In short
- In Japan, manga means comics of any origin. Elsewhere it usually means comics from Japan.
- The word is written 漫画, "whimsical pictures"; Anime News Network credits the woodblock artist Hokusai with coining it in 1814.
- Seinen and josei are magazine demographics (adult men, adult women), not explicitness ratings.
- Explicit manga is called hentai in English. Japanese editions carry mosaics; licensed English editions often do not.
Manga meaning
Anime News Network's lexicon notes that In Japan the word manga refers to all forms of comics, be they Japanese, European or American.
In English the word narrowed to Japanese comics, the same way manhwa narrowed to Korean ones. The same entry traces the word to the characters 漫 (man) and 画 (ga), roughly "whimsical pictures", and credits Katsushika Hokusai with coining it in 1814.
Manga is published in pages, in magazines and collected volumes, which is the main thing that separates it from the vertical webtoon. The side-by-side is on webtoons vs manga.
What adult manga covers
Japanese publishers sort manga by audience. Seinen is aimed at adult men and, in ANN's words, is often more psychological, satirical, violent, sexual
; josei is aimed at women. Neither label says how explicit a book is. A seinen series can be tame, and a josei romance can be frank.
Explicit manga is a different market, called hentai in English and ero in Japan. FAKKU licenses it in English and sells collected volumes, doujinshi and an Unlimited subscription that carries magazines such as Comic Kairakuten. MangaPlaza, NTT Solmare's US store, keeps large Adult Romance and Boys' Love shelves behind an 18+ toggle and gives away the first chapter of most titles. Our pages on adult manga and the best adult manga sites cover the stores in detail.
Why some manga is censored
Japanese editions blur or bar genitals because Article 175 of Japan's Penal Code makes distributing obscene drawings a crime. English licensors sell outside Japan and say so plainly: FAKKU's subscription page promises No black bars and no mosaics.
The background is in mosaic censorship, and related terms such as hentai are in the glossary.
FAQ
Is all manga for adults?
No. Manga covers every audience. Adult manga is one part of the market, and explicit hentai is a smaller part of that.
What is the difference between manga and manhwa?
Origin first: manga is Japanese, manhwa is Korean. In English, manga mostly comes in black-and-white pages and manhwa mostly in full-color vertical episodes.
Where can I read adult manga legally?
On licensed stores and publishers. FAKKU and Irodori Comics sell explicit manga and doujinshi in English; MangaPlaza and BookWalker sell mature romance, BL and seinen titles. Start with hentai manga if you want the explicit end.