Manga Versus Normal Books

Many things separate a manga from a book that any person would read. Three of the main ingredients in a manga are artwork, dialogue, the way the manga is read,  and narration.

Unlike most fiction books written today, there is no set narration style in manga. The narration depends solely on the manga-ka, or the author of the manga. Most manga-ka will write the narration in the point of view of the central character or have no narration at all and rely only on the dialogue and the artwork of the story. For example, in the manga Black Cat, the only narration happens in the specification of the location in the artwork and in Train Heartnet's and Sven Volfied's flashbacks, when they narrate, and even then the narration sequences are far and few between.

Without the narration that is present in most books of any genre, manga must rely on the dialogue of the characters and any particular characters thoughts that are not spoken. These two devices are separated by the way they are presented in the panel. Once again in Black Cat, spoken words appear in speech bubbles and unheard thoughts are shown as words connected to a character by a black line. Another technique is to show onomatopoeia, or sound effects. These are usually shown in a different font and size.

Another aspect that sets manga apart is the fact that the setting is not specified n dialogue, but in the artwork of the story. The backdrop provides a lot of the backstory and the manga relies heavily on the artistic ability of the artist.

Finally, the way that authentic manga is read plays a huge role in a manga's difference from contemporary books. In an 'unflopped' manga the story is read the way it would have been in Japan, or backwards for the rest of the world. This preserves the integrity of the artwork and prevents confusion and mix ups in the manga itself. For example, if the author had a character wearing a shirt that said 'BOY' in a 'flopped' manga it would read 'YOB' whereas in the 'unflopped' version it would remain unchanged.