The Unique Organization of Japanese Manga
In Barnes & Nobles and other well-known English bookstores, one can find the book he or she is looking for easily, simply by just looking for a title, or asking an employee for help. Usually English books are organized alphabetically by author; however, Japanese books are categorized alphabetically by publisher. Although many people know manga in its volume book form, the truth is, manga is originally published chapter by chapter in weekly or monthly magazines. The most popular manga are then condensed into a volume that states the magazine name that the book came from on the top, and the publisher’s name on the bottom of the binding. However, if you wanted to preview the book before you bought it, think again—illegal scanning and pictures of barcodes that lend to competition, Amazon, and encourage free downloads of electronic manga have become a huge issue. Therefore, most of the manga is shrink wrapped, allowing you to view the synopsis. In this case, judging a book by it’s cover is key.
Kinokuniya has many manga genre divisions as well, usually based on which magazines each manga came from. The most prominent categories include:
- 少女コミック (Shoujo [Women’s] Comics)— These types of manga are meant to attract a female audience, and apparently, they do not discriminate based on region, as the genre boasts of a global following. The stories are generally cliche romances, or ‘slice-of-life’ high school comedies including names such as アオハライド (Blue Spring Ride), 君に届け (Reaching Towards You), 好きっていいなよ (Say ‘I Love You’). The former two were published in the popular Shoujo monthly magazine Bessatsu Margaret while the latter was published in another Shoujo monthly magazine, Dessert. The appeal of this genre can be likened to the fact that the storylines converge with something out of a Nicholas Sparks novel set in a Japanese lifestyle. A teenage, many times shy, high school girl, meets either a popular and kind boy who develops an attraction towards her, or a group of friends in which she starts a relationship with the male protagonist of that group usually occurs in these comics. Although older books of this genre did not promote the most feminist tropes, newer manga of the genre strive to create a balance between pro-active female protagonists while maintaining the romance portion, in order to accommodate for the new feminist values of the widening and teenage population. k
- 少年・ジャンプコミック (Shounen [Men’s]/ Jump/ Action Comics)— Rather unfairly, the Shounen portion of manga seems to account for everything that is not Shoujo—that is inclusive of the action, mystery, sports, and thriller genres. Although the meaning of Shounen itself is ‘boys/men’, the genre is read by both genders and includes some of the most globally famous names,ナルト (Naruto) , デズノート (Death Note), sports manga 黒子のバスケ (Kuroko’s Basket), and newer titles such as ノラガミ (Noragami) and 終わりのセラフ (The Seraph’s End). Perhaps the reasoning behind the somewhat sexist name of the genre is the magazine under which most of these manga are published, Weekly Shounen Jump. International favorites Naruto, Death Note, and even sports manga such as Kuroko’s Basket were published in this magazine while spotlight newcomers were published in the sister magazines—Noragami in Monthly Shounen Jump and Seraph’s End in SQ Jump. k
- ライトノベル (Writer’s Novels)— Manga was originally meant for younger children to learn how to read, since Hiragana (the ‘pronounciation’ alphabet of Japanese) is usually written besides the Kanji (the Japanese alphabet based on Chinese characters), which could have multiple meanings depending on the context. However, as the growth of Manga extended past a youthful age, writers began to create novels out of the comics, leaving pictures behind in favor of chapters. Especially popular manga such as ソードアート・オンライン (Sword Art Online) has been further condensed into novels that can be read by older populations. k
- アートの本 (Art Books)— Creators of famous manga are generally revered artists. Their art is highly demanded and as a result many authors such as Masashi Kishimoto (author of Naruto), Jun Mochizuki (author of Pandora Hearts) and Yana Toboso (author of Black Butler) have created multiple art books. As a result of increasing interest, Digital Art ‘How-to’ books have arisen in the art book section. More young people have gained an interest in anime-style art so this section has grown over the years. Even America’s Marvel has a space in the art section. Art books of superheroes like Superwoman can be found in this section as well.
Although Kinokuniya has a large supply of Japanese language manga, if you don’t speak or can’t read Japanese, fear not! An entire half of the floor is dedicated to English-translated manga that follows the normal convention of English bookstores, so manga is much easier to find for English speakers (and readers). The English section incorporates Marvel superheroes as well to accommodate and attract the growing non-Japanese population arriving at Kinokuniya.
