How To Read Manga

Fans of western comics like Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse Comics will get a huge culture shock whenever they read their first manga. Or maybe you’ve been an anime-only watcher and have finally decided to grab a manga. You might be wondering why you’re seeing a warning saying you’re reading it wrong. And that’s if you’re lucky. If not, you might just open the book up at the end and get totally spoiled. So, how do you read manga, and why is it written like that?

Manga Reading Order

You read manga in “reverse.” The front cover is where the book spine is on the right side as opposed to being on the left side with English books.

Here’s an example of which order to read panels and speech bubbles in a manga.

You start from the top right of the right page and make your way to the bottom left. When moving on to the next page, always start at the top right.

Which Direction Is Japanese Written In?

A common misconception among non-Japanese people is that all of Japanese is written from right to left. In truth, Japanese can be written both left-to-right and right-to-left. If you want to figure out which direction you should read a Japanese text, you’ll have to see if it’s written vertically or horizontally.

Text written vertically is known as “tategaki” and should be read top-to-bottom starting from the right-most column. After you finish one column, move to the next one on the left. Tategaki is the traditional way of Japanese writing, but it’s still pretty common today.

If it’s written horizontally, that format is known as “yokogaki” and is read left-to-right like English. If you’ve ever tried to learn Japanese, you’ll notice that the textbooks and other resources you’ll use are written this way. Japanese versions of popular websites like YouTube and Google are also written this way. Yokogaki is a more modern way of writing Japanese that was popularized after World War II.

Japanese manga uses the traditional tategaki method; that’s why they’re read right-to-left. Although, it’s not uncommon to see yokogaki writing in manga in the form of sound effects. When a character bumps their head, you’ll see the Japanese equivalent of a “thump.” These can use either tategaki or yokogaki.

But when it comes to the speech bubbles, manga uses tategaki. If you take a look at an untranslated Japanese manga, most, if not all, of the speech bubbles will have vertical text on them.

Where To Read Manga

The first and most common way would be to buy the manga physically from your local bookstore. If you don’t have a bookstore near you, or they just don’t sell the manga you want, you can order them online through shops like Amazon. There’s nothing like owning a physical copy, so if you’re going to shell out some cash to buy manga, you might as well buy it physically.

Another option would be to read manga online through certain apps and websites. This method is, admittedly, more convenient, but you’ll still have to pay though. Some of these sources offer a few free chapters, so you can see if you want it before buying. Book Walker, Crunchyroll, MANGA Plus, and Viz Media are all sources that have diverse selections. If you’re already a comic book fan, you’ve probably heard of ComiXology; they have a great selection of manga there too.

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