@@britneynicole8903 It hits hard, def one of the more impactful manga, not for the feint of heart, has SA, murder, and much much more, but the beauty of its quiet moments are what we all know it for. eyepatchwolf did a great video regarding it with little to no spoilers iirc
Merphy mentioning Calvin and Hobbes just solidifies why this is such a great channel. Easily the best newspaper comic of all time and imo one of the greatest pieces of fiction ever created.
@@merphynapier42 I'm 17, and my dad (55) got me into Calvin and Hobbes as a kid, and I still am a huge fan of it. It's a piece of my childhood now, and I can't ever forget it.
But I wouldn't recommend it as a starter manga at all. At least that's not my philosophy when it comes to manga recommendations ("bottom" to "top" but not so strict)
I think it’s helpful to understand the different market groupings: shonen being for young boys, shoujo for young girls, seinen for adult men, and josei for adult women. Not that there isn’t overlap, but once you know what the different tropes associated with those groups it’s a lot easier to find something catered to your tastes. Romance lovers shouldn’t look to shonen manga, for example, to find a love story. Even if there are some shonen with good romance subplots, it’s just not what it’s known for and more often than not you’re going to be disappointed
I'm really enjoying my first manga experience with Vinland Saga (Thank you Merphy!). I think it's just a matter of finding a story that clicks with you.
thank you for promoting manga to your booktuber friends and subscribers, been reading manga and novels (books) since my early teenage years. and it's kinda rare for me to find someone who enjoys both like i do. often times people are on different sides of the spectrum in this thing. either they love books and don't like manga and some are the other way around, when both are excellent mediums for a great story and gives different kind of experience
I got into manga because of you. The library is another great option for getting mangas if you don't want to put into it. I finished Attack on Titan not to long ago and it is now one of my favourite series of all time.
I agree with the community parts. It is more fun to involve yourself with others who love the same story. Not to mention, it is really interesting to see other's interpretation of the story or their take that could make you go "ah! So, it can have that kinda meaning/implication too!". Or in case of long running series like One Piece, it's fun to share theories and details that you might miss yourself.
My recommendations for any new manga reader: -If you are gonna start a series because you see it ranking high in myanimelist/anilist or is very popular and you don't like it after you've read some of it, DO NOT DISCARD IT COMPLETLY Try to find some other series that YOU like and then go back to those popular titles to see it with a deeper understanding of the medium, I've seen a lot of people going into series that they've loved on a second try because they could get a better grasp of what the author was going for -At least read an arc, don't drop a series after the first chapter or volume, give the series the time to show what is trying to do. Many series have wikis where you can find information about the length of the arcs... and that gets me to the last tip -If you can do long reading sessions, DO THEM, something that Merphy didn't say is that mangas are published in magazines chapter by chapter, meaning authors have a limited panel length for each chapter because they have to publish every week or month with many other series. So take advantage of having everything available and if you can, let somebody that knows the series tell you where are the best stopping points so that you don't stop a chapter short of some climax (like I've done and you bet it is frustrating)
Also, anime/manga are very different from the other mediums, so FIRST I would try to start getting into it little by little with stories that make me acquainted with the medium. For example, even though imo Chainsaw Man is magnificent I would NEVER recommend it to a beginner because that person wouldn't get the most of it because that person hasn't embraced some things that are unique to manga/anime, that person hasn't passed that "initiation" stage.
This is so true. Gotta give it an arc to really get the flow and understand the full scope of story telling. For example, so many people drop One Piece early, but if you get to Arlong Park... well... we know what happens lol
Have loved manga since I first discovered the medium as a kid. There's so many different types of stories! And now with the explosion of manhwa (Korean manga) and manga from outside Japan those stories just expand! It's great
I've been a manga reader since late middle school/early high school. I probably read more manga than books but loved this channel even before you started covering manga. It's so great to see this progression. :)
Same, i discovered the channel before she started covering manga. I was initially wondering why booktubers don't cover manga as it is a great medium and here we are, happy to see how things have changed :)
@@oliverapaquet2511 Yeah!! Honestly I've been so happy seeing manga progress into the mainstream! :) It feels like this year especially I've seen so many references to it even from people I wasn't expecting.
Love the shoutout to digital. As someone new to Manga(reading 60% comics digitally from many years), it really helps me to explore more titles and complete/drop based on interest, and the discounts/huge price difference helps too.
Having a community to share your thoughts with as read advance in a series is really fun. I was half way into Alabasta when Merphy started releasing One Piece reviews and we moved step by step through the run of the series. I always so looked forward to my Friday morning videos updating the progress we had both made on the series. It was really a cool experience I had never engaged in before. Thanks Merph
the single biggest tip I have to anyone trying to get into anime/manga is to realize that it is a medium, not a genre. Just like movies, just like books, there's something out there for everyone, it just depends on what you like, A personal recommendation: March came in like a lion. Breathtaking anime, amazing manga, one of the best depictions of depression every put to paper.
Never thought I'd stumble upon a channel with reviews from Harry Potter to Avatar the Last Airbender to even fully caught up One Piece manga. You're insane. It's been so fun reliving all of this through your experiences. Where has this channel been all my life!?
A lot of family members and friends grew up watching anime and reading manga, but I wasn’t able to get into. I started during the pandemic when I needed something to pass the time and I’m so obsessed now. My favorite anime and manga has to be Haikyuu! I actually picked up the manga after season 4 of the anime bc I needed to know what happened next and it really changed my watching/reading experience
personally Berserk by Kentaro Muira is the "Peak" manga experience and what makes Manga different from other book mediums. how he drawn every panel is nothing short of "Art", i just wished he was able to finish it. Rest in peace.
watching this video felt like merphy passing her final oral exam after taking a manga class lol. i remember your first one piece videos and now you are one of us. you actually read more manga than i thought. thank you for spreading the love for manga and trying to get your novel subscribers to join us.
Im so happy you’re getting into manga since I’ve just started to as well. I’m currently reading KINGDOM and it is one of the best fictional books I’ve ever read! I’m not even halfway through, but I have been hooked!! I keep telling my close friends how great it is but because it’s so dense all I can say is “I don’t know where to start”, that’s how fast pace it is. I can only read it digitally, but because it’s extremely long it works best in that format. I hope you give it a go! Mangas On my list to read: 20th century Boys, BESERK, Great Teacher Onizuka, Yona of the Dawn, Good Night PunPun, Dorohedoro, Is, Vagabond and Monster. Other recommendations are welcome, especially slice of life/ romance as there’s not a lot on my list. 👍
These are really good ones! I can add some slice of life/romance/other recommendations: Natsume's Book of Friends: slice of life about a boy who can see fantasy creatures. Beautiful, funny, and very tender. March Comes in Like a Lion: slice of life about a young man slowly recovering from depression. Your Lie in April: Romance between two young musicians. Ouran High School Host Club: Romantic comedy that pokes fun at all the romance tropes. Mushi-shi: quiet, eerie series about encounters with the supernatural. Gorgeous art.
Love to see some Yona of the Dawn representation and I'm glad it's on the list. It's spoken about so little, but it's so good. For slice of life/romances, I would recommend you *Blue Box* Komi Can't Communicate *Tomo chan is a girl* *Ouran Highschool Host Club* Sweetness and Lightning Our Precious Conversations
@@elfchild9 Thank you so much for the recommendations!! I’m really intrigued about Your Lie in April, I’ve come across the anime and heard that it’s heartfelt. I’ll also give the rest a go. 👍🔥
@@bastion4975 Thanks for the list of recommendations, I really do appreciate it! And you’re right about Yona of the Dawn, I only saw two RUclipsrs discussing the manga and stated that it’s one of the best they read- but other than that i haven’t come across others discussing it. 🔥👍
Great Teacher Onizuka is absolutely amazing, it’s probably my favorite of the ones you mentioned! Fair warning for Oyasumi PunPun, it’s the kind of story that works best when you’re in a certain head space, it’s somewhat depressing and trippy but also a very beautiful story. Hope you have fun!
My wife isn't really a manga person, but loves mystery books. That being said, she owns 80-something volumes of Case Closed. There's literally a manga for everyone.
Good to see Case Closed mentioned and being liked. I loved that one when i initially got into manga twenty or so years ago. Precisely because i'm a big mystery novel/Sherlock Holmes fan. :)
2:39 One thing important to mention about reading digitally: while their screens aren't that big or detailed, I find e-ink devices like Kindle are great for reading manga. The screen's already black and white, they're lighter than tablets and they don't hurt your eyes after extended reading.
If you like comedic fantasies like Discworld or D&D-adjacent humor, and also like cooking, I highly recommend "Delicious in Dungeon" (aka Dungeon Meshi)! It's an excellent series about a group of adventurers in such a rush to save one of their companions deep in a dungeon that they decide they'll just eat whatever creature they find, learning to cook slimes, walking mushrooms, or even mimics. The series is also going to have an anime adaptation by Studio Trigger.
Something important I want to add is that manga can be very different from comics, not just in the direction you're reading, but also in the paneling. For many comic readers, there are many manga that seem to have very chaotic panel structures because manga tends really emphasize structuring things by how it'll make your eyes flow through the page & using the panels jutting out or characters breaking through panels & sometimes even crazier things to convey stuff to the reader at the cost of the traditional structure of paneling you see in comics. Another big difference is that manga tends to do something different from the "moment-to-moment" structure of comics. In comics, the next panel usually is always depicting something that happens after the previous panel. In manga though, the next panels aren't always depicting what happens after the previous panels. Sometimes they're depicting things that are happening at the same time as the previous panel(s). This is especially the case if it's establishing atmosphere, but it isn't only done when establishing atmosphere. It's done a lot. It's a spacial sort of structure that might confuse you if you're an avid comic reader. (There are some comics that use spacial structures in it's paneling so many it won't be too difficult. But you might still get confused) There's also the soft rule that smaller panels are usually panels the author allows you to skim. These panels usually contain characters explaining what's happening or talking about something or other, and sometimes you can skim that dialogue if it's in a small panel. There's also dialogue that's not in a speech bubble. Usually text that isn't in a speech bubble means that it is either someone's inner thoughts or it is some kind of narration. But there are times where you'll see little bits of dialogue that isn't in a speech bubble but is right next to it. Those pieces of dialogue are basically unimportant dialogue, meaning they're something the character says either because they have to say it for the scene to be realistic & make sense or because of the character's personality, but it isn't really important for anything in the scene or story. There's also small, empty panels, like a bunch of little black rectangles right next to each other, which usually means an ending of a scene or a big leap in time. Usually it means the next scene after that collection of small empty rectangles takes place a long time in the future or maybe a long time in the past in the case of flashbacks. Either the next few hours, the next day, or the next decade, any big leap in time. There are many more things that separates manga from comics, such as Kishoutenketsu story structure(which is especially prevelant in comedy scenes or comedy manga), Mono no Aware, etc. But these are the basics. In general, going from comics to manga is pretty easy, but there are things that might initially confuse you or overwhelm you a bit.
Here are some other recommendations! -The promised neverland, the anime is not that good but my god the manga is top tier. I can’t explain it because the plot is a spoiler, but is a house of orphans who fight to scape after they discover the truth about it. -blue period is about an artist and how art changes the way he looks at real life. -Tokyo ghoul, ghouls eat human flesh and they live amongst the people. Kaneki is just trying to get a date. -little witch hat atelier is a really fun fantasy story. -the way of the house husband is a comedy focused on an ex yakuza mob boss who’s now retired and in charge of maintaining the house for his wife. -chainsaw man, if you like a little gore this is for you, is about a guy who becomes friend with a demon as a kid and bad things ensues. It’s also a comedy, similar to jujutsu kaisen if you’ve seen it. - children of the whales is a sad fantasy story about a collapsing world. It has a one season anime and it’s really good, but it pales to the manga. To your eternity, another sad manga that focus on a compilation of different story perspectives all linked to one medium. You will cry in the first volume, I don’t make the rules. -seraph of the end is a vampire saga, a little more juvenile but it has a really good story. The anime was good tho it was cancelled.
Shout out to the Shonen Jump and Tapas apps. They've revived my childhood love of reading stories especially with my lack of active free time nowadays with a family. I was never into reading manga until I watched One Piece then switched to reading during Wano. That interest blossomed into reading many manga series although I have a particular love of Isekai (especially those with literal kingdom/nation/country building): Reincarnated as a Slime, Re:Monster, How the Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Mushoku Tensei, etc. Recently, I've hopped on the manhua/manhwa train with Tapas. I subbed to at least 10 different series just this week on there: The Beginning After the End, Estio, Solo Leveling, The Enchanting Villainess, Wicked No More, and many, many more. Interesting stories of all genres and almost always in color with beautiful art. There's so much reading content to take in.
Manga is much faster to read because you don't need to describe the actions of a person and the way they look in a situation and even the background/scenery, all that information is provided by the artist. All you have to do to gain context on those parts is look at the artwork and then read the dialogue. This alone probably cuts like half of the content in traditional books.
This is exactly the well balanced take that is refreshing to see. I too am an avid reader doing 1-2 books a week. my mum reads too but she refused to give any manga a chance due to a prejudice I guess
@@noname3609 Ooh yes! I am planning on picking up VS and OP in December. I am thinking I will need to order the first volume of VS off of Amazon. I heard that they do not make print copies of it anymore.
I think one of the things that made Manga click for me is just actually reading every panel. I know that sounds obvious but I often just instinctually went to looking at the dialogue instead of paying attention to how the author uses panels to break up the pacing of conversations and events. Once I understood that god did I love everything about Manga. My favourite thing is the page turn, when your reading an intense scene and the tension keeps building and building as you read and then suddenly you turn the page and it’s just one or two big panels that make your jaw drop. My favourite example is Goodnight Punpun in vol 6 which I won’t spoil but that moment has stuck with me ever since. Manga’s that perfect the page turn are always the most memorable ones for me, it’s why I love Tatsuki Fujimoto’s works or Inio Asano or Hajime Isayama because their page turns are always so effective.
Good timing for this lol. I read a ton of manga in my teens and early twenties, and I've recently felt the urge to get back into it. I actually went to the store yesterday and bought a small stack of new manga for the first time in almost a decade. Getting back into the hobby, I decided to go back to the stuff that really got me into it in the first place, so I bought the first volume of Dragon Ball, as well as a few horror books. Just finished reading the first volumes of "Parasyte" by Hitoshi Iwaaki and "Orochi" by Kazuo Umezu right before watching this video. Highly recommend both for fans Junji Ito.
I've basically only read manga since about 10 years ago and never considered myself as someone who actually reads. I decided at the start of the year to read more novels etc and came across your channel, so I'm glad you've started where I've ended. Decided to start reading Mystborn due to your recommendation and I'm half way through the first book! I will say its hard to find people who read anything, even regular books.
@@joshuawalters7520 without spoiling it for anyone, I'm enjoying the pace of it. Even though there is jumps in the timeframe, I don't feel like its going too fast. Laughed more at Kelsiers antics than I thought I would lol
I got into reading manga by going to a Barnes and Noble and just randomly picking things and just sit down and read them. I think it starts with the actual physical volumes. But yeah a tablet really is a game changer. I usually read the latest One Piece Chapter on my IPad. I don’t read books much but if I ever find something that interests me, it goes straight to the IPad XD
Manga is one of my favorite mediums to read. Reminds me of reading comic books when I was a kid and the story immersion was incredible. Manga is great.
There's so much out there that even most people who've been reading manga their whole life don't even know about. There are small publishers who publish manga out of passion for the authors, which most well-known publishers wouldn't even consider to publish, since they're so niche. I highly recommend checking out the manga published by Glacier Bay Books, Star Fruit Books, Last Gasp, Drawn & Quarterly and Fanfare (small English branch of Ponent Mon). Their titles are all very unique and far from the mainstream. If you'd like a mature story with an art style that has realistic proportions and a lot of detail to it, check out Jiro Taniguchi's masterpiece "The Summit of the Gods". I consider this manga the best story of any medium. It's based on a novel, and even the author of the novel himself (Baku Yumemakura) said that the manga is the definitive version of his work, as it changed things he regretted about his novel for the better. If you like surrealism and abstract art styles, check out Glaeolia or really any other title published by Glacier Bay Books. Glaeolia contains many short stories by different authors. These kind of collections are usually referred to as "alternative manga collections" and there are many of them. "AX: Alternative Manga" is another one of these, published by TopShelf Productions. If you haven't read these collections, you haven't seen what the medium is capable of.
I remember when I started reading manga in college being a bit confused at first, but I got the hang of it by the end of the first volume I read. Now, I always try to go right to left reading regular comics/graphic novels 😆 …also, Japan has a piece of my heart ♥️
Speaking of Calvin and Hobes, A lot of humorous manga are actually done in a 4 pannel setup (Azumanga Daioh is a prominent 4 panel series with a really great adaptation) If you want to see how varied Manga can get, one of the curent ongoing series in Shonen Jump is Akane-banashi, which is about Rakugo, a traditional Japanese style of storytelling told by a storyteller who remains seated the whole time and can't use any props other than a fan. Other prominent Manga from further back have been about Go (The strategy game), about writing Manga (Bakuman gets very meta at times), And I've heard of a title about a man who's a master of apologizing.
Junji Ito was my introduction to reading manga seriously as oof what a decision. So fun and the art is incredible. Highly recommend the Beastars Manga too. It's great
libraries and library apps also often have volumes digitally! that said, i think you'd really enjoy dungeon meshi/delicious in dungeon. it's a comedic high fantasy with surprisingly dark themes and plot points. also gorgeous art 😆
My favorite comedy manga is Hinamatsuri. It's premise is kind of insane, but it's such a good time. Murphy says she likes the "falling into success" characters like Buggy from One Piece, and Hinamatsuri does it great in my opinion. It's also like Spy Family in a way, which I also recommend.
if you ever feel like watching an original anime, I highly recommend A Place Further Than The Universe. One of the main things I love about the show is the bond between the main characters, which seems like something that would appeal to you A manga I would recommend is Erased. It's a great mystery thriller about a guy who time travels back to his childhood a few weeks or so before a serial killer starts murdering some of his classmates. It does a really good job at making you invested in what happens to these kids, and the dark & sometimes seemingly hopeless situation greatly enhances the heartwarming moments when they happen
one thing i think readers should keep in mind is that it's not uncommon for a good series to be a bit dull for the first volume. For me Naruto wasn't interesting at first but the Zabuza/Haku arc in vol 2 and 3 are my favorite story of that whole series.
A fair warning to anyone pocking up manga for the first time: Once you’ve read enough of it you will get used to reading from the "wrong" side. I still get confused at times about which way I’m supposed to read.
I'm a big book readers (I'm a librarian) and I personally never really got into manga until I read some mangas that were totally outside my usual genres. I read/watched Death Notes, Full Metal Alchemist, One Punch Man, etc. But I really fell in love with manga when I tried Shoujo manga which I was kinda judging before I tried the first one... Then I was doomed ahah
I do remember the first Manga that got me going headdiving into the world of it. I grew up with Anime most of my life (Vampire Princess Myiu OVA, Blue Seed, and Sailor Moon were the main ones when I was in Elementry and Middle School with bits and peices of Ninja Scrolls. It was around maybe the end of Middle School I got into Neo Genisis Evagalion and Escaflowne... And Only Sailor Moon is good for Young Children just need to put out there. There are much more I did grow up with but that's just to give you the idea of the range I grew up with) But I hadn't read the Sailor Moon Manga yet (It is darker than the anime as it talks about some more adult themes than they do in the anime until much later). What got me thinking to reading more Manga was actually this unknown story that is even not well known to this day: Kazan. It's only 7 volumes long, and I'm still wanting to finish the series as they don't have it as an Ebook... (I also want to finish my collection of it as I still have books 1-4) But that was what sparked my love of the medium. From there, I was able to pick up the Sailor Moon Manga and even When in collage, Pick up the Vampire Princess Myiu Manga and fell in love with the manga of Mushishi and Sayiuki after I watched the animes of those. Sometimes the Anime isn't a one to one adaptation, and sometimes not even a good one. But the ones that isn't a one to one, sometimes adds to the Manga stories as well, Like the Vampire Princess Myiu OVAs and 1990 Series adds to the Manga experience through exploring other things. (Sadly Escaflowne is *not* in Manga form, so I can't really suggest that for Merphy. Well it is, but the Anime came first before the Three versions of Manga that go three *compleately* different ways, which is a wild story on how that came about in the first place, and Escaflowne also has a Movie version (also anime) that is also *vastly* different and follows different themes than the anime series and I don't think it would work well for Merphy to searching for three versions which are hard to find in the first place *and* she's newer to the Manga world and thus may overwhelm her trying to find all the versions which doesn't even follow how the actual story goes in the first place. From what I also Understand, Eva is also in a weird place with Manga and Anime versions as Eva is another that started out first as an Anime and the Manga came after but at least was written by the same person. But someone can correct me if I'm wrong.)
I think one reason why I personally prefer manga over books, is the fact that you get everything visualized. Sure you can explain someone's facial expression or a fight scene or a action scene through words but nothing is more effective than actual seeing it in person in a visualized form.
@@britneynicole8903 Yeah, but this also depends on the mangaka (artist). Some mangaka's draw better some worse, the quality also depends on the schedule, some Manga release weekly and some monthly some even only once a year get 1 chapter. Obviously with more time the art can be improved upon.
@@britneynicole8903 Hmmmmm... I like the abstract body horror artwork of Junji Ito's work, I like Vinland Saga and Berserks more detailed "realistic" art style mixing western culture ideas with Japanese story telling and artwork. When it comes to weekly shows obviously a weekly manga will have a lesser art quality (still some artists go all in and try do they best), I think a good example would be Tabata the mangaka from Black Clover his art specially when he draws Demon's is just breathtaking, how does he do such detailed arts in a weekly manga? I have no idea. If you don't care about art but story telling there are obviously better mangas than Black Clover like One Piece, Chainsaw Man, Jujitsu Kaisen...
There is so much manga to read, the hardest part is figuring out where to start. Even if you sort by genre, your options are endless. But I like that there’s so much variety.
Nice, that was a great video! One thing that I really love about manga is as you said that there is a specific story for almost every genre, themes, and subjects that you can think of.
This video and your previous one came at the perfect time! I have so many people in my life saying "I wish I could read more." Well, thanks to you, now they can!😊
Incredibly thoughtful and well produced video. Thanks for spreading the good word of the medium! To any novel readers out there -- do try out some manga, however unusual or intimidating it might be for you initially. After all, it opens a whole new world to the experience of enjoying great stories, which is what we're all here for. And, of course, never judge a book by its cover . :)
Who doesn't like looking at pictures and reading something at the same time, but Berserk is my go to recommendation for people that have never read manga and are into horror/fantasy and shows like Game of Thrones and The Witcher.
Here are my recommendations: 1) Grandson of Nurarihyon (if you like ghost stories, but don't want to lose sleep over nightmares) 2) I was a sword when I reincarnated. (Found family, fantasy, alternate world, father daughter dynamic. Main character has supporting role to his adopted daughter) 3) that time I got reincarnated as a slime (Kingdom building, politics, epic fights, power scaling, etc) 4) Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon? (Fantasy, level system, weak to strong protagonist, slow but steady build up, dungeon crawling)
For people who like books, the better equivalent would be light novels. Manga are more a counterpart to comic books. Manga and light novels are both worth reading. Especially if you get into an anime that only lasted a season and was mainly created to drive the sales of a manga or light novel. It worked for me, because I got tired of watching an anime I liked end after one season and wondering what happened afterward. Although sometimes seeing the story completed still doesn't pan out if the novel or manga gets cancelled. Still, there are a ton of great light novels out there.
Trying out an anime first is a good starting point actually. Thats how I ended up being an active reader. I just couldnt wait for next season (or weekly episode in some cases) of a show so I hopped to the manga and oh boy it feels good to do.
Out of the "Anime is not for kids" I suggest the classics, Hellsing, Ghost in the Shell and Akira. There is some not for young kids stuff there but these are classics. For "How about something cute and sweet" Try Bunny Drop. Or Usagi Drop. It is about a young kid being taken in a family and all it entails. And at the sideline also the hunt for the real mother. I wont' spoil the rest. It is cute and parents will recognize things.
Manga feels easier to consume imo because the chapters are short enough to be consumed in one sitting and are separated enough to be remembered with a single number the chapter number (plus remembering a picture is vastly easier than remembering a sentence for instance), compared to say in a book where the chapters may be long enough that you'll have to stop on an arbitrary page and even with a bookmark you'll might have to remember which word within that page you left off of or smth. The chapters also greatly condense the info, wherein a book might have a sentence to describe the landscape or the expression of characters manga simply draw them so that immediately cuts out the reading time spent on those, making consuming manga much faster for me at least. I'd imagine if One Piece was a novel or smth I'd probably still not be caught up to it to this day. The chapter by chapter consumption thing also helps curb the fear of a long manga imo. I feel vastly more intimidated seeing a massive book than I do seeing a long-running manga because it's easier to stop, and easier to go back to certain parts as well without even having any bookmarks besides the chapter title and/or number for manga. Sure you might be able to remember a page, but more than likely a scene or event would take a couple pages, and remembering which group of pages constitute the scene you want to view is far harder than say just checking a chapter title/number seeing if the title matches the scene you have in mind or at least is remotely related to it and checking that chapter to see if the scene you wanted to revisit was there. If I wanted to do that with a book I'd be lost because while some novels may contain chapters they're not as specific as manga chapters so you're forced to remember page groups instead, and checking if it's the right page group is much harder because you'll have to leaf through words as compared to just staring at the illustrations on the chapter pages.
I thank you so much, for so long I've been looking for a way to read the demon slayer mangas for cheap and shonen jump actually is the best place. All the chapters for 2.79 CAD when everywhere else you'd have to pay 8 dollars. I am actually so excited to be able to finally get into manga so thank you Merph
Thank you for this video It helps because I understood that you had to read a different way I just didn't know the exact way to do it this video helps Thanks a lot much appreciated
One of the things I found helpful reading longer Manga was telling myself "ok just five chapters today" and then putting it down to manage any sort of fatigue from reading it or waiting for the hook where you just dive in and never look back.
Please read the manga of Osamu Tezuka, who is said to be the god of manga in Japan someday. He created the prototype for all comics that exist today. His lifework "Hinotori (Firebird)" seems long and unwieldy, but I'd like you to read just the dawn, phoenix, and future chapters. You can see how this work continues to influence current manga artists from here and there
One of my favorite manga is one from the late 80s-early 90s called RG Veda. It's a fantasy story very loosely based on Vedic mythology. It was published in English a few years ago in three omnibus volumes (originally 10). If you've never read it, I hope you'll give it a shot.
I just started reading Berserk and Dragon Ball. But Berserk... SO DAMN GOOD! I'll be jumping into One Piece soon as well. I tried watching the anime, watched 10 or so episodes but the number of remaining episodes is kinda intimidating, so I think reading 1000+ chapters is easier and faster than watching 1000+ episodes. Please let me know if I'm wrong.
I just finished Pokemon Adventures this week. I really enjoyed the series. The next series I want to check out are: Sailor Moon, My Hero Academia and One Piece.
I love seeing people get into the medium of manga, Im glad its finally getting recognition. I will say that if you're a fan of Vinland Saga and Berserk, I highly recommend Vagabond. Its quite long and officially on hiatus but unofficially cancelled due to author burnout which is sad but even with that it is immensely worth reading. Its a historical fiction based on the life of a real life wandering samurai Musashi Miyamoto and his legendary exploits, it makes the hiatus easier to deal with because he was a real guy. Another great manga by the same author if you're a fan of basketball is Slam Dunk and Real, with the latter being a really fantastic series about wheelchair basketball. Japan also has a plethora of recent LGBT focused manga like the autobiographies My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness and The Bride Was a Boy to some amazing emotional drama's like Shimanami Tasogare (trigger warning for this one for its… blunt portrayals of being gay in a conservative country) and Wandering Son. Those are my serious recommendations that I highly recommend. Also side note because my favorite genre is slice of life. She's not kidding when she says theres a manga for everything. Theres a whole subgenre of manga called Cute Girls Doing Cute Things or CGDCT. They're basically short and semi-episodic stories of cute girls doing random things very cutely. Girls starting a band: K-On and Bocchi the Rock Girls developing video games: New Game Girls going camping: Laid Back Camp Girls just... doing the weirdest shit: Asobi Asobase and Pop Team Epic Girls lifting weights: How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? Girls being witches in north Japan: Flying Witch Girls living in the countryside: Non Non Biyori (my personal favorite) Manga is wild y'all, I love it.
I’m working my way through fullmetal alchemist which is my first manga (not counting the first volume of Tokyo Ghoul). I have a few others on my TBR and as someone who prefers an actual book the whole digital vs physical is becoming an internal battle I’ve been having with myself for the sake of my bank account 😢
I'll recommend please read "kingdom" its a perfect mixture of seinen and shonen I'll bet there is no other story which has such detailed warfares its has wars, national politics, internal politics,dreams, despair, inherited will, freindship,classism and much more please it's a must read
With all the manga you've listed, if you ever have the time for a short and existential read, please check out Girls' Last Tour by Tsukumizu and The Girl From the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún by Nagabe!
OK, sorry if I'm posting too many replies, but I will say that because you encouraged me to read Spy x Family, I am experiencing for the first time the joy of: 1)Reading new manga chapters as they are being released; 2)Experiencing the anime as it releases new episode adapting said manga. 🙌
a couple intro-to-manga type recommendations: An easy-to-read comedy romance: Horimiya. A Japanese take on a western-style superhero series: My Hero Academia.
I will once again repeat my recommendation for Bakuman. It's from the creators of Death Note, but it has a completely different feel. It follows two young students as they break their way into the manga industry. It's wonderful and here's why: It offers an excellent look into not only the writing process, but the publishing process as well. Both in general and for manga specifically. The writing is spectacular. The characters are fleshed out and whole, the story comes from first hand experience, there's so much sneaky meta-commentary; it's freaking great. The various manga series that the different characters create and write over the course of the story almost become characters in and of themselves. It's like getting a dozen stories for the price of one. I've been reading manga for over 20 years and this series remains to this day one of my absolute favorites. Even if you don't want to talk about it on the channel, I definitely think you'd enjoy reading it.
Some mangas/doujins only have physical copies, but I doubt you can get it shipped oversea when they only sell them in conventions. And again, if you dig in that deep, you will find ways to get them. And there are so many stories you won't see them all, so you don't really need to worry about dropping series when you read it digitally.
Thanks for this! I've been wanting to get into manga for a while now and this was an encouraging nudge. Especially thank you for the Shonen jump and Book Walker recs - the price of manga was definitely a huge factor holding me back. 💛💛💛
You could also say that each series has different comedic styles. There is capital A anime comedy and some that are more grounded. Comedy tends to put alot of first timers off.
The greatest thing about Manga to me, there’s something for everyone. So glad she said Berserk. The saga continues.
That one sounds soo good!
@@britneynicole8903 Berserk is a wild ride but it has so much heart and human conflict at the core of it and the main character defeats demons too.
@@artandourentertainment.2077 Ooh
@@britneynicole8903 It hits hard, def one of the more impactful manga, not for the feint of heart, has SA, murder, and much much more, but the beauty of its quiet moments are what we all know it for. eyepatchwolf did a great video regarding it with little to no spoilers iirc
@@zirontheimpaler That one sounds great. I will need to add that to my reading list! I really enjoy those kinds of stories
Merphy mentioning Calvin and Hobbes just solidifies why this is such a great channel. Easily the best newspaper comic of all time and imo one of the greatest pieces of fiction ever created.
It’s one of my favorite things!
I need to try that one out! Okay, I just added this one to my list! I am living for this!!
@@merphynapier42 I'm 17, and my dad (55) got me into Calvin and Hobbes as a kid, and I still am a huge fan of it. It's a piece of my childhood now, and I can't ever forget it.
100% agree
Love Calvin and Hobbes so much. Growing up, I would always get the newest C&H book for my birthday every year.
Monster is a criminaly underrated manga, the anime adaptation is excellent aswell
That one sounds very good!
But I wouldn't recommend it as a starter manga at all. At least that's not my philosophy when it comes to manga recommendations ("bottom" to "top" but not so strict)
Wouldn't say underrated. It's very well known.
yes, yes, and yes, I 100% agree
It's not really under rated, it's highly praised. Maybe it's not talked about too much these days because it ended a few years ago
I think it’s helpful to understand the different market groupings: shonen being for young boys, shoujo for young girls, seinen for adult men, and josei for adult women. Not that there isn’t overlap, but once you know what the different tropes associated with those groups it’s a lot easier to find something catered to your tastes. Romance lovers shouldn’t look to shonen manga, for example, to find a love story. Even if there are some shonen with good romance subplots, it’s just not what it’s known for and more often than not you’re going to be disappointed
Yup, exactly-Much like with regular novels 🙂
Very interesting! Thank you for sharing this info!
Unless it's Rumiko Takahashi.
@@s3studios597 She is an INCREDIBLE author!
Never thought of reading Manga until your channel. I got the Dragon Ball set for Christmas and I’m so excited!
I'm really enjoying my first manga experience with Vinland Saga (Thank you Merphy!). I think it's just a matter of finding a story that clicks with you.
I am looking forward to starting it and being able to be a part of the discussions!
@@britneynicole8903 Looking forward to it! :)
@@Dougeb7 Me too!!
I’m just waiting for my first book to be delivered. Can’t wait to start reading.
@@jamiewyman7213 I am ecstatic about starting it in a few weeks!
thank you for promoting manga to your booktuber friends and subscribers, been reading manga and novels (books) since my early teenage years. and it's kinda rare for me to find someone who enjoys both like i do. often times people are on different sides of the spectrum in this thing. either they love books and don't like manga and some are the other way around, when both are excellent mediums for a great story and gives different kind of experience
Yes! I love read both and the correlation is small.
SAAMMMEEE!!!!!
Which one do you gravitate more towards?
@@britneynicole8903 i consume a lot of manga and lite novels at the moment.
@@bananatown3381 That is awesome! What have you been your favorite mangas and novels lately?
I got into manga because of you. The library is another great option for getting mangas if you don't want to put into it. I finished Attack on Titan not to long ago and it is now one of my favourite series of all time.
I agree with the community parts. It is more fun to involve yourself with others who love the same story. Not to mention, it is really interesting to see other's interpretation of the story or their take that could make you go "ah! So, it can have that kinda meaning/implication too!". Or in case of long running series like One Piece, it's fun to share theories and details that you might miss yourself.
My recommendations for any new manga reader:
-If you are gonna start a series because you see it ranking high in myanimelist/anilist or is very popular and you don't like it after you've read some of it, DO NOT DISCARD IT COMPLETLY
Try to find some other series that YOU like and then go back to those popular titles to see it with a deeper understanding of the medium, I've seen a lot of people going into series that they've loved on a second try because they could get a better grasp of what the author was going for
-At least read an arc, don't drop a series after the first chapter or volume, give the series the time to show what is trying to do. Many series have wikis where you can find information about the length of the arcs... and that gets me to the last tip
-If you can do long reading sessions, DO THEM, something that Merphy didn't say is that mangas are published in magazines chapter by chapter, meaning authors have a limited panel length for each chapter because they have to publish every week or month with many other series. So take advantage of having everything available and if you can, let somebody that knows the series tell you where are the best stopping points so that you don't stop a chapter short of some climax (like I've done and you bet it is frustrating)
THANK YOU!! 😁😁😁
I think dropping after a first volume is fine, if the storytelling isn't that interesting. Time is limited in life.
Also, anime/manga are very different from the other mediums, so FIRST I would try to start getting into it little by little with stories that make me acquainted with the medium. For example, even though imo Chainsaw Man is magnificent I would NEVER recommend it to a beginner because that person wouldn't get the most of it because that person hasn't embraced some things that are unique to manga/anime, that person hasn't passed that "initiation" stage.
This is so true. Gotta give it an arc to really get the flow and understand the full scope of story telling. For example, so many people drop One Piece early, but if you get to Arlong Park... well... we know what happens lol
Watching these has definitely gotten motivated into picking up manga again! December is going to be an exciting month!
I’ve never been able to get into manga but watching you cover things like Tomie and HxH has really convinced me to try again
Try something different like Grand blue or Dandadan or One punch man
I'm sure you'll like at least one of these if not all
It is definitely worth it!
Have loved manga since I first discovered the medium as a kid. There's so many different types of stories! And now with the explosion of manhwa (Korean manga) and manga from outside Japan those stories just expand! It's great
I love starting to delve into new mediums in media. You get so many choices for certified greats and renowned authors right at your fingertips.
As a avid manga reader it always makes me happy to know you promote it so heavily on the channel. Brings a needed spotlight on the medium
Merphy mentioning that there are manga for rock climbing gives me hope she will read Kokou no Hito.
GOATED AF
I assumed that was what she was referring to tbh
I just started it!
@@merphynapier42 you want something to hit you like a truck try the pandora hearts manga
That sounds very good!
I've been a manga reader since late middle school/early high school. I probably read more manga than books but loved this channel even before you started covering manga. It's so great to see this progression. :)
Same, i discovered the channel before she started covering manga. I was initially wondering why booktubers don't cover manga as it is a great medium and here we are, happy to see how things have changed :)
@@oliverapaquet2511 Yeah!! Honestly I've been so happy seeing manga progress into the mainstream! :)
It feels like this year especially I've seen so many references to it even from people I wasn't expecting.
Love the shoutout to digital. As someone new to Manga(reading 60% comics digitally from many years), it really helps me to explore more titles and complete/drop based on interest, and the discounts/huge price difference helps too.
I always love your takes on things so much , and your enthusiasm.
Getting more ppl into manga? Always a good thing
Having a community to share your thoughts with as read advance in a series is really fun. I was half way into Alabasta when Merphy started releasing One Piece reviews and we moved step by step through the run of the series. I always so looked forward to my Friday morning videos updating the progress we had both made on the series. It was really a cool experience I had never engaged in before. Thanks Merph
the single biggest tip I have to anyone trying to get into anime/manga is to realize that it is a medium, not a genre. Just like movies, just like books, there's something out there for everyone, it just depends on what you like,
A personal recommendation: March came in like a lion. Breathtaking anime, amazing manga, one of the best depictions of depression every put to paper.
Never thought I'd stumble upon a channel with reviews from Harry Potter to Avatar the Last Airbender to even fully caught up One Piece manga.
You're insane. It's been so fun reliving all of this through your experiences.
Where has this channel been all my life!?
A lot of family members and friends grew up watching anime and reading manga, but I wasn’t able to get into. I started during the pandemic when I needed something to pass the time and I’m so obsessed now. My favorite anime and manga has to be Haikyuu! I actually picked up the manga after season 4 of the anime bc I needed to know what happened next and it really changed my watching/reading experience
Would love to see her review the haikyuu manga, it feels very similar to one piece from a storytelling perspective
personally Berserk by Kentaro Muira is the "Peak" manga experience and what makes Manga different from other book mediums. how he drawn every panel is nothing short of "Art", i just wished he was able to finish it. Rest in peace.
His best friend and assistants are still working on it, though slowly.
watching this video felt like merphy passing her final oral exam after taking a manga class lol. i remember your first one piece videos and now you are one of us. you actually read more manga than i thought. thank you for spreading the love for manga and trying to get your novel subscribers to join us.
Im so happy you’re getting into manga since I’ve just started to as well. I’m currently reading KINGDOM and it is one of the best fictional books I’ve ever read! I’m not even halfway through, but I have been hooked!! I keep telling my close friends how great it is but because it’s so dense all I can say is “I don’t know where to start”, that’s how fast pace it is. I can only read it digitally, but because it’s extremely long it works best in that format. I hope you give it a go!
Mangas On my list to read:
20th century Boys, BESERK, Great Teacher Onizuka, Yona of the Dawn, Good Night PunPun, Dorohedoro, Is, Vagabond and Monster.
Other recommendations are welcome, especially slice of life/ romance as there’s not a lot on my list. 👍
These are really good ones! I can add some slice of life/romance/other recommendations:
Natsume's Book of Friends: slice of life about a boy who can see fantasy creatures. Beautiful, funny, and very tender.
March Comes in Like a Lion: slice of life about a young man slowly recovering from depression.
Your Lie in April: Romance between two young musicians.
Ouran High School Host Club: Romantic comedy that pokes fun at all the romance tropes.
Mushi-shi: quiet, eerie series about encounters with the supernatural. Gorgeous art.
Love to see some Yona of the Dawn representation and I'm glad it's on the list. It's spoken about so little, but it's so good. For slice of life/romances, I would recommend you
*Blue Box*
Komi Can't Communicate
*Tomo chan is a girl*
*Ouran Highschool Host Club*
Sweetness and Lightning
Our Precious Conversations
@@elfchild9 Thank you so much for the recommendations!! I’m really intrigued about Your Lie in April, I’ve come across the anime and heard that it’s heartfelt. I’ll also give the rest a go. 👍🔥
@@bastion4975 Thanks for the list of recommendations, I really do appreciate it! And you’re right about Yona of the Dawn, I only saw two RUclipsrs discussing the manga and stated that it’s one of the best they read- but other than that i haven’t come across others discussing it. 🔥👍
Great Teacher Onizuka is absolutely amazing, it’s probably my favorite of the ones you mentioned! Fair warning for Oyasumi PunPun, it’s the kind of story that works best when you’re in a certain head space, it’s somewhat depressing and trippy but also a very beautiful story. Hope you have fun!
My wife isn't really a manga person, but loves mystery books. That being said, she owns 80-something volumes of Case Closed. There's literally a manga for everyone.
Good to see Case Closed mentioned and being liked. I loved that one when i initially got into manga twenty or so years ago. Precisely because i'm a big mystery novel/Sherlock Holmes fan. :)
2:39 One thing important to mention about reading digitally: while their screens aren't that big or detailed, I find e-ink devices like Kindle are great for reading manga. The screen's already black and white, they're lighter than tablets and they don't hurt your eyes after extended reading.
If you like comedic fantasies like Discworld or D&D-adjacent humor, and also like cooking, I highly recommend "Delicious in Dungeon" (aka Dungeon Meshi)! It's an excellent series about a group of adventurers in such a rush to save one of their companions deep in a dungeon that they decide they'll just eat whatever creature they find, learning to cook slimes, walking mushrooms, or even mimics.
The series is also going to have an anime adaptation by Studio Trigger.
Something important I want to add is that manga can be very different from comics, not just in the direction you're reading, but also in the paneling.
For many comic readers, there are many manga that seem to have very chaotic panel structures because manga tends really emphasize structuring things by how it'll make your eyes flow through the page & using the panels jutting out or characters breaking through panels & sometimes even crazier things to convey stuff to the reader at the cost of the traditional structure of paneling you see in comics.
Another big difference is that manga tends to do something different from the "moment-to-moment" structure of comics. In comics, the next panel usually is always depicting something that happens after the previous panel.
In manga though, the next panels aren't always depicting what happens after the previous panels. Sometimes they're depicting things that are happening at the same time as the previous panel(s). This is especially the case if it's establishing atmosphere, but it isn't only done when establishing atmosphere. It's done a lot. It's a spacial sort of structure that might confuse you if you're an avid comic reader. (There are some comics that use spacial structures in it's paneling so many it won't be too difficult. But you might still get confused)
There's also the soft rule that smaller panels are usually panels the author allows you to skim. These panels usually contain characters explaining what's happening or talking about something or other, and sometimes you can skim that dialogue if it's in a small panel.
There's also dialogue that's not in a speech bubble. Usually text that isn't in a speech bubble means that it is either someone's inner thoughts or it is some kind of narration. But there are times where you'll see little bits of dialogue that isn't in a speech bubble but is right next to it. Those pieces of dialogue are basically unimportant dialogue, meaning they're something the character says either because they have to say it for the scene to be realistic & make sense or because of the character's personality, but it isn't really important for anything in the scene or story.
There's also small, empty panels, like a bunch of little black rectangles right next to each other, which usually means an ending of a scene or a big leap in time. Usually it means the next scene after that collection of small empty rectangles takes place a long time in the future or maybe a long time in the past in the case of flashbacks. Either the next few hours, the next day, or the next decade, any big leap in time.
There are many more things that separates manga from comics, such as Kishoutenketsu story structure(which is especially prevelant in comedy scenes or comedy manga), Mono no Aware, etc. But these are the basics.
In general, going from comics to manga is pretty easy, but there are things that might initially confuse you or overwhelm you a bit.
Here are some other recommendations!
-The promised neverland, the anime is not that good but my god the manga is top tier. I can’t explain it because the plot is a spoiler, but is a house of orphans who fight to scape after they discover the truth about it.
-blue period is about an artist and how art changes the way he looks at real life.
-Tokyo ghoul, ghouls eat human flesh and they live amongst the people. Kaneki is just trying to get a date.
-little witch hat atelier is a really fun fantasy story.
-the way of the house husband is a comedy focused on an ex yakuza mob boss who’s now retired and in charge of maintaining the house for his wife.
-chainsaw man, if you like a little gore this is for you, is about a guy who becomes friend with a demon as a kid and bad things ensues. It’s also a comedy, similar to jujutsu kaisen if you’ve seen it.
- children of the whales is a sad fantasy story about a collapsing world. It has a one season anime and it’s really good, but it pales to the manga.
To your eternity, another sad manga that focus on a compilation of different story perspectives all linked to one medium. You will cry in the first volume, I don’t make the rules.
-seraph of the end is a vampire saga, a little more juvenile but it has a really good story. The anime was good tho it was cancelled.
The way of the house husband ❤️
To Your Eternity has an incredible first chapter, but gets progressively less enjoyable the longer it goes.
Shout out to the Shonen Jump and Tapas apps. They've revived my childhood love of reading stories especially with my lack of active free time nowadays with a family.
I was never into reading manga until I watched One Piece then switched to reading during Wano. That interest blossomed into reading many manga series although I have a particular love of Isekai (especially those with literal kingdom/nation/country building): Reincarnated as a Slime, Re:Monster, How the Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Mushoku Tensei, etc.
Recently, I've hopped on the manhua/manhwa train with Tapas. I subbed to at least 10 different series just this week on there: The Beginning After the End, Estio, Solo Leveling, The Enchanting Villainess, Wicked No More, and many, many more. Interesting stories of all genres and almost always in color with beautiful art.
There's so much reading content to take in.
Manga is much faster to read because you don't need to describe the actions of a person and the way they look in a situation and even the background/scenery, all that information is provided by the artist. All you have to do to gain context on those parts is look at the artwork and then read the dialogue.
This alone probably cuts like half of the content in traditional books.
This is exactly the well balanced take that is refreshing to see.
I too am an avid reader doing 1-2 books a week.
my mum reads too but she refused to give any manga a chance due to a prejudice I guess
I love mangas so much.I've been reading them since 2008 when Naruto chapters used to be uploaded on RUclips.
Currently i've read over 60 series. 😊
Wow! What was the first one you picked up?
@@britneynicole8903 Yup.I was a huge fan of the anime, I checked The manga and I totally loved IT. 🥰
One Piece The g. O. A. T though😍😍😍
@@noname3609 Ooh yes! I am planning on picking up VS and OP in December. I am thinking I will need to order the first volume of VS off of Amazon. I heard that they do not make print copies of it anymore.
@@britneynicole8903 so different yet both awesome. Definetly recommend both. They Will entertain you. 😊
@@noname3609 I am excited ☺️
I think one of the things that made Manga click for me is just actually reading every panel. I know that sounds obvious but I often just instinctually went to looking at the dialogue instead of paying attention to how the author uses panels to break up the pacing of conversations and events. Once I understood that god did I love everything about Manga. My favourite thing is the page turn, when your reading an intense scene and the tension keeps building and building as you read and then suddenly you turn the page and it’s just one or two big panels that make your jaw drop. My favourite example is Goodnight Punpun in vol 6 which I won’t spoil but that moment has stuck with me ever since. Manga’s that perfect the page turn are always the most memorable ones for me, it’s why I love Tatsuki Fujimoto’s works or Inio Asano or Hajime Isayama because their page turns are always so effective.
I love seeing you and Daniel falling in love with manga!
Good timing for this lol. I read a ton of manga in my teens and early twenties, and I've recently felt the urge to get back into it. I actually went to the store yesterday and bought a small stack of new manga for the first time in almost a decade.
Getting back into the hobby, I decided to go back to the stuff that really got me into it in the first place, so I bought the first volume of Dragon Ball, as well as a few horror books.
Just finished reading the first volumes of "Parasyte" by Hitoshi Iwaaki and "Orochi" by Kazuo Umezu right before watching this video. Highly recommend both for fans Junji Ito.
I've basically only read manga since about 10 years ago and never considered myself as someone who actually reads. I decided at the start of the year to read more novels etc and came across your channel, so I'm glad you've started where I've ended. Decided to start reading Mystborn due to your recommendation and I'm half way through the first book! I will say its hard to find people who read anything, even regular books.
Glad to see you getting into novels as well. How is mistborn so far?
@@joshuawalters7520 without spoiling it for anyone, I'm enjoying the pace of it. Even though there is jumps in the timeframe, I don't feel like its going too fast. Laughed more at Kelsiers antics than I thought I would lol
I got into reading manga by going to a Barnes and Noble and just randomly picking things and just sit down and read them. I think it starts with the actual physical volumes.
But yeah a tablet really is a game changer. I usually read the latest One Piece Chapter on my IPad. I don’t read books much but if I ever find something that interests me, it goes straight to the IPad XD
Excellent video as always these are great tips
Wait 18 hrs ago??? HOW
@@al_4ddin450 Patreon viewers get early access to videos
@@britneynicole8903 ow
I didn't know that
@@al_4ddin450 Yes. Somebody else told me that before and I just thought I would pay it forward.
I'm trying to get into Manga thank you Merph
Manga is one of my favorite mediums to read. Reminds me of reading comic books when I was a kid and the story immersion was incredible. Manga is great.
There's so much out there that even most people who've been reading manga their whole life don't even know about. There are small publishers who publish manga out of passion for the authors, which most well-known publishers wouldn't even consider to publish, since they're so niche. I highly recommend checking out the manga published by Glacier Bay Books, Star Fruit Books, Last Gasp, Drawn & Quarterly and Fanfare (small English branch of Ponent Mon). Their titles are all very unique and far from the mainstream.
If you'd like a mature story with an art style that has realistic proportions and a lot of detail to it, check out Jiro Taniguchi's masterpiece "The Summit of the Gods". I consider this manga the best story of any medium. It's based on a novel, and even the author of the novel himself (Baku Yumemakura) said that the manga is the definitive version of his work, as it changed things he regretted about his novel for the better.
If you like surrealism and abstract art styles, check out Glaeolia or really any other title published by Glacier Bay Books. Glaeolia contains many short stories by different authors. These kind of collections are usually referred to as "alternative manga collections" and there are many of them. "AX: Alternative Manga" is another one of these, published by TopShelf Productions. If you haven't read these collections, you haven't seen what the medium is capable of.
I remember when I started reading manga in college being a bit confused at first, but I got the hang of it by the end of the first volume I read. Now, I always try to go right to left reading regular comics/graphic novels 😆 …also, Japan has a piece of my heart ♥️
Speaking of Calvin and Hobes, A lot of humorous manga are actually done in a 4 pannel setup (Azumanga Daioh is a prominent 4 panel series with a really great adaptation)
If you want to see how varied Manga can get, one of the curent ongoing series in Shonen Jump is Akane-banashi, which is about Rakugo, a traditional Japanese style of storytelling told by a storyteller who remains seated the whole time and can't use any props other than a fan. Other prominent Manga from further back have been about Go (The strategy game), about writing Manga (Bakuman gets very meta at times), And I've heard of a title about a man who's a master of apologizing.
I gotta say shonen jump is a killer deal for all of the awesome series in production at the moment
Junji Ito was my introduction to reading manga seriously as oof what a decision. So fun and the art is incredible. Highly recommend the Beastars Manga too. It's great
libraries and library apps also often have volumes digitally!
that said, i think you'd really enjoy dungeon meshi/delicious in dungeon. it's a comedic high fantasy with surprisingly dark themes and plot points. also gorgeous art 😆
My favorite comedy manga is Hinamatsuri. It's premise is kind of insane, but it's such a good time. Murphy says she likes the "falling into success" characters like Buggy from One Piece, and Hinamatsuri does it great in my opinion. It's also like Spy Family in a way, which I also recommend.
if you ever feel like watching an original anime, I highly recommend A Place Further Than The Universe. One of the main things I love about the show is the bond between the main characters, which seems like something that would appeal to you
A manga I would recommend is Erased. It's a great mystery thriller about a guy who time travels back to his childhood a few weeks or so before a serial killer starts murdering some of his classmates. It does a really good job at making you invested in what happens to these kids, and the dark & sometimes seemingly hopeless situation greatly enhances the heartwarming moments when they happen
one thing i think readers should keep in mind is that it's not uncommon for a good series to be a bit dull for the first volume. For me Naruto wasn't interesting at first but the Zabuza/Haku arc in vol 2 and 3 are my favorite story of that whole series.
Preach it and my first manga were Bleach with HxH some of the best times of my life have come from reading manga and books so great video about this
A fair warning to anyone pocking up manga for the first time: Once you’ve read enough of it you will get used to reading from the "wrong" side. I still get confused at times about which way I’m supposed to read.
This has totally happened to me several times😅
I'm a big book readers (I'm a librarian) and I personally never really got into manga until I read some mangas that were totally outside my usual genres. I read/watched Death Notes, Full Metal Alchemist, One Punch Man, etc. But I really fell in love with manga when I tried Shoujo manga which I was kinda judging before I tried the first one... Then I was doomed ahah
I do remember the first Manga that got me going headdiving into the world of it. I grew up with Anime most of my life (Vampire Princess Myiu OVA, Blue Seed, and Sailor Moon were the main ones when I was in Elementry and Middle School with bits and peices of Ninja Scrolls. It was around maybe the end of Middle School I got into Neo Genisis Evagalion and Escaflowne... And Only Sailor Moon is good for Young Children just need to put out there. There are much more I did grow up with but that's just to give you the idea of the range I grew up with) But I hadn't read the Sailor Moon Manga yet (It is darker than the anime as it talks about some more adult themes than they do in the anime until much later). What got me thinking to reading more Manga was actually this unknown story that is even not well known to this day: Kazan. It's only 7 volumes long, and I'm still wanting to finish the series as they don't have it as an Ebook... (I also want to finish my collection of it as I still have books 1-4) But that was what sparked my love of the medium.
From there, I was able to pick up the Sailor Moon Manga and even When in collage, Pick up the Vampire Princess Myiu Manga and fell in love with the manga of Mushishi and Sayiuki after I watched the animes of those. Sometimes the Anime isn't a one to one adaptation, and sometimes not even a good one. But the ones that isn't a one to one, sometimes adds to the Manga stories as well, Like the Vampire Princess Myiu OVAs and 1990 Series adds to the Manga experience through exploring other things.
(Sadly Escaflowne is *not* in Manga form, so I can't really suggest that for Merphy. Well it is, but the Anime came first before the Three versions of Manga that go three *compleately* different ways, which is a wild story on how that came about in the first place, and Escaflowne also has a Movie version (also anime) that is also *vastly* different and follows different themes than the anime series and I don't think it would work well for Merphy to searching for three versions which are hard to find in the first place *and* she's newer to the Manga world and thus may overwhelm her trying to find all the versions which doesn't even follow how the actual story goes in the first place. From what I also Understand, Eva is also in a weird place with Manga and Anime versions as Eva is another that started out first as an Anime and the Manga came after but at least was written by the same person. But someone can correct me if I'm wrong.)
I think one reason why I personally prefer manga over books, is the fact that you get everything visualized. Sure you can explain someone's facial expression or a fight scene or a action scene through words but nothing is more effective than actual seeing it in person in a visualized form.
The artwork is so incredible as well!
@@britneynicole8903 Yeah, but this also depends on the mangaka (artist). Some mangaka's draw better some worse, the quality also depends on the schedule, some Manga release weekly and some monthly some even only once a year get 1 chapter. Obviously with more time the art can be improved upon.
@@Official_RetroMania True. In your opinion, which manga has the best artwork?
@@britneynicole8903 Hmmmmm... I like the abstract body horror artwork of Junji Ito's work, I like Vinland Saga and Berserks more detailed "realistic" art style mixing western culture ideas with Japanese story telling and artwork. When it comes to weekly shows obviously a weekly manga will have a lesser art quality (still some artists go all in and try do they best), I think a good example would be Tabata the mangaka from Black Clover his art specially when he draws Demon's is just breathtaking, how does he do such detailed arts in a weekly manga? I have no idea. If you don't care about art but story telling there are obviously better mangas than Black Clover like One Piece, Chainsaw Man, Jujitsu Kaisen...
@@britneynicole8903 vagabond berserk one punch man
I'm so proud of how far Murphy has come with supporting/absorbing manga :'D
There is so much manga to read, the hardest part is figuring out where to start. Even if you sort by genre, your options are endless. But I like that there’s so much variety.
Nice, that was a great video! One thing that I really love about manga is as you said that there is a specific story for almost every genre, themes, and subjects that you can think of.
This video and your previous one came at the perfect time!
I have so many people in my life saying "I wish I could read more."
Well, thanks to you, now they can!😊
Incredibly thoughtful and well produced video. Thanks for spreading the good word of the medium!
To any novel readers out there -- do try out some manga, however unusual or intimidating it might be for you initially. After all, it opens a whole new world to the experience of enjoying great stories, which is what we're all here for. And, of course, never judge a book by its cover . :)
When I was a high school kid, I was obsessed with Masakazu Katsura’s works.
Very helpful to a new reader exploring this part of comic culture
Who doesn't like looking at pictures and reading something at the same time, but Berserk is my go to recommendation for people that have never read manga and are into horror/fantasy and shows like Game of Thrones and The Witcher.
Here are my recommendations:
1) Grandson of Nurarihyon (if you like ghost stories, but don't want to lose sleep over nightmares)
2) I was a sword when I reincarnated. (Found family, fantasy, alternate world, father daughter dynamic. Main character has supporting role to his adopted daughter)
3) that time I got reincarnated as a slime (Kingdom building, politics, epic fights, power scaling, etc)
4) Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon? (Fantasy, level system, weak to strong protagonist, slow but steady build up, dungeon crawling)
For people who like books, the better equivalent would be light novels. Manga are more a counterpart to comic books. Manga and light novels are both worth reading. Especially if you get into an anime that only lasted a season and was mainly created to drive the sales of a manga or light novel. It worked for me, because I got tired of watching an anime I liked end after one season and wondering what happened afterward. Although sometimes seeing the story completed still doesn't pan out if the novel or manga gets cancelled. Still, there are a ton of great light novels out there.
Trying out an anime first is a good starting point actually. Thats how I ended up being an active reader. I just couldnt wait for next season (or weekly episode in some cases) of a show so I hopped to the manga and oh boy it feels good to do.
I'm so glad you've gotten into it, I've gotten a couple great books because of you so seeing you get into manga has been a fun twist.
Out of the "Anime is not for kids" I suggest the classics, Hellsing, Ghost in the Shell and Akira. There is some not for young kids stuff there but these are classics.
For "How about something cute and sweet" Try Bunny Drop. Or Usagi Drop. It is about a young kid being taken in a family and all it entails. And at the sideline also the hunt for the real mother. I wont' spoil the rest. It is cute and parents will recognize things.
Manga feels easier to consume imo because the chapters are short enough to be consumed in one sitting and are separated enough to be remembered with a single number the chapter number (plus remembering a picture is vastly easier than remembering a sentence for instance), compared to say in a book where the chapters may be long enough that you'll have to stop on an arbitrary page and even with a bookmark you'll might have to remember which word within that page you left off of or smth. The chapters also greatly condense the info, wherein a book might have a sentence to describe the landscape or the expression of characters manga simply draw them so that immediately cuts out the reading time spent on those, making consuming manga much faster for me at least. I'd imagine if One Piece was a novel or smth I'd probably still not be caught up to it to this day. The chapter by chapter consumption thing also helps curb the fear of a long manga imo. I feel vastly more intimidated seeing a massive book than I do seeing a long-running manga because it's easier to stop, and easier to go back to certain parts as well without even having any bookmarks besides the chapter title and/or number for manga. Sure you might be able to remember a page, but more than likely a scene or event would take a couple pages, and remembering which group of pages constitute the scene you want to view is far harder than say just checking a chapter title/number seeing if the title matches the scene you have in mind or at least is remotely related to it and checking that chapter to see if the scene you wanted to revisit was there. If I wanted to do that with a book I'd be lost because while some novels may contain chapters they're not as specific as manga chapters so you're forced to remember page groups instead, and checking if it's the right page group is much harder because you'll have to leaf through words as compared to just staring at the illustrations on the chapter pages.
2:20 as a prime example of this, there is an entire manga series about wine tasting of all things
I thank you so much, for so long I've been looking for a way to read the demon slayer mangas for cheap and shonen jump actually is the best place. All the chapters for 2.79 CAD when everywhere else you'd have to pay 8 dollars. I am actually so excited to be able to finally get into manga so thank you Merph
I've read Ds online but im planning to buy The box set. Excelent plot. Absolutely loved IT!
Thank you for this video It helps because I understood that you had to read a different way I just didn't know the exact way to do it this video helps Thanks a lot much appreciated
One of the things I found helpful reading longer Manga was telling myself "ok just five chapters today" and then putting it down to manage any sort of fatigue from reading it or waiting for the hook where you just dive in and never look back.
Two highly underrated Masterpieces: D.Gray-man and Pandora Hearts !!
Welcome to The NHK got me into manga. I fell in love with that story
I watched the anime a long time ago and it's an absolute hidden gem. Still one of the top 20 anime of all time I have seen.
Okay, I'll give manga a try! 😁
Please read the manga of Osamu Tezuka, who is said to be the god of manga in Japan someday. He created the prototype for all comics that exist today. His lifework "Hinotori (Firebird)" seems long and unwieldy, but I'd like you to read just the dawn, phoenix, and future chapters. You can see how this work continues to influence current manga artists from here and there
One of my favorite manga is one from the late 80s-early 90s called RG Veda. It's a fantasy story very loosely based on Vedic mythology. It was published in English a few years ago in three omnibus volumes (originally 10). If you've never read it, I hope you'll give it a shot.
I just started reading Berserk and Dragon Ball. But Berserk... SO DAMN GOOD!
I'll be jumping into One Piece soon as well. I tried watching the anime, watched 10 or so episodes but the number of remaining episodes is kinda intimidating, so I think reading 1000+ chapters is easier and faster than watching 1000+ episodes. Please let me know if I'm wrong.
Me looking at Merphy like a proud mom after she mentions all the banger manga.
Thank you for this!! Have had an interest in manga for a couple months but started seriously looking into the medium…today 😁
I just finished Pokemon Adventures this week. I really enjoyed the series. The next series I want to check out are: Sailor Moon, My Hero Academia and One Piece.
Time to share this to a bunch of people in my friendgroup
I love seeing people get into the medium of manga, Im glad its finally getting recognition. I will say that if you're a fan of Vinland Saga and Berserk, I highly recommend Vagabond. Its quite long and officially on hiatus but unofficially cancelled due to author burnout which is sad but even with that it is immensely worth reading. Its a historical fiction based on the life of a real life wandering samurai Musashi Miyamoto and his legendary exploits, it makes the hiatus easier to deal with because he was a real guy. Another great manga by the same author if you're a fan of basketball is Slam Dunk and Real, with the latter being a really fantastic series about wheelchair basketball. Japan also has a plethora of recent LGBT focused manga like the autobiographies My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness and The Bride Was a Boy to some amazing emotional drama's like Shimanami Tasogare (trigger warning for this one for its… blunt portrayals of being gay in a conservative country) and Wandering Son. Those are my serious recommendations that I highly recommend.
Also side note because my favorite genre is slice of life. She's not kidding when she says theres a manga for everything. Theres a whole subgenre of manga called Cute Girls Doing Cute Things or CGDCT. They're basically short and semi-episodic stories of cute girls doing random things very cutely.
Girls starting a band: K-On and Bocchi the Rock
Girls developing video games: New Game
Girls going camping: Laid Back Camp
Girls just... doing the weirdest shit: Asobi Asobase and Pop Team Epic
Girls lifting weights: How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?
Girls being witches in north Japan: Flying Witch
Girls living in the countryside: Non Non Biyori (my personal favorite)
Manga is wild y'all, I love it.
I’m working my way through fullmetal alchemist which is my first manga (not counting the first volume of Tokyo Ghoul). I have a few others on my TBR and as someone who prefers an actual book the whole digital vs physical is becoming an internal battle I’ve been having with myself for the sake of my bank account 😢
“I strongly believe in being able to quit stories you don’t like.” You just set me free 😭 Especially from hxh lol
I'll recommend please read "kingdom" its a perfect mixture of seinen and shonen I'll bet there is no other story which has such detailed warfares its has wars, national politics, internal politics,dreams, despair, inherited will, freindship,classism and much more please it's a must read
With all the manga you've listed, if you ever have the time for a short and existential read, please check out Girls' Last Tour by Tsukumizu and The Girl From the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún by Nagabe!
OK, sorry if I'm posting too many replies, but I will say that because you encouraged me to read Spy x Family, I am experiencing for the first time the joy of: 1)Reading new manga chapters as they are being released; 2)Experiencing the anime as it releases new episode adapting said manga. 🙌
a couple intro-to-manga type recommendations:
An easy-to-read comedy romance: Horimiya.
A Japanese take on a western-style superhero series: My Hero Academia.
I will once again repeat my recommendation for Bakuman. It's from the creators of Death Note, but it has a completely different feel. It follows two young students as they break their way into the manga industry. It's wonderful and here's why:
It offers an excellent look into not only the writing process, but the publishing process as well. Both in general and for manga specifically.
The writing is spectacular. The characters are fleshed out and whole, the story comes from first hand experience, there's so much sneaky meta-commentary; it's freaking great.
The various manga series that the different characters create and write over the course of the story almost become characters in and of themselves. It's like getting a dozen stories for the price of one.
I've been reading manga for over 20 years and this series remains to this day one of my absolute favorites. Even if you don't want to talk about it on the channel, I definitely think you'd enjoy reading it.
thank you for starting one piece. that's how I discovered you. your videos are great ♥️
Some mangas/doujins only have physical copies, but I doubt you can get it shipped oversea when they only sell them in conventions.
And again, if you dig in that deep, you will find ways to get them. And there are so many stories you won't see them all, so you don't really need to worry about dropping series when you read it digitally.
I had watched that video on "how to read manga" a while back it's a very helpful video.
Thanks for this! I've been wanting to get into manga for a while now and this was an encouraging nudge. Especially thank you for the Shonen jump and Book Walker recs - the price of manga was definitely a huge factor holding me back. 💛💛💛
You could also say that each series has different comedic styles. There is capital A anime comedy and some that are more grounded.
Comedy tends to put alot of first timers off.
I would LOVE for you to do a deep dive in Beserk. I think it's quite literally my favorite manga now and it's incredible and I love it