Reading Japanese is essential for any learner who wants to improve, and one of the best resources for reading Japanese is manga. Manga trains you to comprehend Japanese dialogue while making studying more fun.
From comedy to sports, there’s bound to be a manga series that you’ll enjoy. In this article, you’ll find manga series that I’ve read and personally recommend.
Can Manga Help You Learn Japanese?
Manga provides several benefits for Japanese learners. For instance, reading manga helps Japanese students build up their kanji knowledge.
Most manga have furigana embedded in the text, making it easier to read the kanji. Furigana is the hiragana reading of kanji, and it’s placed next to kanji characters so that readers don’t have to pull out a kanji dictionary to read them.
As you read, you’ll tend to encounter the same kanji over and over. Soon, you’ll find that for common words, you can read the kanji without looking at the furigana, even before you’ve formally learned the kanji.
Also, the text in manga tends to be short and easy to digest. Because most of the text in manga is dialogue, the sentences tend to be on the shorter side. Japanese learners who are still developing their vocabulary and kanji knowledge benefit from this, as they don’t have to read long paragraphs that might overwhelm them with unfamiliar words and difficult grammar.
In addition, manga usually contains a lot of onomatopoeia (mimetic words), which is a significant part of the Japanese language. Japanese people use onomatopoeia a lot in daily conversation, so manga can help learners improve their conversational speech.
Best Manga For Japanese Learners
Doraemon
Doraemon is a cat robot who helps a boy by the name of Nobita overcome life’s challenges. Each chapter starts with Nobita encountering a problem and begging Doraemon to help him solve it.
Doraemon has a special pocket full of tools, which he gives to Nobita whenever Nobita asks for help. From a time-traveling machine to a door that can take Nobita wherever he wants, Doraemon has tools that can solve whatever life throws at Nobita.
Each chapter delivers the moral message that people shouldn’t cheat their way through life. The tools Doraemon gives initially make life more convenient for Nobita, but in the end, the tools cause more problems. Nobita learns that he has to deal with adversity on his own.
Doraemon is a classic that, without exaggeration, nearly every Japanese person alive has read, so in addition to being fun to read, it’s also a great way to tap into a part of Japanese consciousness that nearly everyone shares.
Neko Ramen
Neko Ramen is a manga that you’ll definitely get a laugh out of. Neko Ramen mostly consists of comic strips while occasionally featuring special short stories.
The story is about a cat, Taishou, who serves ramen to his only customer, Tanaka-san, a 25 year old businessman. The juxtaposition between Taisho’s ridiculousness and Tanaka-san’s normal demeanor makes this manga super funny.
The comic strips usually follow a pattern of Taisho doing something out of the ordinary and Tanaka-san’s reaction to Taisho. However, other characters eventually come along and compound the chaos.
The Neko Ramen books include a few short stories that explain more of Taisho’s background. While the comic strips are comedic, the short stories pull at the reader’s heartstrings. To be honest, they made me almost cry a couple of times.
Yotsuba To!
Yotsuba To! takes the reader into the mind of a five-year-old kid learning about the world. Yotsuba-chan, the main character, often fixates on something either her parents or someone else tells her and turns it into one of her core principles to live by, leading to accidents and awkward situations.
Also, since Yotsuba-chan is only five years old, activities as simple as riding a swing in the playground are completely new to her, so readers enjoy seeing her reaction and emotions during these scenes.
The Japanese used in this story is relatively easier compared to the other manga listed in this article, which makes it a great choice for those who are at earlier stages of their journey, or who are simply looking for something fun and easy to read.
Spy x Family
Spy x Family is about a spy, Loid Forger, who is assigned a mission that he can complete only if he quickly assembles a family. Loid unwittingly picks an assassin to be his wife and adopts a child who has telepathic powers.
Loid’s mission is to come in contact with Donovan Desmond, a prominent political leader. Loid aims to achieve his mission by enrolling his adopted child into the same school as Donovon’s son.
All three family members manage to keep their identities hidden, though there are moments when they almost reveal who they truly are.
Spy x Family contains more difficult vocabulary and kanji, so it’s better for advanced Japanese learners.
最後は？ストレート！！
最後は？ストレート！！ is a baseball manga about Takatsu-kun, a middle school boy, who becomes a baseball prodigy.
Takatsu-kun goes to a school where the prodigies wear white uniforms while everyone else wears black uniforms. Takatsu-kun was deemed a prodigy at a young age, so he wears a white uniform. However, Takatsu-kun doesn’t discover his talent as quickly as the other prodigies, and this destroys his confidence.
Takatsu-kun believes he has no talent for anything until he meets Taiga, the best player on his school’s baseball team. Taiga encourages Takatsu-kun to join the baseball team, and during Takatsu-kun’s first practice, it becomes apparent that Takatsu-kun has a knack for baseball.
Slam Dunk
Slam Dunk is one of the most popular manga series in Japan. The story follows Sakuragi Hanamichi, a basketball novice who eventually becomes a superstar on the Shohoku High School basketball team.
Sakuragi had never played basketball before high school, as he was preoccupied with being part of a gang and fighting other gangs. However, one day, he meets Haruko Akagi, the younger sister of the basketball team captain, and falls in love. To impress Haruko, Sakuragi pretends he loves basketball and decides to join the team.
However, it takes Sakuragi a while to get used to basketball and working with his teammates. Humorous moments arise from his arrogance, lack of self-awareness, and beef with the captain.
“The First Slam Dunk” movie came out in 2022, and I was fortunate enough to watch it in the theater in Japan. I highly recommend watching it once you’re done with the manga.
Conclusion
From vocabulary to sentence structure to cultural understanding, reading improves many facets of your Japanese. That’s why the importance of reading regularly cannot be stressed enough.
Manga not only serves as excellent Japanese reading practice but also keeps you motivated because it’s fun. Learning a language is hard, but it doesn’t have to be grueling. Making studying fun will help you maintain a consistent study schedule, so definitely give manga a try if you haven’t done so yet!