18 votes

Does anyone have good manga/anime review sites?

After deleting my Reddit account, I've been able to successfully replace everything else I've used it for, except for r/manga. I have no idea how to discover new manga. Are there any sources you follow for keeping up? Any good writers and reviewers?

14 comments

  1. [2]
    zoroa
    Link
    I don't have much to add other than commiseration. Manga/anime had been solitary experiences for most of my life. Consuming anime/manga was very uncool and I didn't know anyone else who did. What...

    I don't have much to add other than commiseration.

    Manga/anime had been solitary experiences for most of my life. Consuming anime/manga was very uncool and I didn't know anyone else who did. What I read was basically what was popular on the sites I read from.

    Finding r/manga a couple years ago gave me:

    1. People who cared to talk about manga
    2. An introduction to and a place to discuss manhwa
    3. A steady stream of recommendations (I would've never found Dandadan or Blue Box had it not been for Reddit).

    Manga/Anime have largely returned to being solitary activities for me. Anime is trendy now, but the Anime du jour is my manga of years past.

    I'm mostly okay without having a place to discuss it anymore, but I really really miss the exposure to new series.


    In the spirit of trying to be moderately helpful:

    • When I'm desperate for something new to read, I'll usually just browse by new on the sites I use and just try stuff (e.g https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/updates)
    • If you have an idea of a story you want to read, searching through manga databases could help. I've used mangaupdates but there may be better places.
    • I've heard that there are somewhat vibrant communities of "manga recommenders" (?) on sites like Tiktok and Instagram, but I don't use either enough to pass judgement.
    5 votes
    1. Raistlin
      Link Parent
      Yeah, it could be that I'll just have to go to mangaplus and mangadex and just click on things that catch my eye. It sucks because manga is unique in that there's a lot of actually awful trash...

      Yeah, it could be that I'll just have to go to mangaplus and mangadex and just click on things that catch my eye. It sucks because manga is unique in that there's a lot of actually awful trash that I don't want to curse my browser history with, and the Reddit comments were very useful in identifying that. But there's absolutely no way I would've found Kubo Won't Let Me Be Invisible on my own, since it's not a genre I usually go after.

      1 vote
  2. [2]
    venerablemonster
    Link
    In the spirit of honesty, /r/manga is the only subreddit i still occupy. i open a tab directly to that sub each day to monitor chapter releases (alongside opening up md, checking mangaplus, and...

    In the spirit of honesty, /r/manga is the only subreddit i still occupy. i open a tab directly to that sub each day to monitor chapter releases (alongside opening up md, checking mangaplus, and viz). For the social aspect? I'm on Anilist. It's a tracking website similar to MAL. I prefer Anilist for the cleaner interface and the fact it seems to have a larger manga database. While it's not the most socially focused website, I've managed to actually meet a few folk there that I chat on the regular with on Discord and whatnot. And Discord might be your other option. If you can find a good server that fits your needs.

    Anyways, not much in the way of good answers here, but it's what I work with.

    5 votes
    1. Raistlin
      Link Parent
      That's fine. I'm trying to keep my life Reddit free, but only because I realised how much time I wasted on it. I might have to bite the bullet in this one.

      That's fine. I'm trying to keep my life Reddit free, but only because I realised how much time I wasted on it. I might have to bite the bullet in this one.

  3. talklittle
    Link
    I just recently learned about Yatta-Tachi a quite nicely designed site with some articles and reviews, and you can filter by their manga reviews: https://yattatachi.com/tag/manga-review Their...

    I just recently learned about Yatta-Tachi a quite nicely designed site with some articles and reviews, and you can filter by their manga reviews: https://yattatachi.com/tag/manga-review

    Their content seems to skew a bit toward shoujo if that matters. IMO worth supporting indie sites like that, for anyone who finds the content interesting and has the capacity to support.

    3 votes
  4. [3]
    unknown user
    Link
    Sadly I'm with you there, still stuck around r/manga and haven't found any better replacement yet. One thing I'm curious about is apparently France is one of the largest importer of manga, so...

    Sadly I'm with you there, still stuck around r/manga and haven't found any better replacement yet. One thing I'm curious about is apparently France is one of the largest importer of manga, so surely there must be an r/manga equivalent there as well right? Not sure if there's any French people around here who can share their experience.

    2 votes
    1. Trobador
      Link Parent
      Hi, I'm the French people. As far as I know, there is not. In the first place, most French forums and community websites were put out of business by Web 2.0 centralization, and the French-speaking...

      Hi, I'm the French people. As far as I know, there is not. In the first place, most French forums and community websites were put out of business by Web 2.0 centralization, and the French-speaking internet is now concentrated on global social media platforms, like everyone else. I'd assume that when it comes to discovering manga online, most people do it through Twitter or something but I'm not on there much, so I could not say.

      Although, it's not like there's nothing. There is coverage of manga in some media outlets : TV channels like Game One or the late Nolife, some otaku news/database sites. Also, stores! Comic book shops tend to be a great way to find manga here.

      3 votes
    2. talklittle
      Link Parent
      Poking around Anime News Network site I saw they happen to have a specific French Language team on staff. That's cool to know France are a big manga market.

      Poking around Anime News Network site I saw they happen to have a specific French Language team on staff. That's cool to know France are a big manga market.

      1 vote
  5. talklittle
    Link
    Not reviews, but to find out new manga chapter releases, one could try going to the source, the companies selling them, as @zoroa alluded to. For English releases that would include Shonen Jump...

    Not reviews, but to find out new manga chapter releases, one could try going to the source, the companies selling them, as @zoroa alluded to.

    For English releases that would include Shonen Jump with a $3/mo subscription and Azuki with a $5/mo subscription. Shonen Jump of course specializes in shonen, while Azuki appears to be more shoujo.

    2 votes
  6. [4]
    talklittle
    Link
    Forgot there's always Anime News Network which is pretty comprehensive. Filter by the manga tag: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/all/?topic=manga I used to keep their RSS feed on my reader, but...

    Forgot there's always Anime News Network which is pretty comprehensive. Filter by the manga tag: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/all/?topic=manga

    I used to keep their RSS feed on my reader, but was overwhelmed as they have news bites about everything. It was a bit much, even with custom filters. Now I notice they've started a curated weekly newsletter which I might subscribe to.

    2 votes
    1. [3]
      Raistlin
      Link Parent
      I'll give that last one a try. It's kinda what I'm looking for. I don't need minute to minute updates, just a summary of highlights.

      I'll give that last one a try. It's kinda what I'm looking for. I don't need minute to minute updates, just a summary of highlights.

      1 vote
      1. [2]
        talklittle
        Link Parent
        Sadly their newsletter subscribe page appears down right now. I've let them know about the problem.

        Sadly their newsletter subscribe page appears down right now. I've let them know about the problem.

        1 vote
        1. Raistlin
          Link Parent
          Yup, saw the 404 as well. Damn.

          Yup, saw the 404 as well. Damn.

          1 vote
  7. LetsBeChooms
    Link
    I just discovered Simkl in the last week and have been using it to track all media, not just anime. https://simkl.com/anime/best-anime/this-month/

    I just discovered Simkl in the last week and have been using it to track all media, not just anime.
    https://simkl.com/anime/best-anime/this-month/

    1 vote