Let's Get Meta: Manga About Manga!
Greetings readers! Are you ready for another manga reading recommendation list? We’ve covered action manga, romance manga, silly manga—the lists go on and on! Now we’re bringing you our latest collection:
Manga...about manga!
That’s right! Here we’ve gathered titles that feature either the effort that goes into creating manga, selling manga, or just being obsessed with manga. In short, if it’s about manga, then it’s here. So for all you manga fiends out there, enjoy these sneak peeks into the backstage chaos behind making manga magic!
Note: The manga listed here are intended for teens and adults. If you are looking for manga that is appropriate for younger readers, check out Manga for Middle Schoolers: Guide and Recommendations.
Bakuman story by Tsugumi Ohba; art by Takeshi Obata; translation and adaptation by Tetsuichiro Miyaki
Average student Moritaka Mashiro enjoys drawing for fun. When his classmate and aspiring writer Akito Takagi discovers his talent, he begs Moritaka to team up with him as a manga-creating duo. But what exactly does it take to make it in the manga-publishing world? Moritaka is hesitant to seriously consider Akito's proposal because he knows how difficult reaching the professional level can be. Still, encouragement from persistent Akito and motivation from his crush push Moritaka to test his limits!
BL Metamorphosis story and art by Kaori Tsurutani
Ichinoi, a 75-year-old woman living a peaceful life, unwittingly buys a Boy’s Love manga one day…and is fascinated by what she finds inside. When she returns to the bookstore to buy the next volume, the high school girl working there–Urara, a seasoned BL fan–notices a budding fangirl when she sees one. When Urara offers to help Ichinoi explore this whole new world of fiction, the two dive into BL fandom together, and form an unlikely friendship along the way.
Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist's Journey story and art by Akiko Higashimura; translation by Jenny McKeon; adaptation by Ysabet MacFarlane; lettering and layout by Lys Blakeslee
High schooler Akiko has big plans to become a popular mangaka before she even graduates, but she needs to get much better at drawing if she ever wants to reach her goal. Looking for an easy fix, she signs up for an art class, thinking all her problems will soon be solved. She's in for a surprise: her new instructor is a sword-wielding taskmaster who doesn't care about manga one bit. But maybe this unconventional art teacher is just what she needs to realize her dreams!
A Drifting Life by Yoshihiro Tatsumi; edited, designed, and lettered by Adrian Tomine; translated by Taro Nettleton
Spanning fifteen years from August of 1945 to June of 1960, Tatsumi's stand-in protagonist, Hiroshi, faces his father's financial burdens and his parents' failing marriage, his jealous brother's deteriorating health, and the innumerable pitfalls that await him in the competitive manga market of mid-twentieth-century Japan. He dreams of following in the considerable footsteps of his idol, manga artist Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy, Apollo's Song, Ode to Kirihito, Buddha)—with whom Tatsumi eventually became peers and, at times, stylistic rivals.
Manga Dogs by Ema Toyama; translation by William Flanagan; lettering by Jennifer Skarupa; editing by Ben Applegate
Kanna Tezuka is a serious 15-year-old manga artist, already being published as a pro. So when she finds out her high school is starting a manga drawing course, even she gets excited. But it's a fiasco! The teacher is useless, and the only other students-- three pretty-boy artist wannabes-- quickly adopt Kanna as their (unwilling) sensei. But they all have ridiculous delusions about being an artist, and if Kanna can't bring them back down to Earth, she'll never get any work done!
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun by Izumi Tsubaki; translation, Leighann Harvey; lettering, Lys Blakeslee
To the eyes of classmate Chiyo Sakura, high school student Umetarou Nozaki—brawny of build and brusque of tongue—is a dreamboat! When Chiyo finally works up the courage to tell Nozaki how she feels about him, she knows rejection is on the table ... but getting recruited as a mangaka's assistant?! Never in a million years! As Chiyo quickly discovers, Nozaki-kun, the boy of Chiyo's dreams, is a manga artist ... a hugely popular shoujo manga artist, that is! But for someone who makes a living drawing sweet girly romances, Nozaki-kun is a little slow on the uptake when it comes to matters of the heart in reality. And so Chiyo's daily life of manga making and heartache begins!
Satoshi Kon's Opus story and art by Satoshi Kon; edited by Carl Gustav Horn; translated by Zack Davisson; lettering and retouch by IHL
Opus is Kon's metafictional tale of Chikara Nagai, a creator under pressure to finish his latest graphic novel, Resonance, who finds that the harshest critic of the shock ending he's got planned is the character who'll have to die in it! Nagai's stregths and weaknesses as a creator are tested beyond their limits as his present and his past, and the worlds of the manga and of reality, become the levels of a maze he may never escape... let alone get a chance to resolve the story!
Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-san by Honda; translation by Amanda Haley; lettering by Bianca Pistillo
Ever wonder what it's like to sell comics at a Japanese bookstore? Honda provides a hilarious firsthand account from the front lines! Whether it's handling the store, out-of-print books, or enthusiastic manga fans, Honda takes on every challenge!
Still Sick by Akashi; translated by Katie Kimura; retouching and lettering by Vibrraant Publishing Studio.
Makoto Shimzu is just and ordinary office worker, blending in seamlessly with her colleagues on the job—that is, until her coworker Akane Maekawa discovers her well-hidden secret; in her spare time, she draws and sells girls' love comics. Akane is the last person Makoto would think of as a nerd, but as the two draw closer, it starts to seem like Akane may have a secret of her own…
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