How To Read a Manga Book

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How to Read a Manga Book Say you’re at a bookstore. Walking down the aisles, you see something called ‘manga’. Now, knowing how you might possibly be curious, I’ll give you instructions on how to read this newfound type of book. Before I start with any type of instruction, I’ll just inform you that this book is the Japanese equivalent of a comic book, with the exception of being read backward. It has many aspects of an American comic. Do you enjoy Spiderman, batman, or Catwoman? If so, you should appreciate the many genres manga has to offer. Once you find the manga in the store, you then have the option to choose shoujo or shounen. The first, shoujo, is mainly girls reading or something that would appeal to both genders, while the second, shounen, tends to be more for guys interests, or those who like violence. Shoujo tends to have more of the romance and comedy aspects to them, and are very good for beginners. Many of the shounen however are very violent, featuring martial arts, and often even partial nudity. I personally suggest the shoujo, as it’s easier to read. The first thing you notice when you pick up the book is that it opens the opposite way than a normal book. If it doesn’t, the manga you’re holding is an Americanized manga, and basically just a comic book. If this happens, you should put that one down and find a traditional style manga; the title will possibly sound foreign. Once you open it to the first page, you start in the upper right hand corner. The speech bubbles always go from top to bottom in shoujo. As the book goes, you’ll need to go to the left panel, repeat with the bubbles, top, then bottom. As you finish with the top half, you go to the lower right panel. If there happens to be two panels, you read the upper lower right panel, and then the panel below it. Finishing up those panels, you move on to the final lower left panel. Now
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