a beginner's guide to reading manga
Post on 05-Dec-2014
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A Beginner's Guide to Reading Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for comics and cartoons in print. (Anime, on the other hand, is animated cartoon for TV or film).
Even though manga is essentially a cartoon, manga holds a higher place in Japanese culture than comics do in American society. Manga is well respected as both art and as a form of popular literature.
Manga is generally categorized into different genres
shonen manga for boys and male teens
shojo manga for girls and female teens
kodomo for children
redisu for adult women
seinen for adult men
jidaimono is historical drama
suiri is crime and murder
ecchi is erotic fare
Most large booksellers have a section dedicated to manga, but to really get a range of titles, try a comic book store. Either way, manga books usually have covers in color and maybe the first few pages as well, but the rest of the story is usually in black and white.
If you are comfortable with surfing the Internet, read manga online first. Do a search for one of the many directories of online manga sites and scan those sites for titles that are interesting. Many of the sites will actually show the manga bookdrawing and textfrom its Web site.
Remember that when you read manga, you read the frames from the right to left. Often, when you open up a mangajust like you would a regular bookthere will often be a page that will tell you how to read it.
Give a few manga titles a try to get a feel for what you like. Once you find a title you like, you can look for more of the same or similar titles with that publisher. Look for the English publisher's Web site in the front of the book, then check out that siteit will probably contain descriptions of all their books and maybe even a little sample online.
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