“Sharing Graphic Novels, Mangas, and Webtoons”
“Introduction to Webtoons” by Emma Y., 2022-23 8th grader
What is Webtoon?
Webtoon is a collection of wide-genre digital comics that are read vertically, that different authors have created from scratch. These comics get updated every week on certain days. These webtoons are all diverse and come from authors who originate all around the world, and many of these webtoons are also made into k-dramas, such as True Beauty!
What kind of genres are there?
There are SO MANY genres on webtoon! These are a list of all of them. My personal favorite is the romance section 😉
Comedy, Fantasy , Romance, Slice of Life, Sci-Fi, Drama, Short Story, Action, Superhero, Heart-warming, Thriller, Horror, Post-Apocalyptic, Zombies, School, Supernatural, Animals, Crime/Mystery, Historical, Informative, Sports, and Inspirational.
How do you access Webtoon?
There are multiple ways to access webtoon, (1) being the website and (2) through the app on a mobile device, which doubles as the most popular way being through the app since it has more unlocked features – but the website gets the point across too! I will be explaining the mobile version instead of the computer, but it’s pretty similar to the website and still easy to figure out.
As you load into the app you’ll be greeted with a lot of banners, colors, maybe even popups if there’s an event happening, etc. It may be overwhelming at first but to proceed further, you must register an account first by clicking the little person icon at the bottom of the screen. It’s easy, all that’s needed is to add a username, create a password, and verify an email address (remember to save your password)! Now you have full accessibility to Webtoon.
What do all these buttons do?
As I said before, Webtoon may have an overwhelming amount of stuff on you at first but to overcome this, exploring the app may help. At the bottom of the screen there’s a quick menu distinguishing the different categories on what to do on Webtoon, the very first one, is the main category. It has the more popular webcomics and by clicking “My Series” you’ll be directed to the “My” button in the bottom of the screen’s bar. Those two are intertwined! You can also
discover comics by looking at the very top. Where it says “The Remarried Empress” (see image below), these banners will contain new comics, comics coming back from hiatus, special promotions, etc, you can click on these different comics and then be directed to the menu. At the very top of your screen, you can also search for any webcomics that you’d like.
This is the little bar at the bottom for easier navigation.
The next button there is the “Originals” button. By clicking on originals you will be able to find comics that are the most popular and have received the most attention, they go from “Canvas” comics to “Original” comics with the collaboration of many different authors, illustrators, and creators. To learn more about Canvas, which is the third button, see below!
Going back to the “My” button, this button contains all of your recently viewed webcomics if you had clicked on any, and your subscribed webcomics. Subscribing to a webcomic means that you get notifications every time the webtoon updates weekly, and you can also support the author as well by doing this (you can also like different episodes by clicking on the heart in the bottom left corner of any panel you click on! In this “My” section, you can also view the different downloads you have on episodes, what unlocked episodes you have, an opportunity to follow the different creators of your webtoons that you are subscribed to + see status updates from them, and any comments you’ve made on webtoons. For example, these are some of the webtoons I’m personally subscribed to!
And the final part of the hotbar, the “More” section. This is mainly just a place to keep track of all of your coins that you’ve accumulated. Different amounts of coins are used as “fast passes”. Since webtoons are updated weekly, you can also read ahead– if you choose to, by using coins.
You can either buy coins with money or get a few free coins from different events, just keep an eye out! The downside is that you have to use your coins, if you choose to, in a set time period otherwise they’ll expire and you won’t be able to use them anymore.
What is Canvas?
The very middle button on that little hotbar at the bottom is called Canvas. These are where less-popular comics are put and just a way for different creators to share their creations! This is also where the “Originals” originate from (hahah, get it?), everybody has to start somewhere afterall! The thing with Canvas comics is that they won’t always update weekly, it’s just whenever the creator chooses to upload, but that doesn’t mean these comics are bad in any way– they just need a little love.
What happens when I click on a comic?
When you click on a comic, at the very top you’ll be greeted with a few buttons. The subscription button, to add to your list of subscribed comics, the “i” button which is just a short description of the story, the download button which is an arrow down, and the last one is a share-comic button. You can see the genre at the top, my example, “Omniscient Reader” is an Action comic. You can also see the creator(s) and the description is present once more. You can also see how many views, likes, and the rating it has.
Moving on to the gray parts at the middle-bottom, the less gray episodes are the ones that haven’t been read yet and the darker gray episodes at the bottom are the read ones. You can see the episode number on the right and the little arrow just above the very top episode number is all the Fast Pass episodes you can view.
What are Daily Passes?
Last but not least, the image below is on a tab called “Daily Pass”. These are comics that have been completed and longer updated! Since they are no longer updated, there’s no need for a full week wait, so the solution to this is to make it into a Daily Pass. This just means that if you click on it, you can only read one episode a day. This spans across any Daily Pass comic so if you click on an episode of “A Good Day to be a Dog” today and also an episode of “Devil Number 4”, you’ll only be able to read the former.
Now go and read and enjoy!
“5 Manga Series I Read and Liked This Year” by Jorge G., 2022-23 8th grader
Haikyu!! By Haruichi Furudate
This book series is mainstream but a lot less popular than most mainstream Manga, but it’s still good. This was the first and only sports manga I read. This book is about a boy who is short but wants to play volleyball, a sport that is dominated by height, but he can jump really high. Overall, really good in my opinion. Confession time, this manga was the reason I played volleyball in middle school, with my stature of 5’4.
A Silent Voice by Yoshitoki Ōima
This book was one of my first really emotional reads because I had read one chapter of it somewhere during 4th grade, so it was nice to find out the ending. It’s about a boy who bullied a deaf girl as a child and wants to ask for forgiveness and friendship and along the way make a nice group of friends with their own flaws. This book was leaving me in suspense during 4th grade because I didn’t know how it ended or the title so it was really nice to find out they had it in the library and that I could finish it in my last year in 8th grade. Shout out to Ms.Rokaw for letting me read books 4-7 because they didn’t have it in the library!
I Want To Eat Your Pancreas By Yoru Sumino
This book was so sad and happy at the same time. I Want To Eat Your Pancreas is about a girl who has a terminal illness and a journal called “Living With Dying”, that is discovered by her classmate, and he’s the only one who knows other than her family. The ending made my cry a little(like a tear or two), overall, a roller coaster of emotions. Probably the most impactful manga I have ever read, and it really changed my outlook on life and how you have to live it to the fullest.
Orange by Ichigo Takano
This Series was about a group of high school students who received letters from the future that said one of their friends would die, and they were the ones who could change it. It is also sort of sci-fi, but not much. Overall, a really touching story that changes your view on how precious life is, and friendship and what it means.
Astra Lost In Space by Kenta Shinohara
This book holds a really special place in my heart because it was the FIRST EVER manga series I read. The reason why it is this year is because I had read the first chapter in 3rd grade in a Shonen Jump magazine I bought at a book fair, and couldn’t find it anywhere until I went into middle school and finished it. The reason why it’s rated is personal preference, and the first of anything always has a special place in my heart. But that being said, it is a really good book about teenagers stuck in space after an imposter failed to kill them, and they have to find out who it is, while also making it back home safely. This book has many twists and turns and surprised me many times when I read it. Overall, this has to be my favorite Manga series.
“Top 5 Favorite Graphic Novels and Why” by Bibi C., 2022-23 6th grader
Roller Girl
This was one of my favorite books because of the main character’s dedication.The main character’s name is Astrid and she wanted to do Roller Derby but she couldn’t. She did not stop and she sent a note to her idol who plays roller derby and she answered all her notes! She motivated Astrid to keep going and she kept going! Even though she could not play she kept going and didn’t quit and she was there until the end.
Frizzy
This was one of my favorite books because of the people who were actually nice to the main character. The main character’s name is Marlene. She has frizzy hair but her family hates it except for a couple of people in her family but especially her aunt. Most people in her family think straight hair is what’s best. Their family has a tradition that every Sunday they go to the salon to get their hair straightened. Overall I really liked the people who respected that Marlene likes her frizzy hair.
The Tryout
This was one of my favorite books because of when Christina (the main character) decided she wanted to try out for the cheer team. It was her first year in middle school and she really wanted to fit in. She is one of the few Asians there and is not treated fairly. Christina was very excited to try out with her best friend until her best friend decided she was trying out with someone else. In the end she did her best! Overall I really liked how Christina really was dedicated to try out for the cheer team.
Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy
This was one of my favorites books because of the support they gave each other. All went through tough times and their father was working in the military so they sent messages to their father but it was still really tough for them. Beth, one of the sisters, was really sick and had to be rushed to the hospital and she ended up almost dying. Overall I really loved this book because even though each and everyone of those girls were going through tough times they all supported each other no matter what.
The Witches
This was one of my favorite books because of the people who the witches turned into rats, then turning all witches into rats. Witches rented out some space in a hotel and they gave a kid chocolate which turned him into a rat. There were two rats because the boy who turned into a rat met another rat that the witch also was a kid but now was a rat. One of the kids’ grandma was informed and they did everything they could to get revenge. At the end they put the potion on the witches soup and the witches all turned into rats just like them. Overall I really liked how funny the ending was when the witches turned into rats.
Thank you so much to my students for sharing webtoons, mangas, and graphic novels today!
