4 Ways to Read Japanese Manga

2024 Author: Samantha Chapman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 09:13

Manga, or Japanese comics, should be read differently than Western comics, books or magazines. If you learn to read manga from right to left and then from top to bottom by correctly interpreting the tables and learn to recognize the emotions of the characters thanks to the classic iconography used by mangaka, you will be able to enjoy the best of this cultural product of the Paese del Sol Levant.

Steps

Method 1 of 1: Choose a Manga

Step 1. Find out about the different types of manga

Broadly speaking, there are five main categories: seinen (manga for male audiences who have reached the age of majority), josei (manga for women and young adults), shōjo (manga for female teenagers), shōnen (manga for teenagers male) and kodomo (manga for children).

Step 2. Find out about the various genres of manga

There are many and they cover various topics. Some of the most common are action manga, mystery, adventure, love, comedy, everyday excerpts, science fiction, fantasy, gender bender, history, harem and mecha.

Step 3. Check out some popular manga series

Before you start reading your first manga, learn about the most popular series, including Ghost in the Shell and Akira. Dragon Ball and Pokémon Adventures are some of the most renowned manga in the fantasy genre. Love Hina is a series that shows excerpts from everyday life, while Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 is a mix between mecha and science fiction.

To begin

1. Choose a manga that suits your interests and personality. After discovering the various types and genres of manga, as well as the most popular series, decide which type of comic to read. Trust your instincts and choose a type you are passionate about.

   

2. Start with the first volume of the series. Often these comics are serialized and contain a lot of stories. Make sure you start with the first one and work your way up in chronological order. If a manga is famous enough, it is possible that the various episodes have been collected in a single volume. Information such as edition and series are usually printed on the cover.

   

3. Place the volume on the table with the spine facing right: the manga should be read in this way. When placing the manga on the table, you must make sure that the spine of the magazine or book is facing right and the pages facing left. Basically, these comics are leafed through in reverse compared to the volumes printed in the West.

   

4. Start reading from the side that indicates title, author name and edition. It is important to start reading the manga from the correct side. The front cover usually contains the title of the work and the name of the mangaka (or mangaka). If you flip the volume the wrong way, you will often find a warning message!

   

   Read the cartoons

   1. Read the panels from right to left and top to bottom. Just as the pages of the manga must be browsed from right to left, the cartoons must be read in the same order. Start reading each table from the cartoon at the top right. Read from right to left. When you reach the edge of the page, move on to the next table and start reading from the right again.

      

      • If the vignettes are placed vertically, start from the top one.
      • Always read from right to left, even when the vignettes are not perfectly aligned. Start with the highest row or column and work from right to left, then move to the row or column below.

   2. Read the bubbles from right to left and top to bottom. The clouds contain the dialogues of the characters and must be read from right to left. When you have a cartoon in front of you, start from the cloud at the top right and read the clouds from right to left, then continuing downwards.

      

   3. The black background cartoons represent a flashback, so the illustrated events happened earlier than the story told by the manga. A black background indicates a flashback that invokes an earlier event or period.

      

   4. The fading backgrounds represent a transition from the past to the present. If a page contains a vignette with a black background at the top, followed by vignettes with faded shades of gray and finally a vignette with a white background, then it is illustrating a time shift from the past (black vignette) to the present (white vignette).

      

      Interpreting the Emotions of the Characters

      1. If a character has a speech bubble like the one you see drawn in the upper image, then they are expressing relief or exasperation. Manga characters are often illustrated with a blank speech bubble at the mouth or lower. This means they are sighing and can be interpreted as relief or exasperation.

         

      2. If a character has vertical or horizontal lines on a character's face, they are blushing. When manga characters blush, lines are usually drawn in the nose and cheek area. Interpret these expressions as an indication of embarrassment, happiness, or feelings of a romantic nature.

         

      3. A bloody nose is an indication of sexual desire, therefore it should not be interpreted literally. When a manga character has a nosebleed, this usually means that he has lustful thoughts about another character, or is looking at him with greed (usually the object of such attention is a beautiful woman).

         

      4. A single drop of sweat is a sign of embarrassment. Sometimes a drop may appear next to a character's head. It usually indicates that you are feeling embarrassed or extremely uncomfortable in a given situation. Typically, it refers to a less acute type of embarrassment than that expressed by blushing.

         

      5. Shadows on the face and dark halos should be interpreted as a sign of anger, irritability or depression. When a character is shown with a purple, gray, or black patch or shadow in the background, this usually indicates that they are surrounded by negative energy.

         

         1. ↑
         2. ↑
         3. ↑
         4. ↑
         5. ↑
         6. ↑
         7. ↑
         8. ↑
         9. ↑
         10. ↑
         11. ↑
         12. ↑

         13. ↑