Individuals wielding supernatural powers are the “Kings”, who can choose people for their own clans. Yashiro Isana is a seemingly ordinary boy, but now he is accused of the homicide of a Red Clansman, and the Red King Suou Mikoto is looking for him with all his determination. Yashiro, though, is totally unaware that a video depicting him murder another man has now gone viral. When Kuroh Yatogami saves Yashiro from the Red Clansmen, he finally understands that he needs to prove his innocence if he wants to save his life. In the meanwhile, something bigger is going on in the city... Although by these premises Planet With and K may seem totally different, they actually share a main concept. In both these shows, there's a boy living a peaceful life, who finds himself involved in something bigger than him, not even wholly understanding the reason why. Not only that, both Souya and Yashiro have no memories about their own past, and struggle to uncover the truth, while supported by two important friends/guides. Both these shows are packed with action, so if you are enjoying Planet With, you'll enjoy K all the same!

Atsushi Nakajima is an orphan who spent his entire life in an orphanage, and then was brutally kicked out. The reason lies in the strange events involving a mystical tiger, and Atsushi is the first suspect. Alone, while starving on a riverbank, Atsushi happens to save Osamu Dazai from drowning. Dazai is a supernatural detective, and their meeting marks Atsushi's life change: he joins the Special Detective Company and his brand-new life begins! Planet With and Bungou Stray Dogs are both action-packed seinen shows, where a young boy's life drastically changes in just one day. Both Souya and Atsushi have to discover something related to their past, in order to understand their present. If you wish to watch something similar to Planet With, but without the mecha and Sci-Fi traits, give Bungou Stray Dogs a shot!

Gunslinger Stratos is set in the year 2115 A.D., and what once was Japan is now called 17th Far East Imperial City Management District. The promise of a peaceful life, though, is destroyed by “degradation”, which is a disease turning people's bodies to ashes. Tohru Kazasumi is our protagonist, who ends up in a fight between his world and a parallel world, resulting in him having to face his other self from this other world. How will things end up for both of their worlds? Planet With and Gunslinger Stratos share the same genre, as they both are action anime, with Sci-Fi elements. In both of these shows, there's a boy whose life takes a turn for the worse in just one day, and he finds himself having to fight, when mankind is threatened. Even lacking the mecha trait, Gunslinger Stratos is somewhat a more dramatic version of Planet With. Give it a try, if you're loving Planet With!

One of the members of the Boy Detectives' Club, created by Kogorou Akechi, is Kensuke Hanasaki. One day, this high school boy meets by chance Yoshio Kobayashi, a strange boy with an amnesia. Even though he wishes to die, Kobayashi is unable to. Then, Hanasaki offers him a deal: if Kobayashi joins the Club, helping them with his strange ability, Hanasaki will eventually help him die. That is how their friendship, rivalry, and partnership begins, while Twenty Faces – Akechi's enemy – is plotting something... With Trickster, we're once again dealing with a show involving teenagers. Both Planet With and Trickster are Sci-Fi shows, in which teenagers get involved in something bigger than them. Like Souya, Kobayashi has no memories about his past, and the new adventure with Hanasaki will help him regain them. If you want to watch something similar to Planet With, with more mysteries and drama, pick Trickster!

Hellsalem's Lot – previously known as New York – was destroyed when Beyond collided with the Earth. In Beyond, strange, supernatural creatures live, and years later, they finally manage to coexist with humans. Leonardo Watch is a kind boy who received the power called “The Eyes of God”. He moved to Hellsalem's Lot in order to find out the truth about his power, but when he joins the Libra association his life is literally turned upside down... Even with different plots, Planet With and Kekkai Sensen are action shows, revolving around the main concept of the research: both our protagonist are looking for something, while Souya is looking for the reasons why he has to fight the 7 heroes, Leonardo is looking for the reasons why he is gifted with “The Eyes of God”. Both our protagonists are backed up by strange creatures: Souya has a cat-like sensei, while Leonardo has a vampire. All in all, these two shows are equally enjoyable, so if you like the main themes of one, you're bound to enjoy the other all the same.

Teito Klein is an orphan, and a slave. He attends the elite Barsburg Academy, where he lives like a reject. If things could be worse, Teito has no memories of his past, and Mikage Celestine is his only friend: he managed to befriend Teito in spite his bad attitude. Teito's life is turned upside down when the truth about the Empire and the Seven Ghosts is unveiled: he has to run away from the academy, and while on the run he meets a priest – Frau – who helps him... but danger is still around the corner. Planet With and 07-Ghost revolve around two boys who have lost their memories, and consequently, they don't really know where to look for answers. Both Souya and Teito are thrown in a new adventure where they have to use their abilities in order to fight back against the enemy. While Souya fights with his robot, Teito fights with the Zaiphons – a supernatural force. And if Souya has to deal with 7 heroes, Teito has to deal with 7 priests – the so-called 07-Ghosts – who help him, though. If you like Planet With because of its fights, you'll find the same good actions in 07-Ghost! You can consider 07-Ghost like the more serious, and josei version of Planet With, without mecha.

In this classic tale of the squared circle, Tiger Mask faces the heels (a wrestling term for the bad guy) of the Tiger’s Den, the organization that trained him to become a wrestler, but when he takes off the mask, he’s just Naoto Date, who uses his money from wrestling to provide for the orphanage that raised him. A little after this anime ended its syndication, an actual Tiger Mask would debut in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Throughout these past 4 decades, 5 wrestlers would don the mask. Then at the start of this decade, some orphanages in Japan were actually received anonymous donations from a man named Naoto Date. While Tiger Mask did inspire a real wrestler, one instance of how it foretold the future is how Naoto’s story parallels that of WWE wrestler, John Cena. Like Tiger Mask, John Cena made his break out in wrestling as a bad guy. Eventually, he became a face, or a good guy. While many fans enjoy him as a bad guy, the reason why he is popular as a good guy is because he happens to be the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s number one contributor. While people may mock wrestling as a bizarre spectacle, no one can deny the charitable works its champions have contributed. It doesn’t matter if it’s in an anime with Tiger Mask, or real life as it is with John Cena.

In the feature film to the hit Cowboy Bebop series, they are after Vincent, their biggest score ever! What makes Vincent an unusual villain is how he parallels to modern day terrorism, mostly in context to ISIS. Beyond the bombings, Vincent uses modern technology to get people to join or at least support his cause, just like how ISIS does. Like many modern terrorists, he doesn’t mind sacrificing himself when the time calls but at the same time, he does find his help to be expandable. While many people can see what the possible motivations are behind these terror attacks, we can unanimously agree that killing innocents no matter what the cause, is totally wrong.

Dragon Ball Z is known for its jaw dropping fighting and explosive power ups! So in what ways did this groundbreaking hit predict the future? For starters, you need to remember the scouters! While you can get toy scouters at any toy retailer in Japan, but we’re talking about Google Glass! While the Glass isn’t as extravagant as the scouters in DBZ in terms of design, they still have their own unique benefits. In DBZ, not only could they measure power levels, they were used for navigation, and the actual Google Glass has navigational features. There were some studies showing its benefits for individuals of the autism spectrum. However, due to other numerous features such as recording video and taking pictures, they have been a high concern in regards to privacy. While the Glass is more than just a scouter, we can’t help but think the scouter may have played a part in its conception and design.

Personal computers in the world of Chobits have taken the forms of androids. There are some that are regular human size, and there are those that are the size of beanie babies. In essence, they are interactive and can respond to you verbally like a real human. Put aside the recent craze of sex androids and look at the big picture. In Japan, there are some shopping centers in Odaiba in Tokyo that use androids (in the form of cute anime girls) as guides at booths to help you find a restaurant or store. In a hotel in Fukushima, they use androids that take the form of dinosaurs to take care of your room reservations. While they remain stationary to where they work, at some point, they’re going to learn how to walk on their own feet like in Chobits. It may not be this year, but most certainly in no time whether they be released by Apple or Compaq.

Though the mecha genre existed prior to Gundam, Gundam expanded it in a manner of using it for warfare. Thanks to Gundam, it paved way for other warfare related mecha anime such as Votoms and Macross. While the idea of using giant robots may seem absurd and is not used in any nation’s armed forces, private tech companies in both the US and Japan have invested in using giant robots for a unique event back in 2017. Representing the US was the Iron Glory as it took on the Kuratas from Japan. While the Iron Glory lost the first round, America made a come back with another mech, the Eagle Prime. Thanks to Gundam, not only did it pave way for the mech genre, it paved way for engineers to make their own mechs for combat. Maybe with Donald Trump’s proposed Space Force, it could happen.

In this side story to the Macross saga, it foretells two unique future events. In this anime, the biggest hit in the Galaxy isn’t Lynn Minmay, but Sharon Apple. And who is Sharon Apple? She’s an AI hologram singer! Sound familiar? Well, this technology first came into popularity in reality when it was used to bring back hip hop icon, Tupac Shakur. And now, one of Japan’s biggest gaming idols is Hatsune Miku, who does live concerts as a hologram! Will hologram singers be the norm in the future? We can’t say for certain, but seeing a hologram David Bowie would be nice. And what else did this anime predict? A space force proclaimed by President Donald Trump!

[sourceLink asin="" asin_jp="B00005V1DA" cdj_product_id="" text="" url="" ]

As most of you already know, the 2020 Olympics is set to take place in Tokyo. So do you want to hear something really crazy? This movie, which takes place in 2019, actually has the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as a plot point! And if you refer to the air date, this movie made its premiere in 1988! Though the real life Tokyo portrayed in this movie is not as the dystopian Neo Tokyo, beyond the 2020 Olympics, numerous other themes of Akira still parallel with what is going on with modern Japanese society. One major plot point to point out is the country’s history of militarism due to World War II. While the military in Akira is reformed to a full-scale beyond beyond a defense force, there are those within the Japanese government, especially the present administration of Shinzo Abe, who want to reform the military as portrayed in Akira. Another issue that is still relevant is education, especially in context to underprivileged youth who have no parents, which has been recently highlighted in the Japanese media. While Japan is reputably one of the safest countries in the world, there are some communities that still have problems how to deal with juvenile delinquency that goes on to this very day.

[sourceLink asin="" asin_jp="" cdj_product_id="NEOBK-2046264" text="" url="" ]

Many can’t deny that Ghost in the Shell, even when its original manga debuted at the end of the 1980s, was certainly ahead of its time and for excellent reasons. It largely deals with identity in a world that is reliant on technology, most emphatically the Internet. By the end of the film, the Major is still herself, but also not herself now that her consciousness has changes to something different. While the movie excellently demonstrates some of the potential dangers with new technologies, the ending shows that they are also a new beginning. It offers an optimistic outlook that if people use what they have and not abuse them, then everything will be alright. The Major tells Batou that she will always be with him and if the Internet exists for one thing, it is most certainly there to connect people around the world, and the ending excellently conveys that. Beyond that, it shows that not only regular citizens are capable of abusing the Internet, so are world governments. A few years ago, there was the Edward Snowden incident who told the American public that the government was spying on them. And with drones also now becoming part of modern warfare, the themes of Ghost in the Shell are relevant now more than ever. While the Internet is part of our lives on every scale, just one wrong step, things can go wrong.

[sourceLink asin="" asin_jp="" cdj_product_id="BVCH-44004" text="" url="" ]

After a grueling war that decimated planet Earth, a peace treaty has been made between humans and the giant aliens called the Zentradi, and with the two species live in harmony, they set out to the outer reaches of the galaxy in search of new planets to colonize using massive colonization ships. One such ship is Frontier, and they’re in search for new worlds for humans to survive. As they search endlessly across space, Frontier was attacked by an alien species called the Vajra. With a fleet of variable fighters and powerful ships, Frontier must fend off the Vajra in order to survive. The movie version of Macross Frontier is what you’d expect for recap movies, but some of the writing has changed that, arguably, were not in favor of Ranka. In the TV series, Ranka has more prominence on screen and enough development that fans tend to favor her to end up as a couple with the main guy Alto Saotome. The movies shifted their focus more toward Sheryl Nome like her no-nonsense, yet vulnerable personality, a look to her dark past, a charming relationship with Alto, and eventually her relationship with Ranka, who, in the end, shares the same destiny as her. And without a shadow of doubt, Sherly is one, if not, the most well-written songstress in all of Macross, surpassing even that of the immortalized Lynn Minmay and the rogue AI Sharon Apple. In the end though, the Macross Frontier movies are a great recap of the TV anime containing the best scenes and very good rewrites and additional new scenes, especially the ending that, if you’re up-to-date with Macross, has fanservice like the brief Isamu cameo of Macross Plus, the final battle is similar to the Bird Human battle in Macross Zero, and the after ending scene is a nod to the Lynn Minmay concert from the Macross: Do You Remember Love? movie. Admittedly, the exclusion of the nyan-nyan song from episode 1 was a tough pill to swallow.

Due to a catastrophic event in the past, the remaining pockets of humans have fled underground. Simon and Kamina are one of the few people who were raised underground and have never seen the surface. They spend their lives digging and digging, until one day, Simon finds a robot with a huge face. The robot is named Lagann and a series of events forced Simon and Kamina to travel to the surface and they’re caught in a mystery on a galactic scale. It’s common knowledge by now that it’s not a good idea to watch these recap movies without first watching the original TV versions because you’ll miss out on character development and scenes that didn’t make the cut. Gurren-hen covers half of the TV anime and it ends with Simon fighting Earth’s ruler Lordgenome. Lagann-hen covers the last half of the TV anime and has the most changes like how the humans made contact with the Anti-Spirals, how the evacuation of Earth was handled, and how certain characters were left to live to fight another day. The biggest change however is the final encounter with the Anti-Spirals in a battle so big, not even the multiverse could contain. While the battles, especially the last one, were bombastic, it’s the little things that made the movies a bit better than the TV original. One best example is the revision and extended version of Simon fighting the Anti-Spiral—in the end, the fate of the universe lies within the fists of the two most powerful men in the universe. And according to fan speculations, the battle against the Anti-Spiral took 8 billion years because, you know, perception of spacetime is very different, especially if you’re the size of an entire universe.

Kaname Madoka is your everyday pink-haired middle-school girl doing what every girl does at her age, until she and her friend Sayaka meet a cat-like creature named Kyubey and the mysterious girl named Homura Akemi. Kyubey offers Madoka and Sayaka a proposition: Make a contract with him to become magical girls and fight witches that bring disaster to the world. However, witch hunting is only part of a grand scheme that Madoka was never prepared for. Movies 1-2 are the usual recap movies with additional scenes, introduction of a new character, and changes to the plot, because why not? You could argue that the first 2 movies are skippable, but there are some great moments like better character interactions between Sayaka and Kyouko (especially if you wanted more yuri from these two), and well-crafted set pieces that will make you suspicious that one of the animators took more LSD than they did during the TV version. What’s unskippable though is the 3rd movie Rebellion because it’s a continuation of the Madoka Magica storyline, taking place after the final episode of the TV series. Without spoiling too much, Homura Akemi sets out to find a way to bring Madoka—who is technically a god—back to the mortal back realm. Doing this is no easy feat and Akemi has to deal with her crippling mental state and she is slowly turning into a witch, that is also affecting reality around her. Will Akemi find her beloved Madoka, or will she lose hope and turn into a witch? The twist at the end is nothing short of unexpected, and it will surely make your jaw drop.

Arata Kasuga’s world was forever changed when the sun turned dark and his hometown and all those within suddenly vanished from the Earth. Strangely enough though, Arata recreated his town after the so called “Breakdown Phenomenon” occurred and was able to enjoy life as if nothing happened. However, this new take on life isn’t forever and Arata once more witnesses his life shattering causing him to enroll in a secret magical school to learn why this situation occurred in the first place. Arata will soon realize he’s targeted for a multitude of reasons and will need to hope that he can harness his new powers and rely on several friends—all of whom are beautiful girls—to aid him in staying alive and keeping his world from vanishing once again. Ninjas with magic, tons of supernatural themes and several anime cuties make for a good anime wouldn’t you agree? If you do agree then we turn your attention to Trinity Seven which was released back in 2014. Trinity Seven aims at delivering a harem/action experience to the viewer and works wonders thanks to its awesome animation, cool art design and ecchi filled 12-episode run. Plus, if you do love Trinity Seven, there is even a movie that acts a pseudo sequel to enjoy while we pray a season 2 is announced one day. We highly recommend fans of Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san to try out Trinity Seven even if there is a lack of ghost girls to enjoy.

Due to his horrible academic strides, Tsukune Aono finds himself is a pretty bad situation, no school wants him! Thankfully, Aono’s parents have a solution in the form of a school that is willing to take him even with his poor grades. While Aono thinks this should be just a normal school, he soon comes to the realization that he’s quite different than his peers. Unlike himself, all who attend Youkai Academy are actually monsters hiding behind human shells. Aono must now endure being possibly maimed by these monsters and their powers and see about possibly winning over one vampire girl he runs into on day one named Moka Akashiya. Doesn’t sound too difficult, right? Are you enjoying the comedy found in Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san and need more random supernatural laughter in your life? Then we think you might enjoy Rosario to Vampire for a solid comedy harem experience. While Rosario to Vampire might differ greatly from its more serious toned manga adaptation, this doesn’t remove the enjoyment to be had and makes it quite similar to Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san. The beauty of watching Rosario to Vampire is simple readers. Not only will you get sexy ghost girls like in Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san, you’ll also get a cute vampire girl with an alter ego, a lustful succubus and an ice princess who stalks her love!

Every school has its fair share of myths, horror stories and urban legends that have built up from the numerous students who pass through its halls. In Seikyou Private Academy, one such legend exists in the form of a ghost that haunts its hauls called Yuuko. However, unlike the myths in other schools, Yuuko isn’t a fake story but actually a real ghost who has been trapped in the school with no memories of her past and even how she died. Luckily for Yuuko though, one student named Teiichi Niiya is able to interact with her and seeks to help Yuuko learn of her amnesia driven background. However, what awaits Teiichi as begins to ebb closer to the beautiful ghost and her trauma filled past? Now if we know our readers—which we think we do—then we’re going to assume you want a series exactly like Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san. Thankfully, Tasogare Otome x Amnesia fits that bill as it mirrors many elements seen in Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san, minus a super powered exorcist dude like Kogarashi. Tasogare Otome x Amnesia is all about a romance between a ghost and a human as they go from strangers to friends and then to possible lovers. If we did say there were any major difference between these two ghostly tales of comedy, romance and drama it would be that Tasogare Otome x Amnesia aims to deliver a more romance heavy story that does get very emotional near its climax. You’ll need tissues while watching Tasogare Otome x Amnesia and it won’t be for nosebleeds…even though sometimes you might need them when Yuuko is half-naked on screen.

Issei Hyoudou has done what most perverts wish they could do, he’s gotten himself a date with a beautiful girl who actually asked him out. Unfortunately, Issei learns his luck was a façade as this beautiful girl turns out to be a fallen angel and kills him during their date. Issei gains a second lease on life though when a girl named Rias Gremory appears and revives him making Issei into one of her servants. This event brings Issei into a world unseen by most where angels and demons fight to stay powerful in a constantly shifting war. Can Issei still grab onto his dream of having his own harem of beautiful women or will this new life bring with it more pain than joy? High School DxD is pretty well known in the anime world for being about three things, comedy, ecchi and action. Do these three themes sound familiar to you? That’s why we knew while writing our 6 Anime Like Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san list we needed to mention High School DxD as a solid alternative anime to watch. The fourth season of High School DxD just ended too so now is a great time to start binging this wonderful series of angels and demons colliding. Just watch in moderation, we wouldn’t want our readers to pass out witnessing hours of lovely anime angel/demon girls on screen every few seconds.

When his parents went overseas, Kimihito Kurusu expected peaceful days in solitude to await him. Then for reasons unknown Kurusu’s home is invaded by a monster girl named Miia and she won’t be the last to arrive. Kurusu discover that he has been randomly selected to participate in a program to narrow the segregation barrier between humans and monsters. This ultimately means Kurusu is going to have his solo filled days filled with girls of a non-human persuasion. Can Kurusu survive these girls who seem to love him in ways that could potentially kill him?! We don’t judge our readers for their tastes in anime girls as they come in numerous looks and styles. Though we also understand that for some guys and girls, they need their anime women to be different than the rest. Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou is the perfect anime for delivering girls like that as these women range from centaurs, mermaids, lamia and even slime creatures. Harem and ecchi filled to the max we think you might want to give Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou if you’re enjoying Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san. Maybe if we can get enough viewers to watch Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou, they will make a season 2 happen faster!

Ten-year-old Negi Springfield has risen through the magical world and is almost at the level of Master Wizard despite his age. For Negi to achieve the Master Wizard title, he must pass one final test. Unfortunately, even with all of his magical skills, this final mission won’t be an easy one due to its rather odd nature. Negi must become a teacher for an all-female school! Can Negi survive being the only male within a group of rather rambunctious young women who seem to adore his cute nature?! We wrap up our 6 Anime Like Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san with one of the silliest harem anime around, Mahou Sensei Negima! Focused on giving the viewers high school girls in various flavors—ninjas and even vampires included—Mahou Sensei Negima! is just a fun 26-episode series that we enjoyed immensely here at Honey’s Anime. Plus, Mahou Sensei Negima! isn’t afraid to have ecchi thrown in with girl’s clothing flying off thanks to Negi’s weird sneezes and magical battles that tend to leave the girl’s clothing in tatters. Ready for magic that is far different than the stuff you’d find in Harry Potter? Then go check out Mahou Sensei Negima! to fulfill your anime girl and comedy needs.

This is a relatively simple one, and if you get lucky, you can do it in less than 15 seconds. Head towards any of the giant Stone Heads scattered across the map. These tend to have both Rifts and chests, and if you farm them, you’ll wind up with a lot of stone to add to your materials. Simply hop into three of these and your challenge is completed. This is very easy if you see some all together, and you can fly into them without even landing again.

We can hear your complaints already. “But I might not get 3 kills in a single day!” Well, at least hopefully not. There’s nothing to it but to do it. Don’t engage in straight fights, always try to attack opponents who have just finished fighting and catch them off guard. If you’re lucky, this week’s challenge spot of Shifty Shafts will help you get this done all at once.

All three of these items deal high damage all on their own, but the easiest way to complete this is to down an enemy first and then hit them with it. Stink Bombs will deal damage no matter how good your accuracy is and can confuse and disorient your opponent. After patch 5.30, Clingers aren’t quite as deadly as they once were when attached to structures, so keep that in mind.

There’s a lot of cover in this location, so if you have a close quarters gun you’re going to be good to go. Use corners and peeking to your advantage and always keep your ears listening. If you get on a roll and keep getting the jump on players, you’ll definitely walk out of here with 3 kills, perhaps even in the same match!

Well, the good news is you can see a lot of the chests before you even land on the ground. Bad news, you’re getting your hands dirty to snag them. There are 12 chests in all here, and if you’re lucky, you can go to a very out of the way spot to snag two of them. Head towards the Llama to the northwest and you can find a chest at the top and bottom of this massive metal statue. This will make it easier to go down and start shooting to lay claim to the other chests that you missed.

You’re either going to want to play 50v50 or slay out normally at Lazy Links before you try to complete this challenge. You’re going to need to have the golf emote unlocked at Battle Pass tier 27 to complete this, so if you haven’t already done so, work towards getting there. All you need to do is hit the flag with the ball at 5 different holes, so make your way there quickly and hope you don’t get shot.

The map from Snobby Shores will take you all the way north to Haunted Hills. The Battle Star there will be found on the cemetery building just north of the main chapel. If you’re facing the ocean, it’s to the right, just on top of the building. It’s rather spooky there, so grab it and get out!

This week, the Road Trip clue will lead you to map coordinates I6. See the shack with all the cacti growing in a triangle? Hop up there and claim the reward for all your hard work!.

Most manga originally start in serial magazines that are released either once a week or once a month. Manga artists sign contracts with these magazines that guarantee they will produce a chapter (or whatever designated length is decided upon) before the deadlines. Readers then enjoy the manga one piece at a time as they follow its progress in these serial magazines. Manga continues to be published in this way until either the story is complete, or a decline in popularity gets it bumped from the magazine. This is how most manga get started. These serial magazines are not usually published in English, though some of the most popular ones like Shounen Jump do get an international release sometimes. Typically, though, these serial magazines are for sale in Japanese newsstands, convenience stores, and bookshops. After enough chapters have been published in these magazines, sometimes the chapters collaborate into the paper standalone books that we are used to seeing for sale, especially, in Western bookshops. In Japan, these standalone books are called “tankoubon.”

There are so many different serial magazines produced in Japan for manga that they are usually divided by genre. So if you enjoy action manga, you can buy a magazine with lots of action stories. If you enjoy slice of life, then you buy that magazine. These serial magazines feature both continuing stories and also one-shot stories that fans might also enjoy. These are usually released every week, and printed on low-quality paper to keep the costs low. Because they are very affordable to buy, and thus popular to read on commutes and lunch breaks, there are some thicker serial magazines released for manga that contain a wide variety of stories that are all being published by the same company. This is how most popular manga are released, and the “magazine” looks more like a thick paperback book that can be up to 850 pages long. With each story being about 20-40 pages each, that’s a lot of manga! This sort of magazine comes out once a month at the most, leaving fans wanting more from their favourite stories and anticipating the next issue. While still less expensive than a typical book, these issues cost more than the thinner weekly magazines.