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“Isekai? Seinen? Yon-koma? Shoujo? Are you saying that I need to become fluent in Japanese just to know what kind of genre of manga I’m reading!? ¯\(•_•)_/¯”

Haha no way, there’s no need to learn a whole new language. Please don’t panic.

That being said, being able to memorise a few dozen or so key terms, which happen to come from Japanese, would go a long way into helping you make informed choices about what titles to read and what kind of stories or content to expect in different genres and age demographics. Once you pick up these terms (some of which are English such as slice-of-life), it becomes much easier to search online and on different book review websites such as Goodreads or Anime-planet for similar titles that might cater to your interests.

In the table below (please scroll down), I attempt to explain some common terms that are used to describe or discuss components and components of manga. These terms and tags are often used to navigate websites that index and display manga. For the sake of brevity, I’ll try to focus on terms exclusive to manga which are usually derive from Japanese words (e.g., ‘Isekai’ is included since, but ‘Fantasy’ is not). Many of these terms may be explained in greater depth on websites such as wikipedia, TVTropes, Animeplanet, Goodreads, or publishers’ websites.

‘Format’ refers to the publisher’s designation/category of a work

• ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’, for instance, would be a Monograph, Trade Paperback (or Hardcover), or simply a Book.
• ‘Naruto’ would be a manga by itself or if published in a manga magazine anthology, or Tankoubon if published outside of an anthology
• ‘Valkyria Chronicles Design Archive’ would be an Artbook
• ‘Shounen Jump’ would be a Magazine or Anthology

‘Demographic’ means the target audience and their usual characteristics (age, gender, interests, etc.)

‘Genre’ is self-explanatory. Many websites and online manga readers organise titles by genre to help readers find works on topics and ideas they are interested in.

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone may be considered as part of the ‘Fantasy’, ‘Magical’, and possibly ‘Occult’ genres too
• Naruto would be ‘Fantasy’ too if termed according to regular western terminology, otherwise ‘Ninja/Samurai’ would apply
• ‘Isekai’ and ‘Iyashikei’ are examples of genres distinct to manga. ‘Slice of life’ is a common one too.
• Some examples of genres in manga are ‘Work life’, ‘Tragedy’, ‘Psychological’, ‘Historical’, ‘Adventure’, ‘School Life’, ‘Horror’, etc.

‘Content’ refers to something that occurs or appears in the narrative. Websites like Animeplanet are fantastic for finding titles by their content tags, which can help readers find works that explore very specific ideas.

• Witchcraft, Magic, Spells, Potions, etc. would all be examples of content in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
• Ninja, Shinto Mythology and Iconography, Buddhist Mythology and Iconography, etc. would be some examples of content in Naruto
• Some

‘Layout’ is a feature of the composition, panelling, and/or presentation of the work

Check out Book Riot’s Guide To Manga or Manga Librarian’s page for more fleshed-out definitions and example titles!

Manga terms and definitions

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