Contributor
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2018
- Messages
- 648
Hi, everyone.
First of all, I can totally understand why most people wouldn't be worried about this topic at all. To those, please bear with us, as the covers' question is very relatable to spoilers, as it's literally the first thing a reader sees even when they just check out the series. A big and shiny thing. Showing happy MHs in a wedding dress. You check the tags and see that this finished series in question is a harem one.
Oh, I see. So he ends up with that girl. Cool, guess today's not the suspense day, huh~
You see my point. I personally somewhat suffered from this prevalent issue a lot of times. It depends on a person, but usually almost any specific info on a last volume's cover can spoil the whole ending even before you started reading the thing. And, oh lord, if you already started reading it, meaning, you know the characters, your chances of actually looking at the cover in detail, and therefore, being spoiled, are very high.
Personally, if I started the series here, I physically avoid looking at the cover (which almost always is a last one, as per current rules), since it could potentially ruin the experience to a varying degree. It happened before. Not only to me, but to a lot of other readers I've seen being frustrated throughout all these years. In my opinion, having a last cover represent a series that has already ended, is, putting it bluntly, harmful.
The aforementioned example with a wedding dress is, of course, an extreme one. But if you were to check any romance series here or at, say, mangaupdates, chances are you'd see either a wedding scene, or just MHs happily holding hands. For example here: https://mangadex.org/title/2404/love-hina or https://mangadex.org/title/951/nisekoi.
The fist one is actually what made me create this thread. I've yet to red LH, but I already know how it'll end. And if in romance you could try to defend in with "it's obvious, y'know? What's there to spoil?", which isn't a really strong point since YMMV, but with harems it's worse.
The second one is spolish for someone who already started reading the series (Ah! So he ends up with both of them, maybe? Damn, it's confusing.)
...Anyway, my point is, I suggest adjusting the rules to end this debate in such a way:
1. If a series is an ongoing one, it should have a latest cover, for the sake of those currently reading that series.
2. If a series has finished, it should have the first cover, for the sake of first-time readers' experience.
It's that simple. Of course as long as the covers don't violate spoiler rules and such. But I'd have a hard time finding a fist volume cover that either spoilers something or doesn't 'represent the series'.
Additional example (spoilers ahead! coz it's the last cover!): here, https://mangadex.org/title/122/koibana-onsen has the 1st volume cover. It's just a girl, probably a main heroine.
Now check it out at MangaUpdates (SPOILERS!) : https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=9974. I've remembered about this title while writing this post, and oh boi, I kept thinking about the last volume's cover while reading and eventually kinda dropped the title since I already knew what to expect.
As a P.S. note comparison of how different resources handle this problem:
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Hina
MyAnimeList: https://myanimelist.net/manga/16/Love_Hina?q=love hina
MangaUpdates: https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=1227
Mangakakalot: https://mangakakalot.com/manga/love_hina
MangaDex (you're here): https://mangadex.org/title/2404/love-hina
Also, since it bothers me so much, I thought about editing the pages myself, but currently, I'd break the rules this way. Hence the discussion. I really love this site and it's community, that's why I bother about it's appearance.
Thank you all for reading, and I'd really like to hear your opinions in regards to the topic at hand.
P.S. After posting I noticed that I've made a similar topic before (https://mangadex.org/thread/18311), but since it didn't really had any solution, I think it's worthwhile to keep discussing it. Maybe this time it'll get more attention from the team...
First of all, I can totally understand why most people wouldn't be worried about this topic at all. To those, please bear with us, as the covers' question is very relatable to spoilers, as it's literally the first thing a reader sees even when they just check out the series. A big and shiny thing. Showing happy MHs in a wedding dress. You check the tags and see that this finished series in question is a harem one.
Oh, I see. So he ends up with that girl. Cool, guess today's not the suspense day, huh~
You see my point. I personally somewhat suffered from this prevalent issue a lot of times. It depends on a person, but usually almost any specific info on a last volume's cover can spoil the whole ending even before you started reading the thing. And, oh lord, if you already started reading it, meaning, you know the characters, your chances of actually looking at the cover in detail, and therefore, being spoiled, are very high.
Personally, if I started the series here, I physically avoid looking at the cover (which almost always is a last one, as per current rules), since it could potentially ruin the experience to a varying degree. It happened before. Not only to me, but to a lot of other readers I've seen being frustrated throughout all these years. In my opinion, having a last cover represent a series that has already ended, is, putting it bluntly, harmful.
The aforementioned example with a wedding dress is, of course, an extreme one. But if you were to check any romance series here or at, say, mangaupdates, chances are you'd see either a wedding scene, or just MHs happily holding hands. For example here: https://mangadex.org/title/2404/love-hina or https://mangadex.org/title/951/nisekoi.
The fist one is actually what made me create this thread. I've yet to red LH, but I already know how it'll end. And if in romance you could try to defend in with "it's obvious, y'know? What's there to spoil?", which isn't a really strong point since YMMV, but with harems it's worse.
The second one is spolish for someone who already started reading the series (Ah! So he ends up with both of them, maybe? Damn, it's confusing.)
...Anyway, my point is, I suggest adjusting the rules to end this debate in such a way:
1. If a series is an ongoing one, it should have a latest cover, for the sake of those currently reading that series.
2. If a series has finished, it should have the first cover, for the sake of first-time readers' experience.
It's that simple. Of course as long as the covers don't violate spoiler rules and such. But I'd have a hard time finding a fist volume cover that either spoilers something or doesn't 'represent the series'.
Additional example (spoilers ahead! coz it's the last cover!): here, https://mangadex.org/title/122/koibana-onsen has the 1st volume cover. It's just a girl, probably a main heroine.
Now check it out at MangaUpdates (SPOILERS!) : https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=9974. I've remembered about this title while writing this post, and oh boi, I kept thinking about the last volume's cover while reading and eventually kinda dropped the title since I already knew what to expect.
As a P.S. note comparison of how different resources handle this problem:
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Hina
MyAnimeList: https://myanimelist.net/manga/16/Love_Hina?q=love hina
MangaUpdates: https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=1227
Mangakakalot: https://mangakakalot.com/manga/love_hina
MangaDex (you're here): https://mangadex.org/title/2404/love-hina
Also, since it bothers me so much, I thought about editing the pages myself, but currently, I'd break the rules this way. Hence the discussion. I really love this site and it's community, that's why I bother about it's appearance.
Thank you all for reading, and I'd really like to hear your opinions in regards to the topic at hand.
P.S. After posting I noticed that I've made a similar topic before (https://mangadex.org/thread/18311), but since it didn't really had any solution, I think it's worthwhile to keep discussing it. Maybe this time it'll get more attention from the team...
