you read some of 'em (ehe). Totally zero business brain, huh?

I'll announce the updated 2026 lounge rates, rules, and all those shenanigans once it's ready... prolly next year. Don't wanna jump the gun so early.

Lounge is closed from December 6, 2025 to January 6, 2026 for renovations.
Lounge reopens January 7, 2026 (or some other date, subject to change)
More details will be posted next year.

Borrowing books

You might be thinking if you can finally borrow books and the answer? Sadly, still no. Unfortunately, from the five-year experience of running the bookstore, I've seen all horrors of shipping books and people who have nothing else to do but ruin your trust and day. While I'd love to be able to offer borrowing books anywhere in the country, I know very well that shipping things aren't cheap and people can steal. And you know very well how difficult getting a copy of a manga is, so any copy is precious.

Book count

I'll continue filling up the lounge with books as frequent as possible as most of it are technically my personal collection. (Do you see the pattern of books I often collect? LOL) So don't worry about thinking you've read it all. No you don't. I still got tons I wanna put there but there's just not enough room. Since I'm back to being a "collector," do expect a lot of new books to the lounge, and very frequent, as I'm a collector first before a bookstore gremlin (haha). There are also some things I want to try to make it "library-like" too but we'll see! You've seen how I've tinkered so many things for the bookstore, after all.

Book donations

Donations are still accepted for the lounge if you want to get rid of your manga but don't know how to. Let's have other people read them. No more "selling through Tankobonbon" though.

Coffee?

Will there be coffee? No. You see, even if I barely slept all these times, I have never drank coffee, nor energy drinks, in my life. It's me, my 34578956 browser tabs, and my anime in picture-in-picture against the numerous moonlit skies. Since I have no knowledge in that department, I don't delve around it (also why I never accepted offers from other companies to sell merch and figures). You do see some figures on the lounge though, but I won all those through claw machines (so the lounge is basically my room... without my bed lol). I'll let other people who are experts in those departments sell those stuff. We do have the capsule coffee thingy tho (Nespresso) and bottled/canned coffee... if that helps.

Having the lounge elsewhere

I still want to expand the lounge elsewhere. That idea is still not crumpled away, just tucked at the back of the pile. But for now, let's see how the lounge goes. As you've read, this thing is absolutely not profitable, and with rent elsewhere being gold, and I don't have the powers to bunshin no jutsu, will it even be possible? Maybe. If someone else does it.

I'm open for the idea of some other collector with a thousand lots of books they don't mind being read (or unfortunately destroyed) by others opening their own lounge or something along those lines under the umbrella of Tankobonbon®. It's a trademarked name after all (that's right, it's ®, surprise!) and familiar to some people. If you're thinking what I'm thinking, let's think together. Tankobonbon is open for side stories and spin-offs by other authors. My email is open for cool people like you.

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For my collector peers

You might've asked yourself: so... where... would I now buy manga? Can I just... be brave and open my own Tankobonbon? Where is Tankobonbon getting their books?

I'll purchase like you once Tankobonbon's bookstore era is over. It's not ethical to purchase books from my suppliers but not sell them. So, I'm gonna be in the same dilemma as you! Maybe I'll go back to my roots and order from the bookstores I bought books back then like Amazon and Indigo, maybe to our local bookstores like National or Fully Booked, though it's sad that Bookdepository is gone... though they did lose a lot of books I ordered and I wasn't able to track 'em down cause there's no tracking number >_>. There is also InStockTrades and DCBS. RightStuf is gone so I may also try Crunchyroll's store. How problematic... someone please make a derivative out of TKBB (I really inserted a calculus joke, huh. what a nerd).

How absurd (and also on-brand) is it that, of all people you’d expect to write this, it’s me. Ha. You see, I’m pretty proud of the bookstore, but I’m also its number one hater. I always want to upgrade it and make it better, but there are limits to what my pseudo-coding can do. I’m no programmer, developer, or tech whiz. I just use what I know and what I can hack together with workarounds. I'm no business man nor someone rich that can just burn money to have a certain volume in stock, so I'm passing the baton to someone who probably can, and better. If you’re into self-inflicted suffering, go ahead. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. All of these are meant to be educational. Not a shade, as the only thing I'm shading here is myself. I’m not gatekeeping the magic. You got this. I did this by myself, so I'm sure you can too.

If you intend to make a better Tankobonbon (I support you for that) and you're ready to brace the difficulty behind it, why not, right? I may be your customer one day! I was in my early twenties when I did it, like frick it why not. I knew noooothing but the audacity to try new things. Since I'm the type to paraglide laughing like a Gear 5 Luffy or solo travel and randomly board a train and see where it ends me up hoping I can still come back alive, I've always been a risk taker, and I think that's what made things easier for me running the store. What's the worse that can happen, right?

Tankobonbon happened as I lazily lay down on a couch one random day. Just a random day. It was just a thought. What if? Then I immediately thought of a unique word. What word? A good bookstore name. Something that when you search on Google, there is no results. Why? So that when you claim that term, it's yours and yours alone. Easy to search, easy to remember, eventually, it becomes a verb. You don't compete with other terms. That result is just you. It's good for SEO, whatever SEO means. "Tankobonbon" was because of "Tankobon" which essentially is a term used in Japan for a regular manga "compiled volume," because manga is initially published in a magazine. Say, issue 34 of this year's Shonen Jump that includes chapter 1155 of One Piece, then chapter 222 of Sakamoto Days, chapter 204 of Blue Box, chapter 210 of Witch Watch, chapter 87 of Kagurabachi, and many others. What if you just want a book of Sakamoto Days chapters? That's called a tankobon. But Tankobon... what? Tankoma cause tankobon manga? Mantanko? Ehh... Tankotanko? Tankobook? Tankobon...bon? Oh. Tankobonbon works. It sounds cute too. I immediately applied that business name right there and then for it. It felt like I gotta win an imaginary race.

Hence, when thinking of starting anything, think of a term that is so unique, Google has no record of it. It's easy to trademark too once you get big. Eventually, people call it "tanko" or "tkbb" as it's not the easiest word to pronounce, and it's good that those shortcuts aren't... bad words. So you also gotta think about that too!

As for where the books are coming from, it's actually a simple answer: just visit the publisher's about page/contact page/bottom of the site, 'cause that's what I just did—they say it there. I don't wanna put what it's called here cause it changes and I don't wanna update this page just for that (lol), but the answer is there.

As for the "secrets" of Tankobonbon's system, in case you want to replicate it, it's simply this set of words: Shopify, Flow, Airtable, Softr, Excel, Google Sheets, Google Calendar, Javascript, Liquid, HTML/CSS, IFTTT, Mechanic, Smile, Xendit, Paymongo, GoGo Xpress, J&T Express, Growave, Gmail, Adobe Acrobat, Bitly, Copytables, Canva, Jotform, Clipboard. Honestly, those are not even a secret (LOL), cause if you've been with us for a long time, you've encountered links leading to those. Were you one of the OGs who ordered through a form? Seeing our product list in Google Sheets?

Oh, you might also be interested in this thing I did a few years back: Manga Budgeting Sheet

Imagine doing all that by yourself??? Are you a masochist? Go find team players. Go have funds. Don't do it alone. Although I barely survived because I industrial engineered it myself, if I could turn back time and redo Tankobonbon... actually, no, I regret nothing. This part of our lives highly likely happened for a reason.

How much more unhinged this letter is compared to before, huh? Don't worry, I literally wrote all that without AI, so I really am unhinged like that (HAH). We may no longer talk, but sometimes I'll be in my room--I mean, the lounge, so if you see a tiny girlie there who looks like a zombie, chances are, that's me, so do drop a hi if you visit!

For now, see you at MIBF!

Bon,
Tankobonbon

PS: The world navigated me to this so I can watch the Fall 2025 seasonal anime in peace (LOL). The slowdown of operations made me watch a LOT this Summer 2025 anime season even, so many good shows airing! (I'm inserting here that u should watch the geology anime Ruri Rocks or listen at least once the opening of the acapella anime Utagoe wa Mille-Feuille). I can't wait to watch a whole lot more next year and go back to being an actual weeb heh.

Thank you for reading (or listening) to all this. It's not over yet, so I'll bid my last goodbye at the end of the year. :)