The Phenomenology of Contemporary Mainstream Manga

Although manga constitute a massive transcultural flow, they are extremely diverse as far as genre and content are concerned. This article attempts to bridge these differences by highlighting phenomenological patterns within popular manga: by bracketing content, the author focuses on the experience of reading manga, thereby considering the medial aspect of these works. By examining a diverse corpus of contemporary popular series (Bleach, Death Note, Fruits Basket, and Kitchen Princess), the article pays attention to elements such as reading rhythm, contrast, fragmentation, and page tabularity, in order to pave the way for future study of manga’s place in the contemporary medial ethos.