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One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, and much more, all free to read online in Japanese during Japan’s coronavirus outbreak.
Free Manga, All in Japanese!?
While the people of Japan have been encouraging social distancing and self-isolation for months, since it became clear that the Japanese COVID-19 situation was no small thing, Prime Minister Abe's recent announcement of an official state of emergency for seven prefectures only reinforced the attempts. And as people are staying home, through long evenings and even longer weekends, you'd better believe they're looking for something to fill the hours!
Luckily, manga publishers have heard the pleas of the people! Publishers of some of Japan's most popular manga have been making dozens of volumes available to read totally free on the internet (in Japanese, of course) for a limited time, and here are some of the best!
・Zebrack (ゼブラック) ~ One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Haikyu, Food Wars
Some of the world's most popular manga are available for free on online manga-reading platform Zebrack right now, during the state of emergency. So spend your extra free time with those most important: Luffy, Naruto, Ichigo, and your other manga favorites. Between all the popular series, there are hundreds of volumes available for free online right now, so break out the dictionary and get reading.
Many online manga platforms, including Zebrack, also offer readers the chance to check out the first three or four chapters of many of Japan's most popular manga for free, before paying to read on. You can see their full selection here.
Read: One Piece (ワンピース) / Naruto (ナルト) & Boruto (ボルト) / Bleach (ブリーチ) / Haikyu!! (ハイキュー!!) / Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma (食戟のソーマ)
・Margaret (マーガレット) + Ribon (リボン) ~ Shoujo Manga
Margaret, Ribon, and Hana to Yume are of Japan's biggest shoujo manga periodicals, with long histories containing some of everyone's favorite shoujo manga. To keep us all swooning with romance (and not from viral fevers, we hope) their online platform (the Margaret Book Store) has a handful of Margaret special editions available alongside some recent issues of Ribon, and a couple volumes featuring Ribon's most beloved characters.
Read: Recent issues of Margaret & Ribon / Chibi Maruko-chan (ちびまる子ちゃん)
・Weekly Shonen Jump (週刊少年ジャンプ) ~ Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia, Black Clover, etc.
Didn't find your favorite Shonen Jump manga at Zebrack? Or perhaps you just prefer the experience of reading a whole manga magazine, fresh off the presses, with glimpses of a dozen different stories in one large volume? Well, we're happy to report that this beloved weekly manga anthology is offering a handful of recent issues available for free digitally, on their official online store! Old favorites like One Piece intermingle with chapters of everyone's recent addictions, manga like Demon Slayer (鬼滅の刃) and My Hero Academia (僕のヒーローアカデミア), and probably some manga you've never read before!
Read: 2020 issues 16, 17, 18, 19 (Some issues also available on Zebrack.)
・Sazae-san (サザエさん)
Sazae-san started publication in the 1940s, and the main character (Ms. Sazae) and her busy family are still iconic in Japan. (Which we were all reminded of recently thanks to this popular Japanese meme.) The comic's classic 4-panel shape and unique illustration style are a little different from what we might expect to see in 21st century manga, but reading a volume of Sazae-san will certainly give you a new view of Japanese life – how it was back then, and how some things never change.
Read: Volumes 1 + 7 ~ 9
So, what’s on the reading list?
Read any good manga recently? Dipped into a Japanese novel or two? Let us know (and give me some good recommendations, please!) on the Japankuru twitter, instagram, and facebook!
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NAME:Japanese Manga
Half a lifetime ago I came to Japan for a semester abroad... and I never left. I guess I really like the place! I spent my first few years in Japan living in the middle of nowhere, so I'd love to hear your Tokyo recommendations via Japan's social media accounts!