Understand Japanese Through Manga

See How Examples Work

Every example pairs a manga panel with its dialogue and an explanation of the Japanese used in the scene. Here is the newest one:

Mikochi wants to sell a jam-and-bread set at the festival, and she and Hakumei have cooked a big pot of raspberry jam through the night. Mikochi had Hakumei fetch a small pot for a test batch, added a splash of rum, then chopped basil leaves fine and put them into the jam.

ミコチ:

「軽(かる)く火(ひ)を通(とお)して完成(かんせい)」

“Heat it through lightly, and it's done.”

「パンの試作(しさく)出来(でき)てる？」

“Is the test bread ready?”

ハクメイ:

「出来(でき)てる！」

“It's ready!”

View Full Example

Choose Your Next Step

• Get ready for native manga
  Check your kana, grammar, vocabulary, and kanji preparation.
• Choose a beginner-friendly series
  Compare furigana, word density, vocabulary counts, and story settings.
• Learn a practical reading process
  Start with the site’s guide to building Japanese reading ability.

Study Japanese in Context

• Japanese grammar through manga
  158 explanations of particles, conjugations, conditionals, sentence endings, and other patterns in context.
• Japanese vocabulary through manga
  32 explanations of word meanings, forms of address, casual usage, and common expressions.
• Kanji through manga vocabulary
  102 kanji with character meanings and words, grouped by school grade, estimated JLPT level, or WaniKani level.
• Japanese idioms and expressions
  26 phrases whose full meaning may not follow from their individual words.
• Examples by manga series
  Find material from a series you own or plan to read.