@TaintedAardvark my view on this is very simple. for quite a lot of manga, you get a relatively cheap weekly/monthly anthology, you then go on and get a relatively cheap volume with only the less popular ones being 10$ at a maximum (from what I have seen of prices) you also have used shops that get that stuff down even further in cost second hand. looking at manga on amazon, 13$ is apparently a new minimum, and I know japan charges half of that at minimum, mixed in with the english translators being FAR more likely to take liberties with the translation, not to mention cost of shipping and the only reason I would ever buy manga is to support the author but also knowing that the author gets next to nothing from my purchase, on top of my buying power not mattering at all. I mean I do love that japan is more or less isolated from outside influence in that way, but it means any value I would find in paying for the product is now almost entirely gone, I WANT the westen anime and manga licensors/publishers/studios to die, especially now that they have at least to me, died from within a number of years ago and I can't trust anything they make partially due to politics.
manga only cares about japan, and only japan will influence it, a few artists have went to patreon, and im 100% ok with tossing them some money for their official translations, it's what I wanted in the first place, but not being able to get a book for 9 months to 2 years and having the author tell me to get cancer and die... I honestly feel nothing for them when they say this and all that's left is spite.
but lets talk about japan imports, maybe I can import manga... well customs will seize it and if they think something is obscene or just someone had a bad day, Im now out the import costs, the costs of the manga, and in the case of this series, possibly up on charges. this is all presumeing I can find somewhere that will ship to america from japan because that's a fun problem in and of itself where many places actively won't do business with you.
tldr, I treat anime and manga as a charity, their home country doesn't want anything to do with me, and they make it as hard as possible to get something from them if its even possible and in the end when it does come to me they don't care about quality and next to nothing goes to the original creator. that's more or less it.