What is manga?
Manga are Japanese comics and graphic novels. They are usually printed in black and white and read from right to left, and they cover every genre for readers of all ages.
Manga stories are often first published in chapters in weekly or monthly magazines, such as Weekly Shōnen Jump, then collected into books called tankōbon. Popular series can run for decades and hundreds of chapters. Many manga are later adapted into anime, films and video games.
Manga is divided into categories by target audience. Shōnen manga, like One Piece and Naruto, is aimed at teenage boys and often focuses on action and friendship. Shōjo manga, aimed at girls, often focuses on relationships. Seinen and josei target adult men and women. Many people enjoy all kinds, regardless of these labels.
Huge sales
One Piece by Eiichiro Oda is the best-selling manga series of all time, with more than 500 million copies in circulation worldwide. Manga is now hugely popular outside Japan, and digital platforms release chapters in many languages at the same time as in Japan.
Did You Know?
Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy, is often called the god of manga for his huge influence on the art form's style and storytelling.