Nicole. Volume 1 of Choking on Love and Utsumi-kun no Koi no Uta.
Happy New Year’s Eve! I’ve been pretty busy lately with the holidays, so instead of an individual manga review, I thought I’d talk about some of the different places where I like to read manga digitally. Nowadays there’s a ton of different ways to enjoy manga officially (at least in my own experience in America), so let’s jump in!
Digital Reading – My Favorite Options
There are so many different ways to read digitally in this day and age, and each application or source has a different price model, layout, and overall user experience. Because of this, some sources are more convenient or affordable than others.
Therefore, I’ve grouped what I think are the best places to read manga into this “favorites” section, and included some less desirable but still useful options into a secondary section.
Note: I won’t be listing prices here as they’re likely to change in the future, but each individual service has their prices available for view online. Please note that these reading sources may not be available in all countries.
Libby
Libby is an awesome application that is completely free to use—all you need is a library card! No need to worry if you don’t live near a library or don’t have a card. Some libraries allow you to sign up for a card directly through Libby, or in many cases you can sign up online through your library’s website.
In the case that your library doesn’t offer many manga series digitally, you could always sign up to access the digital library provided by the Japan Foundation (Los Angeles). They offer public access to tons of series through Libby for free! This includes manga in English as well as some series in Japanese.
While Libby is free, the system still works like a normal library—you’ll have to “check out” your manga and then read them within a certain time frame. You’ll also be limited on the number of borrows you can have at a time, which varies by library. Additionally, not every library may use or offer Libby as an option for reading. However, you can add multiple library cards, meaning you can have digital access to multiple digital collections!
I’ve also seen libraries offer other digital reading services through applications or websites that are not Libby. If you haven’t checked out your local library yet, maybe give it a shot!
Hoopla
Hoopla is a service that’s similar to Libby, but does have some key differences. For one, it allows you to access a digital catalog of titles that don’t depend on your library’s own catalog. Hoopla’s catalog does have a good range of manga titles, but to read them you’ll need a library card that is from a library that offers Hoopla. With a participating library card, you can enjoy Hoopla’s digital media for free!
Hoopla also offers a bit more than Libby does—eBooks, audiobooks, comics, magazines, movies, music, and more. However, our main focus here is the manga! And I have to say I was impressed by the unique titles that Hoopla offers.
One thing to note about Hoopla is that they offer two ways to borrow: Instant borrow and flex borrow. Instant borrow titles are always available and can be used simultaneously by multiple readers, meaning you don’t have to wait to read them.
Flex borrows are like borrowing from a normal library (or Libby) where you may have to wait your turn to borrow and read the title. Just like with Libby, you’ll have a limited number of instant and flex borrows per month, and these vary by library.
From what I can tell, all of the manga titles on Hoopla are instant borrow titles only, and cannot be flex-borrowed (I think they only have audiobooks and normal eBooks available for flex borrowing). This can make Hoopla either really useful or a bit disappointing.
Think of it like this: If your library allows 10 instant borrows per month, you could binge a manga series in one sitting. Those who only have a couple of instant borrows per month, however, will have much less reading time when it comes to manga.
I’m hoping that manga titles will become available for flex borrow one day. For those interested in Hoopla, I would check to see what borrow limit your library has in place to see if it is worth it. However, if you enjoy other media like regular eBooks or audiobooks, Hoopla may still be worth it for you even if your manga reading is limited.
Viz Manga
Viz Manga is the official digital reading application provided by Viz Media, meaning you can read all sorts of series under this publisher through one simple app. The Viz Manga app does allow you to read the first few chapters of a series for free, but to read the full series you’ll need to subscribe.
I personally think their monthly subscription is one of the most convenient and affordable options out there. With just this subscription, you can read plenty of series like Ao Haru Ride, Basara, My Love Mix-Up, and many more.
I do want to mention that occasionally you may find a manga series that doesn’t have digital chapters available to read even with the subscription. I’ve found that in this case you may be able to purchase individual digital volumes instead.
While this isn’t as affordable as the subscription model price, it does allow you to still access beloved series that may be out of print physically. You are usually able to read a preview of the volume as well!
Manga Plus
Manga Plus is another official digital reading application provided by Shueisha. This reading service provides English translations of many different manga series serialized from the Jump line of magazines.
Manga Plus has a large selection of manga, including romance titles like Romantic Killer, Blooming Love, Even If You Slit My Mouth, and more. Just like Viz Manga, it allows you to read the first few chapters of a series completely free, but this application also allows you to read recently released chapters for free, too.
One perk of this application is that many titles can be read completely for free with their “first read free” feature. This means you can read the chapters of a series completely for free for the first time—once you’ve read the chapter, you won’t be able to access it again without a subscription. This isn’t available for all series though, as it only applies to currently ongoing simulpub English titles.
This application has two subscription options, standard and deluxe. Standard allows you to read all the currently available chapters of any ongoing series for a low price. The deluxe plan is slightly more expensive, and allows you to read any chapters of ongoing and completed titles. Both subscriptions remove ads from your reading experience, and are pretty affordable options as far as digital reading goes!
Omoi (Formerly Azuki)
Omoi is a digital manga reading service that legally provides English translated titles from a variety of publishers. It has titles like Ran the Peerless Beauty, MARS, Waiting for Spring, and more!
As with the last few applications, Omoi allows you to read a few chapters for free. After those free chapters, you’ll need to pay their monthly subscription to finish a series. The price is pretty reasonable, removes ads, and allows you to binge lots of different series!
Unfortunately due to requirements from some publishers, not all of the series in the Omoi app are readable with the subscription, and may need to be purchased separately. There’s still plenty you can enjoy with the subscription, though, so I’d still recommend checking it out!
Digital Reading – Other Options
The following recommendations are other official or legal places to read manga, but in my opinion are just less convenient or affordable compared to the previous options.
Kmanga
Kmanga is Kodansha’s official manga reading application. In Kmanga, you can enjoy series like A Sign of Affection, How I Met My Soulmate, Glasses with a Chance of Delinquent, and more.
Unlike the previously mentioned publisher-provided applications, this one uses a points and ticket system for purchasing chapters. As usual, you can read the first few chapters of a title for free, but then you must unlock the other chapters using either tickets or points.
Tickets temporarily unlock chapters and are able to be earned in the app by logging in each day or watching ads. In some cases tickets will expire, so you have to use them in time. Additionally, not all chapters can be read using tickets.
Points, on the other hand, work like any other coin-based reading system where you pay for a number of points/coins and then use those to unlock new chapters. You can also earn points in the app by playing games or watching ads.
Although I really enjoy Kodansha titles, this type of price model is my least favorite. You can enjoy a large number of chapters of a variety of series for free by utilizing tickets and earning points, but as an adult that just feels like a major waste of time.
It creates a strange game-like interaction with the app that is extremely unnecessary. Not to mention, they split up some chapters, so you’ll have to use more points or tickets to pay for multiple parts of an individual chapter.
This app could be useful for finding or starting new series, but the price model just makes it difficult to truly binge and enjoy a series. I also don’t really like needing to convert my real money into digital coins, as it makes it less obvious at a glance how much I’m actually paying.
Again, I really like Kodansha titles, but their application is just an inconvenient and expensive way to read. I’d really prefer a subscription, which is much easier to understand and more wallet-friendly. Unfortunately, a lot of manga reading applications adopt this sort of coin-based system.
MangaUp!
MangaUp is the official reading platform from Square Enix. It provides simulpub reading of a variety of different manga series! Some popular romance titles on the app include My Happy Marriage, Horimiya, and The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague. Similarly to Kmanga, it has a coin-based reading system, but also offers a subscription option for many of their titles.
The subscription is known as Vault Pass, which has a pretty affordable monthly cost, but it doesn’t cover every series or every chapter on the app. If you visit the app’s shop section and look at the Vault Pass description, you can find a list of eligible titles (there’s over 200 available).
They are also indicated with a yellow ticket icon in the normal catalog/home section of the app.
Outside of the subscription, some titles and specific chapters may only be read with the in-app currencies. Their in-app currencies are called “UP,” “XP,” and “C.”
- “UP” is a free daily currency that allows you to read “normal” chapters.
- “XP” is an earned currency that allows you to unlock more recently published chapters. It is earned as a reward for participating in app events or by purchasing “C.”
- “C” or “coins” are the currency you pay for with your real money.
It seems that the most recently published chapters of a series are unlockable only with XP or C, whereas earlier chapters can be read with UP. The first chapter of a series is usually available for free.
While MangaUp is a bit annoying with all the different currencies available, it at least offers some level of subscription-based reading, so its still a pretty good option if there are titles you’re interested in on the app.
Unfortunately, MangaUp splits up individual chapters just like Kmanga does. I’ve seen single chapters split into as many as 5 parts. That’s a pet peeve for me not just for the individual unlocking when using currencies, but I also just prefer a more streamlined reading experience.
Mangamo
Mangamo is an application (similar to Omoi mentioned earlier) that allows you to read digital manga from a variety of official publishers. It has both a subscription option called Mangamo Plus as well as coin-based reading. Mangamo’s coin system is simplistic with one coin type that can only be purchased.
These coins can be used to read individual manga chapters or entire volumes depending on the series. Additionally, as with every other digital reading application, Mangamo offers free reading for the first chapter of many different manga series.
The reason why this manga reading application isn’t in the “favorites” area is because I personally feel it is too difficult to navigate, particularly when trying to find the titles available under the Plus subscription. I couldn’t find a list or indication of which titles are included with Plus other than a singular small horizontal scrolling area on the home page.
When using the search feature, there are no filters other than a genre filter. What the search page does have is an alphabetical list of all the series on the app, each of which will either say “subscribe to read,” “read,” or “start reading free.”
These buttons indicate series only available with a subscription, series that have one free chapter, or those that have a few daily free chapters available. However, there is no way to filter this list to see only those available with the subscription, and instead requires tedious scrolling and searching.
I definitely think the application has potential, especially since Mangamo has some great romance series such as My Love Story With Yamada-Kun at Lv999, Matcha Made in Heaven, and The Moon on a Rainy Night. I hope to see some improvement in the future, but if you’re willing to do some scrolling to find new manga, perhaps try it out!
Other Online Sources
- Bookwalker – This is a digital store run by Kadokawa that is dedicated to manga and light novels. It allows you to digitally purchase and read manga in English or Japanese (you’ll just have to switch to the Japanese store to read titles in Japanese). While this is a more like a storefront for buying digital manga online, I’ve found they have sales and free trials for a lot of series, so you may be able to find something new using Bookwalker, even if you aren’t looking to spend much!
- J-Novel Club – This is another digital source for novels and mangas. Here you can purchase titles in print, purchase digital titles to read, or try their subscription service to read from their digital library. They also have an app available for easier reading.
Final Thoughts
Manga can be found in so many places now, it’s like a dream! ( ´ ▽ ` ) I know there’s even more reading opportunities out there, so I may update and extend this blog later with more resources.
For now, I hope this blog helps new or seasoned readers discover new places to read and more titles to enjoy. And of course, if you enjoy romance mangas, please feel free to explore the rest of my site for recommendations and reviews! ♡
