It is a term describing manga editions.
What does Tankobon Hardcover? mean? Specifically.
Judging by the name, I’d venture to guess that it’s a hardcover tankobon.
Manga are usually serialized in magazines (e.g. Shonen Jump), with one chapter released at a time each month, along with all the other manga that that magazine serializes (e.g., One Piece, Gash, Hunter x Hunter, etc.). Once enough chapters of a particular manga have been released (say, 6 or so), they package it up into a manga tankobon and release that. So you’ll get a new chapter each month if you buy the magazine or a continuation of just the stories you’re interested in if you wait 6 months and buy the tankobon.
Hardcover manga are pretty rare (in Japan, at least). I’d imagine that if they did a hardcover release it would be because the manga is fairly small - the whole story able to be released in just one or two books - and fairly high literary/artistic value. I think I’ve only ever seen/bought a single hardcover manga.
So–it wouldn’t resemble a trade paperback, with a book jacket added?
Manga tankobons usually are paperbacks with a paper book jacket around them, so I don’t think that would be called a “tankobon hardcover”. I don’t think I ever seen a manga with a hard cover, and I’ve browsed in many bookshops in Japan.
drat.
i don’t know whether i can sell these volumes on amazon or not.
My edition of Video Girl AI is a semi-hard, it seems. It’s a thin, flexible piece of cardboard wrapped in fabric, like a hardcover book. I’m pretty sure that I have or had one genuine hardcover manga, but I forgot to look when I was at home. I may have gotten rid of it. If I remember right, it was a punk/goth manga probably from the late 80s/early 90s with a red cover and a hole cut in the front cover to an interior image.
AH!
So, I suspect this is cool.
Many, many thanks.