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“So, what’s in a manga anyway 🤔? What components are there, how are they laid out, and how can I talk about them? Are there any unique parts that are not found in other comics?”
This page is my attempt to investigate these questions.
(For a manga about creating manga, go read ‘Bakuman’ by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata! For a fantastic and educational non-fiction, check out the incredible ‘How to Draw Manga’ series by Hikaru Hayashi and other authors)
The anatomy of a book may not be as intricate or as rigidly-defined as that of the human body, but it’s still worth examining, and manga showcases some really cool features that are unique to the format.
A tankoubon (単行本**)** is defined on Jisho.org as either a “standalone book (i.e. not part of an anthology, series, etc.)”, a (book published as a) single volume”, or an “individual volume of a manga series” (the staff of the Los Angeles Public Library define tankoubon as having a particular set of physical measurements, which is also true, but let’s keep things simple for now)
In other words, a tankoubon is a single printed and bound book/codex/volume of the same title of manga, containing several chapters of that title, and differs from a magazine serialisation or anthology where chapters from several different titles are compiled into a single bound volume.
To illustrate the features of a tankoubon, I’ll be sharing pictures of some the manga titles that I own, namely ‘Naruto’ by Masashi Kishimoto since it is one of the most recognisable and popular titles in the world. Volumes from other titles may be included too as comparisons. Basically, this page is an educational excuse for me to to show-and-tell my manga haha 🤭.
Volume 1 of the tankoubon edition of Naruto, which contains chapters 1 through to 7 [Naruto, v1, by Masashi Kishimoto, published by Viz]
An issue of Shonen Jump Magazine, which contains chapters from several different titles (Naruto, Hikaru no Go, Shaman King, One Piece, DBZ, Yu Yu Hakusho, Yu-Gi-Oh) and some other promo material [Shonen Jump, issue #14]
Although they are read from right-to-left ←←, tankoubon are organised in a similar manner to a regular book, which can be divided into external features (covers), a front matter, a body section, and a back matter (check out Sabrina Cruz’s amazing short video about these sections of a book!!)
Starting with the external features: the front cover, spine, and back cover encapsulate and protect the bound pages while also being decorated with graphics that represent the contents of the volume.
The front cover of a tankoubon typically features the following:
One exception to this is Blood+, where each volume contained its blurb on its front cover rather than the back cover. (I’LL LOOK FOR A PHOTO AND COME BACK TO THIS)
The spine includes the title, volume number, and publisher which serve to distinguish the volume from others. After all, when a book is shelved, the spine is usually the only visible feature.
The back cover usually contains the blurb/synopsis of the story contained within a particular volume. Other identifying details are included too, such as the ISBN and barcode, along with the retail price(s) and the age rating (see my page on Manga Age Ratings for more detail).
Going to the internal contents of the book, the front matter includes info about the particular volume itself such as its title page & table of contents (see previous), and a colophon/title verso containing the publication details (see below left). A foreword about the author or the work may be provided too (below right). Can’t escape those advertisements haha. [Naruto v1, by Masashi Kishimoto, published by Viz]
The body section contains the main material of the book, which in a manga means pages adorned with sequential images and dialogue (and sometimes narration) in comic-style paneling, as opposed to being filled solely with text. Unfortunately, not every page of a manga receives a printed page number, which makes finding a particular page or panel fairly difficult. The linear narrative means that incomplete pagination is usually not an issue, but it becomes difficult for artists or illustrators who are looking for reference material.
The manga/graphic novel format means that some unique printing characteristics are also found in the body section, such as gutters (or guttered pages) and two page spreads.
Gutter: A narrow space that separates panels. Gutters act to divide a single page into multiple smaller illustrations that are perused sequentially, like the still frames of a film. Gutters can sometimes contain translation notes, prompts (e.g., “read this way”), bilingual text, or page numbers. The majority of pages have gutters.
Two-page spreads: This is when a single, huge illustration occupies two whole pages (spread from one edge edge, across the spine, and to the other edge) and is uninterrupted by gutters, which makes a stunning visual impact. Two-page spreads are less common than guttered pages.
The center gutter area in the middle of the pages, near the binding, is often visible from the top and bottom edges of a volume.
^Circled in green is the blank region (no ink so it appears white or blank) where the center/spine gutter is located.
^A closer photo where the inked panels are visible and juxtaposed against the inkless center gutter
A neat feature present in the body section of manga is that the interval between one the end of chapter and the beginning of another may be occupied by bonus illustrations or remarks from the mangaka (漫画家). I haven’t really seen this feature in other formats such as novels/adult fiction or western graphic novels. The right-hand side pages in the 3 below pictures show really cool behind-the-scenes comments from Masashi Kishimoto, the mangaka of Naruto.