Manga Glossary
Every term you'll run into reading manga — what it means, where it comes from, and when it actually applies. 67 entries and counting.
Filed by number
How filing works →Demographics · 5Genres · 17Craft & Format · 16Industry · 12Fandom · 17
A
- Anime Adaptation
- An animated version of a manga, usually produced while the source is still running, which forces structural compromises. 62 in the letters, reducing to 8.
- Assistant
- An uncredited artist employed by a mangaka to draw backgrounds, apply tone and ink, making weekly serialisation physically possible. Filed under 5, the turn.
B
- Battle Shonen
- Action manga in which a protagonist fights progressively stronger opponents while growing in capability — the commercial backbone of shonen magazines. Filed under 9, the closing.
- Boys Love
- A genre depicting romantic relationships between men, written and read predominantly by women, and the current standard term for the category. 34 in the letters, reducing to 7.
C
- Canon
- The material considered part of a work's official story, as opposed to filler, spin-offs or fan-created content. Read from the pairing, as a 2.
- Chapter
- A single instalment of a serialised manga as it appeared in its magazine, usually around 19 pages for a weekly series. The term reduces to 8 — the ledger.
- Color Spread
- A colour page or double-page illustration published with a magazine chapter, usually marking a milestone or promoting a series. The term reduces to 9 — the closing.
- Cooking Manga
- A genre centred on food preparation, using cooking as a vehicle for competition, craft obsession or quiet comfort. The term reduces to 11 — the signal.
D
- Dandere
- A character who is quiet and withdrawn from shyness rather than coldness, opening up with people they trust. The term reduces to 33 — the teaching.
- Doujinshi
- Self-published manga, frequently fan work based on existing series, sold directly at conventions and online. The term reduces to 1 — the opening.
E
- Editor
- The publisher's representative assigned to a manga series, with unusually direct influence over its story and direction. The term reduces to 8 — the ledger.
F
- Fanservice
- Content included to please the audience rather than to serve the story, most often sexual but not exclusively so. Filed under 3, the telling.
- Filler
- Anime-original content not present in the manga, inserted so an adaptation does not overtake its source material. 35 in the letters, reducing to 8.
G
- Gutter
- The blank space between panels, where the reader mentally supplies whatever happened in between. Read from the opening, as a 1.
H
- Harem
- A structure in which one protagonist is surrounded by multiple romantic interests, usually without the situation resolving. The term reduces to 9 — the closing.
- Hiatus
- A pause in a manga's serialisation, ranging from a single skipped week to an indefinite suspension lasting years. 24 in the letters, reducing to 6.
- Horror Manga
- Horror in comic form, where black-and-white art and reader-controlled pacing produce effects film struggles to achieve. The term reduces to 11 — the signal.
I
- Isekai
- A premise in which a person from ordinary modern life is transported, summoned or reborn into a fantasy world. 27 in the letters, reducing to 9.
- Iyashikei
- A genre of deliberately soothing manga and anime whose explicit purpose is to calm the reader rather than excite them. Filed under 6, the care.
J
- Josei
- Manga published in magazines aimed at adult women, often dealing with work, relationships and adult life in a realistic register. 22 in the letters, with nothing left to reduce.
K
- Kodomomuke
- Manga published in magazines aimed at young children — the genuine children's category that shonen is frequently mistaken for. The term reduces to 6 — the care.
- Kohai
- The junior counterpart to senpai — someone with less seniority in a shared school, club or workplace. Filed under 8, the ledger.
- Kuudere
- A character who is composed and emotionally flat on the surface, with feeling present but rarely expressed. The term reduces to 4 — the structure.
L
- Licensing
- The commercial agreement by which a foreign publisher acquires the rights to translate and sell a manga in its territory. Filed under 11, the signal.
M
- Magical Girl
- A genre in which ordinary girls gain magical powers and a transformed identity, traditionally combining spectacle with themes of friendship and growing up. Read from the signal, as an 11.
- Manga
- Comics created in Japan, typically serialised in anthology magazines and collected into paperback volumes. Filed under 9, the closing.
- Manga Cafe
- A Japanese establishment charging by the hour for access to a large manga library, along with drinks, internet and a private booth. 33 in the letters, with nothing left to reduce.
- Mangaka
- A manga creator, usually responsible for story and art together, working with uncredited assistants under severe deadline pressure. Filed under 3, the telling.
- Manhua
- Comics created in China, Hong Kong or Taiwan, spanning both traditional print and full-colour digital formats. 22 in the letters, with nothing left to reduce.
- Manhwa
- Comics created in South Korea, today most often published as full-colour vertical-scroll webtoons read on a phone. Filed under 6, the care.
- Mecha
- A genre built around piloted giant robots, frequently using the machines to examine war, politics and the people inside them. Filed under 3, the telling.
O
- Official Translation
- A licensed, professionally produced translation of a manga, as distinct from an unofficial fan translation. Read from the care, as a 6.
- Omake
- Short bonus comics or extra material added to a collected volume, usually lighter in tone than the main story. Read from the closing, as a 9.
- One-Shot
- A self-contained manga story published as a single instalment, with no continuing serialisation. Read from the teaching, as a 33.
- Onomatopoeia
- Drawn sound effects integrated into manga artwork, covering not only noises but also states like silence and staring. The term reduces to 4 — the structure.
- Otaku
- A person with an intense, consuming interest in a hobby — pejorative in Japanese, largely reclaimed in English-speaking fandom. 14 in the letters, reducing to 5.
P
- Panel
- A single framed image in a comic, and the basic unit from which manga builds sequence and time. 21 in the letters, reducing to 3.
- Power System
- The internal ruleset governing what abilities exist in a story and what they cost — the main thing making fights suspenseful rather than hollow. The term reduces to 7 — the inquiry.
R
- Reverse Harem
- A harem structure with the genders inverted: one female protagonist surrounded by multiple male romantic interests. 65 in the letters, reducing to 11.
- Right-to-Left Reading
- The panel and page order used by manga, in which you begin at the top-right of the right-hand page and work leftwards. Read from the closing, as a 9.
- Rival Character
- A recurring figure who competes with the protagonist, embodying an alternative approach rather than simple opposition. 67 in the letters, reducing to 4.
- Romance Manga
- Manga centred on romantic relationships, spanning every demographic and differing sharply in register between them. Filed under 6, the care.
S
- Scanlation
- Unofficial fan translation of manga, produced by scanning or sourcing pages, translating them and re-lettering the result. Filed under 9, the closing.
- Screentone
- Adhesive sheets of printed dot or line patterns used to add shading, texture and tone to black-and-white manga art. Filed under 1, the opening.
- Seinen
- Manga published in magazines aimed primarily at adult men, typically allowing slower pacing and more ambiguous storytelling. Filed under 3, the telling.
- Senpai
- An honorific for someone senior to you in a school, workplace or club, denoting position rather than age or rank. Filed under 1, the opening.
- Serialization
- The publishing model in which manga appears as regular instalments in an anthology magazine before being collected into volumes. Filed under 5, the turn.
- Ship
- To want two characters in a romantic relationship, or the pairing itself — shortened from the word relationship. 25 in the letters, reducing to 7.
- Shojo
- Manga published in magazines aimed primarily at teenage girls, with a distinctive visual language built around interiority. Read from the edifice, as a 22.
- Shonen
- Manga published in magazines aimed primarily at teenage boys — a marketing demographic, not a genre or a content rating. The term reduces to 3 — the telling.
- Shonen Protagonist
- The recurring lead type in shonen action manga: persistently determined, socially straightforward, and defined by effort rather than talent. Filed under 4, the structure.
- Simulpub
- The release of an official English chapter at the same time as its Japanese magazine publication. The term reduces to 5 — the turn.
- Slice of Life
- A genre focused on ordinary everyday experience, where little dramatic incident occurs and that is the point. The term reduces to 11 — the signal.
- Speed Lines
- Streaked lines drawn across a panel to imply motion, force or focus in an image that is physically static. The term reduces to 9 — the closing.
- Splash Page
- A single image occupying a full page, or a double-page spread across two, used for maximum dramatic impact. The term reduces to 5 — the turn.
- Spoiler Culture
- The set of norms around leaked chapter details, which in manga fandom circulate on a predictable weekly cycle before official release. The term reduces to 5 — the turn.
- Sports Manga
- Manga built around competitive sport, and one of the medium's strongest genres even for readers indifferent to the sport itself. 44 in the letters, reducing to 8.
T
- Tankobon
- A collected paperback volume gathering roughly nine to eleven previously serialised manga chapters. Filed under 11, the signal.
- Time Skip
- A deliberate jump forward in a story's timeline, often used to age a cast and reset the stakes. Read from the telling, as a 3.
- Tournament Arc
- A story structure in which characters compete through a bracketed contest, generating a sequence of escalating one-on-one matches. 55 in the letters, reducing to 1.
- Tsundere
- A character who behaves coldly or abrasively toward someone they actually care about, gradually revealing warmth underneath. Filed under 7, the inquiry.
W
- Waifu
- A fictional character a fan claims particular attachment to, from the Japanese borrowing of the English word wife. 24 in the letters, reducing to 6.
- Weeb
- An English-fandom term for a non-Japanese person seen as excessively enthusiastic about Japanese culture, used as both insult and self-deprecation. Read from the ledger, as an 8.
- Weekly Shonen Jump
- The most commercially dominant manga magazine, whose editorial model has shaped mainstream manga more than any other publication. 72 in the letters, reducing to 9.
Y
- Yandere
- A character whose romantic devotion becomes obsessive and dangerous, often turning violent toward perceived rivals. 36 in the letters, reducing to 9.
- Yaoi
- An older term for manga depicting male-male romance, now generally implying more explicit content than the broader Boys Love label. 23 in the letters, reducing to 5.
- Yuri
- A genre depicting romantic relationships between women, spanning subtle emotional intimacy through to explicit romance. Read from the opening, as a 1.