oh god i'm going to have to look for the other volumes in the basement

[phosfate]

Classic manga Mai the Psychic Girl was released in two editions by Viz, the first in four volumes and the second in three. If you want to go completly mental, try buying separate volumes from separate dealers who don't know the difference and don't care which cover(s) they use in their listings.

Anyway, you know the bit where Mai (accidentally) causes an ultraviolent 70-car pileup with her mind?* I'm doing that inside my head right now because today's mail brought vol 1 of the four-book version and vol 2 of the three-book version.


*She did it to save a puppy. She and John Wick would totally get along. The puppy's name is Ron.

Comments

[nita]

It's been ages and ages since I read Mai the Psychic Girl. Now days the main thing I remember is that there was this moment during a battle - her school uniform had just been ripped exposing her bra/breasts - and collage guy who had been helping her has these sudden wholly inappropriate thoughts about getting romantic with her. Guy is collage-aged to her middle-schooler aged.

[phosfate]

I...think you need to reread Mai.

[nita]

I probably do need to reread Mai. It's easily been 20 years since I read it. Unfortunately, my copies of it - and most all of my comics and manga - are boxed up in a store room...and probably will be for the foreseeable future until I get resettled. What I was referring to was maybe one or two panels out of the whole series, and I could be misremembering it. I remember really liking Mai back then.

[phosfate]

You're thinking of the boys in the Final Battle, who get thrown off by the sight of Actual Girl Boobs. College Guy has the girlfriend who is shitty to Mai for no particular reason.

[nita]

That makes sense. I remember thinking it was rather jarring.

I also put in a inter-library loan request for the first volume so I can re-read it. That's probably a lot faster than trying to figure out which box my copy is in.

[phosfate]

Check the ISBN when you get volume one, so you know which later volumes to ask for. One set is 4 volumes, another 3.

[nita]

When I put in my request, I selected the first volume of the 3-volume release. That's the set that I had. Until your post, I didn't release there had been a previous 4-volume set.