---
title: 'Start Reading Manga'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=IK4OX8eXRD4'
video_id: 'IK4OX8eXRD4'
date: 2026-06-15
duration_sec: 0
---

# Start Reading Manga

> Source: [Start Reading Manga](https://youtube.com/watch?v=IK4OX8eXRD4)

## Summary

The video offers five tips for beginners to start reading manga, based on the speaker's personal experience as an avid book reader who recently fell in love with manga. The tips cover exploring diverse genres, reading digitally to save money, understanding the medium's unique format, choosing series with faithful anime adaptations, and engaging with the community.

### Key Points

- **Explore What's Out There** [0:48] — Beyond big names like One Piece, Naruto, and Attack on Titan, manga offers vast variety. Examples: Spy Family (light-hearted), Vinland Saga (complex violence), Junji Ito (horror), Death Note (dark), A Silent Voice (trauma), and niche topics like cooking or sports.
- **Read Digitally** [2:40] — Digital reading reduces cost and commitment. Apps like Shonen Jump ($2/month) or Bookwalker offer discounted volumes. A dedicated device (e.g., tablet) enhances artwork appreciation and avoids zooming on phones.
- **Understand the Medium** [4:43] — Manga reads right-to-left and back-to-front. Newcomers should learn panel flow to focus on the story. The speaker links a tutorial video for clarity.
- **Pick Series with Loyal Adaptations** [5:59] — Examples: Fullmetal Alchemist, Vinland Saga, Fruits Basket. Reading alongside the anime helps catch nuances and eases the transition to a new storytelling format.
- **Get Involved with the Community** [7:35] — Use Goodreads, MyAnimeList, forums, and YouTube communities. Engaging with fans enhances enjoyment, provides recommendations, and clarifies misunderstandings.

### Conclusion

The speaker encourages beginners to explore manga's diversity, use digital platforms to reduce cost, and leverage communities and anime adaptations to ease into the medium.

## Transcript

so my last video I talked about five
tips to getting into reading novels and
in this video we're going to be talking
about five tips to help you hopefully
get into reading manga for me personally
I've been reading books my entire life
and have always been a very very Avid
Reader but only within the last couple
of years have I fallen in love with the
medium of manga as well and now I'm an
active reader of both this is all still
relatively new to me and I still have a
lot to learn but I've also been getting
a lot of comments of people who have
been following me for a while because of
books and because I'm now getting into
manga they are trying to get into manga
as well so thought it might be helpful
to make a video if you are trying to dip
your toes into the genre hopefully these
are a couple of things that might help
you get there a little bit easier first
and foremost is to explore what's out
there the primary biggest names in manga
stuff like one piece Naruto Dragon Ball
Attack on Titan Hunter I you know the
big names that you probably hear a lot
there's so much variety out there so if
one of those big names doesn't appeal to
you maybe look a little bit farther
because manga has a vast variety of
options interested in something that's
light-hearted fun Slice of Life but
still very active and keeps the plot
moving at a great Pace try spy family it
has been such a surprise and I
absolutely adore it big fan of series
and authors like Joe Abercrombie Malazan
Song of Ice and Fire stuff that really
delves into the complexity of violence
and War and human emotion uh try Finland
Saga or berserk you love absurdist
fiction like Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy or the Discworld series
maybe try my favorite one piece or maybe
you love horror and you want to explore
a visual component alongside your
reading check out junji Ito all of his
stories are self-contained and good or
if you want something a little bit
darker but not quite that dark Death
Note is a really fun series or maybe if
you're into literary fiction and romance
and exploring trauma and really heavy
topics you have stuff like a silent
voice and fruits basket even if you're
into cooking and sports and rock
climbing you name it there are series
that are dedicated to these things I
mean it gets real Niche a lot of manga
series are really big and really long
and the size of the series might be
intimidating but there are so many
series that are very short that run only
12 or 24 volumes and getting through a
volume is very fast a lot a lot faster
than reading a traditional novel my next
tip is to read digitally I promise you I
understand the compulsion to get get
everything that you want to read
physically and read it with your hands I
love that if that's something that
you're into too I
hard relate but once I bought this which
you can use your computer that you
already own you can use devices that you
already own but once I got a device that
I was dedicated to reading manga oh my
goodness Game Changer why one having a
big screen to be able to read on is
great because then you really get to
appreciate the artwork and you don't
have to like if you're reading on your
phone always zooming in on stuff it
ain't good but two of the cost because
you get through a volume of manga so
fast buying physically everything that
you read it adds up so fast and that
cost can be a huge deterrent plus I
strongly believe in allowing yourself to
quit series you don't like because there
are so many different types of stories
out there and because in the beginning
you'll probably be experimenting a lot
on figuring out what kind of stories you
want to read in this medium you have to
be allowed to quit on stuff that's not
working and if you're physically buying
everything oh it just feels like a waste
of money
when a series doesn't work out for you
and you don't finish it and then you
look at that stack of manga that you
spent a hundred dollars on
it's just reading digitally is great so
there's apps like Shonen jump or
bookwalker that allow you to have a two
dollar monthly subscription or to
purchase the volume at a heavily
discounted price digitally and it makes
it a lot less of a extreme commitment to
start a series and if you're reading a
long form series like one piece just
having a two dollar a month subscription
to Shonen jump and being able to read
the entire series that way oh it's
amazing my next tip is if you're a
complete and total newbie to this take
some time to understand the medium more
than likely you have read some sort of
comic in your life or at the very least
Calvin and Hobbs or even if you haven't
done that why
why even if you haven't done that you've
probably read the Sunday Funnies or
something like that something so you
probably understand the way this format
works
you're just reading it you know from
right to left instead of left to right
now and from Back to Front instead of
front to back so there's a little bit of
adjustment that needs happening there as
far as which direction you read in but
you've probably experienced comics in
some form or another in your lifetime
but if you're a total noob if you
haven't experienced comments heart
Comics hardly at all and the idea of
changing the direction that you read in
is very intimidating to you I'm gonna
link a video I found where somebody
breaks it down very clearly and very
easy to understand which panels to read
first how to move across the page how to
understand the paneling if you're
completely intimidated taking the time
to understand the formatting so that you
can just focus on enjoying the story and
being engaged is a great plan next tip
is to pick something that's praised for
having a really loyal adaptation a
couple examples are Full Metal Alchemist
Vinland Saga free Fruits Basket you
could probably find a good list just
through Google the reason I recommend
this is because I think that it's
totally understandable to be intimidated
by experiencing an entire new medium
that requires a new reading style for
your brain when I first started reading
one piece there were things that I was
missing and misunderstanding because it
was a completely new experience for me
as a reader and it just took me time to
really click with it I still loved the
story but it is a challenge for your
brain to reformat the way you read and
experience stories not to mention the
fact that manga do they do use a
different storytelling method and a
different story structure a lot of times
so if you're just totally unfamiliar
with the medium I totally understand
being intimidated and afraid that you're
gonna miss stuff so being able to read
volumes and then watch the series side
by side is really helpful because you're
experiencing the story twice one way
that you experience Transit through the
adaptation is probably more familiar to
you even if you're not accustomed to
anime you understand how shows and
movies work and I found that a lot of
times anime are a lot more on the nose
than manga are they'll either add extra
scenes to further explore something or
just kind of outright say something
that's more hinted at in the manga so if
you're afraid of missing something that
could be a big asset experiencing the
anime along with the manga will
definitely help with the final tip in
the video and the final tip in this
video is going to be the same as the
final tip in the getting into books
video which is to get involved with the
community if you're a fan of Goodreads
Goodreads has manga on their listings
there's also my anime list which is
basically the same thing as Goodreads as
far as I can understand it but there's
also online communities and forums and a
lot of YouTubers that focus on Manga and
Anime as well and you can find
communities through them getting
involved with a community of people that
are excited to see you experience it's
their favorite story for the first time
people who will be there to answer
questions clarify things that you
misunderstood help you when you when you
don't when you need help on
understanding something or on what to
read next people that are excited to see
someone new fall in love with their
story bringing in the community aspect
to reading is so so beneficial for me
it's a great way to make friends it's a
great way to make it more social but
it's also a great way to make the story
feel a lot more personal to you because
it's become a personal thing a personal
connection between you and other people
like I said in the previous video social
media is just a part of our Lives now
it's just it's something that we
actively participate in Daily so making
books a part of our social sphere a part
of our way of engaging with people
across the world it just makes it more
it exciting and more realistic to make a
part of your daily life there are so
many phenomenal manga fans that want to
hang out with you and want to share
their stories with you I've had a
phenomenal experience being a complete
newbie stepping into an environment that
people grew up in and that are essential
part of who they are me stepping in
knowing nothing and wanting to engage
I've been so welcomed and you will find
people that don't want to welcome you
but you will also find so so many people
that are just so excited to share
something they love so those are a
couple of my tips as a newbie to manga
that will hopefully help you get into
manga as well maybe one or two of these
will be a good launching point for you
if you have some tips of your own to get
more immersed into the genre or if you
have some further recommendations that I
didn't mention in this video please feel
free to leave them in the comments I
post videos every Monday Wednesday and
Friday on this channel Tuesdays and
Thursdays on the second Channel which is
linked in the description of this video
I'll see you again soon bye
[Music]
[Music]
foreign
[Music]