A Year-Long Tale of Digitized Manga Reading: Choosing Between Tablets and eReaders

Key Takeaways

• eReaders are great for reading manga thanks to the size, clarity, and lightweight design.
• Tablets are better for color illustrations found in manga, while eReaders are more comfortable for long sessions.
• It’s easy to access manga on both eReaders and tablets, allowing for seamless reading experiences between devices.

Thanks to digital publication, it’s easier than ever to access a wealth of manga and comic books, but which is the best device to read them? I’ve used my eReader and iPad extensively for both, and it turns out there is such a thing as the right tool for the job.

Manga Looks Awesome on ePaper

Unlike Western graphic novels and comics, Japanese manga is largely drawn without color (barring a few pages here and there) and comes in a much smaller page size than comics from the likes of DC and Marvel. In fact, I find reading Western comics on my eReader basically impossible, while my 12.9-inch iPad Pro is perfect for that job, since I don’t need to zoom or resize a standard US comic page on that device either.

This makes manga a good fit for eReaders. My Kobo Libre 2 isn’t much smaller than a manga page, and so typically an entire page is perfectly readable without having to zoom in, which is an awkward affair on ePaper. Apart from being just the right size, the nature of ePaper means that Manga looks pretty much like it’s supposed to on real paper. Of course, this will differ depending on the quality of your ePaper screen, but in most cases it looks and feels authentic.

That said, I do enjoy reading traditional black and white manga on my iPad as well, particularly because the pages are blown up to such huge proportions. Some series pack a little too much detail into the art and I don’t have the best eyesight, so reading them on a bigger screen has some advantages, even if the actual ink-on-paper effect is lost.

Color Illustrations Are Better on a Tablet

While color is usually used sparingly if at all in manga, there are exceptions. Some manga get full color pages when they are released as volumes, and in rare cases entire issues may be redone in color. The Solo Leveling Manwha (the South Korean equivalent of Manga) is in full color as well. If color matters, then you’re better off using a tablet.

That is, unless you have one of those fancy new color ePaper devices . However, they don’t reproduce color anywhere near as well as an LCD screen, not to mention that current models are quite expensive. If you already happen to have one, it’s worth trying out some color Manga or comics on it, but I wouldn’t buy one specifically for that purpose.

eReaders Are More Comfortable for Long Sessions

My Kobo Libre 2 weights practically nothing, so if I want to binge on Manga on the couch or in bed, that’s my go-to choice. I even like the fact that “turning” a page is just pressing a single button my thumb is already resting on. Whereas with my iPad I need to actually lift my finger off the bezel to tap. Yes, I’m complaining about something only a very lazy person might care about, but this is my relaxation time, so cut me a little slack!

Getting Manga Is Easy on Both

We live in the golden age of Manga accessibility in the West. There’s no need to find bootleg, fan-translated works anymore. You can hop on your eReader’s store or in the same company’s tablet app and buy whatever digital manga you like. In the case of my Kobo, the same manga shows up on my reader and in my app. The same goes for those of you who use Kindle . This also means that, like me, you can alternative between whichever device is most convenient, and your progress will simply sync over the cloud.

I’ll Keep Using Both (for Now)

I love the experience of reading Manga on ePaper, but I think it will still be a while before I can say that I never want to read it on my big, sharp iPad screen. This is largely because ePaper technology still needs to advance a little more. I don’t need it to be as snappy or vibrant as an LCD or OLED screen, but if we could get a little closer to the color and look of real paper, it might sway me to exclusively read all Manga and comics on these thin and light magic paper machines.

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