Nearly useless search, comparatively limited catalog – VIZ Manga Review

Biggest frustration I have is the extremely limited search function when trying to find manga to purchase. No ability to search by manga-ka. Alternative titles (romanization of the Japanese title rather than whatever they decide to title it) not available. No genre search (shōjo, shōnen, josei, etc., or horror, romance, action, fantasy, etc.). Scanlation sites are better laid out, particularly if yoiure trying to find something new to read rather than finding a known title. The new heightened focus on Shōnen Jump chapters makes the home page a total mess. They also collect a heck of a lot of data on users with not much of an opt-out option. Their ecatalog is missing big titles, like Ranma 1/2 and Inu Yasha, as well as a number of more obscure yet very interesting titles I know they sold hard copy that I've wanted to read for a while. Rumiko Takahashi is an incredibly popular manga-ka and has been for decades and Viz is definitely printing English translations of her works, but none of her stuff is on there. So strange. I was expecting a LOT more to be available seeing as Viz has been selling manga here in the States forever and their hard copy catalog has significant depth, but no dice on a lot of titles I was looking forward to buying. Still, it's nice to be able to buy my tankōbon as ebooks, since I've totally run out of shelf space and the towering stacks on the floor are getting unwieldy, and their personal library function works pretty well so far. They do have Bleach, and considering there are eventually going to be 73 tankōbon, ebooks is really the best way to go with that or any of the other long-running titles. They also have a lot of free chapters available so readers can dip their toe and find out if they want to sink the $7-$11 into the manga, as well as entire series in current release, like Boys Over Flowers Season 2 (just don't try to find it under Hana Yori Dango).
Review by ltsk on VIZ Manga.