Fan-colored manga is all over the internet, and most are stunning to look at. No surprise that they are a massive upgrade from the manga black and white.
But is colored manga better?
It’s all a matter of preference.
Western audiences accustomed to reading Marvel and DC comics will definitely feel that manga should have colors. On the other hand, manga purists want no changes made to the tradition.
But, with an increase in manhwa popularity, manga fans have started realizing what they are missing out on.
Where manga fans only get to see colors on the volume covers, manhwa has colors through and through. And today, I’ll show you what some of your favorite manga panels would look like with colors.
But first, let’s see why Japanese manga does not have colors.
Why Is Japanese Manga Not Colored?
Right now, the world of manga is bigger than ever. Japan’s favorite mode of entertainment has spread all over the globe. But the creators haven’t moved away from tradition.
Even after a crazy rise in demand for manga in the west, mangakas hasn’t pandered to them at all. They still stick to the right-to-left reading style and black-and-white manga pages.
However, tradition and history isn’t the only reason behind it.
1. Creation & Publish Speed
The biggest reason for keeping manga colorless is that mangakas don’t have the time to put in colors. Coloring, shading, highlighting- these things take a lot of time to get right, and Japanese mangakas can’t do all this within the short publishing deadlines.
If you don’t know already, almost every manga is published weekly.
That means a manga creator must write and draw one manga chapter within a week. And with outlines, dialogues, story, paneling, and plenty more factors to take care of, coloring doesn’t seem to matter one bit.
Secondly, printing and publishing black-and-white manga is cheaper and faster. Publishers don’t have to bear the extra cost of colored ink. They can churn tons and tons of copies at a very low cost.
2. Recycled Paper & Cheaper Publishing
Another reason for avoiding colors in a manga is the quality of the paper.
You might have noticed that the paper used in the manga is thin and light. That’s because a majority of publishers use recycled newspapers to print manga. And that recycled paper cannot hold the colored ink for a long time.
If a publisher wants to print a manga with colors, they’ll have to use a better quality paper, and that would increase the cost.
So, along with time, saving money is another huge factor in why there are no colors in mangas.
3. Easier Distribution
A manga with colors is twice the weight of a black-and-white manga. And while it doesn’t seem that much of an issue, it really adds up for bulk distributors.
With black-and-white pages, the weight of the shipment is easier and cheaper to manage.
Whatever the reason, black-and-white art has become synonymous with manga. While mangakas aren’t too keen on full-color manga, die-hard manga fans are also hesitant to change.
But things are definitely changing with the release of some officially colored mangas.
And here are some colored manga panels that made me wish manga had colors.
50 Colored Manga Panels From The Best Selling Manga
1. Jujutsu Kaisen Colored Manga Panels
- Mangaka: Gege Akutami
- Volumes: 21 and counting
- Publish Date: March 5, 2018
- Colored By: HEXAMENDLE
The story of Yuji Itadori trying to rid the world of dangerous Curses attracted a huge audience, and the Jujutsu Kaisen anime played a huge part in it.
Jujutsu Kaisen was the best-selling manga of 2022 with over 22 million copies sold.
Here are some of the best manga panels from Jujutsu Kaisen, colored!
2. Chainsaw Man Colored Manga Panels
- Mangaka: Tatsuki Fujimoto
- Volumes: 13 and counting
- Publish Date: December 3, 2018
- Colored By: HEXAMENDLE
This award-winning manga is one of the most popular anime right now, and it’s pretty easy to understand why.
Published in the Weekly Shonen Jump, Chainsaw Man follows Denji, a young boy who can turn his limbs into chainsaws. With this power, Denji joins the Public Safety Devil Hunters to protect others from Devils.
3. Spy x Family Colored Manga Panels
- Mangaka: Tatsuya Endo
- Volumes: 10 and counting
- Publish Date: March 25, 2019
- Colored By: Miscellaneous
Action, romance, comedy- Spy x Family has got it all; even a full-color manga release.
That’s right the missions of Loid, Yor, and Anya have been officially colorized and you can read the full-color Spy x Family online.
Below are some official and fan-colored manga panels from Spy x Family manga.
4. Tokyo Revengers Colored Manga Panels
- Mangaka: Ken Wakui
- Volumes: 31
- Publish Date: March 1, 2017
- Colored By: Miscellaneous
Another highly popular manga – with over 70 million copies sold since its release – Tokyo Revengers is the story of Takemichi Hangaki, a loser with time-traveling abilities, trying to save his friends and the love of his life.
While the manga has ended, Tokyo Revengers anime is now in its second season and more popular than ever.
Here are some of my favorite manga panels from Tokyo Revengers, but in color.
5. My Hero Academia Colored Manga Panels
- Mangaka: Kohei Horikoshi
- Volumes: 37 and counting
- Publish Date: July 7, 2014
- Colored By: HEXAMENDLE
Even the people not interested in anime/manga know of My Hero Academia because the anime series got insanely popular. And Netflix working on a My Hero Academia live-action film is proof of that. Moreover, the manga just crossed 65 million copies sold worldwide.
MHA follows the story of a young boy, Izuku Midoriya, who is born without any superpower in a world where everyone has one. But everything changes when he gets the strongest superpower in the world.
Seeing these colored manga panels, it’s pretty clear that manga with color can be 100x cooler if done right.
But, considering why manga is not colored in the first place, the chances of mangakas adopting colors are low.