What is a tankobon? A tankobon (単行本) refers to a stand alone book, or a collection of individual chapters from a story. For us Manga lovers based outside of Japan, the most accessible way we consume Manga are through these tankobons — or Volumes. Each volume contains roughly ten to twelve chapters and are compiled from the Manga’s weekly serialization. Getting a tankobon usually indicates that there is a strong demand for the story, and also reflects the publisher’s confidence in the manga. In essence, each tankobon represents ten to twelve weeks worth of content repackaged into a book. Before having individual volumes, how to Manga’s start?
Most manga begin as one-shots: a self-contained fifty-page prototype of the story featuring the main character overcoming some sort of big bad. Successful one-shots that rank highly on the voter polls are rewarded with serialization in a magazine line. Though publishers schedule their releases differently, most mainstream manga are serialized weekly. Working within this narrow timeframe, a mangaka often creates a storyboard, writes and illustrates anywhere from eighteen to twenty pages and submits this chapter to be serialized. Each week, a magazine carries anywhere from fifteen to twenty different chapters and readers vote which chapter they enjoyed the most from that week’s lineup. Since the Manga industry is so competitive, publishers use this data to feature the popular series more prominently in the next week’s lineup. On special occasions, like an anniversary or the climax of a major plot point, mangakas produce double-chapters and the issue is extended. When a manga becomes popular enough that there is a substantial demand for republication, these chapters are compiled sequentially from their initial publication into a volume. Currently, the best selling Manga of all time is One Piece, which has sold over five hundred million copies in 2025.
Stay tuned for more blog posts where I discuss my tankobon collection and how I started collecting!
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