finding manga to read

[schlo]

the stat / ratings post got me thinking about this again. How do you find or choose which mangas you read?

For me it is a variety of methods, but average rating is not one of them.

One method I use is a obvious one. I read the description and if it sounds interesting often I will read one or two chapters to see if I have any interest.

The manga series forum section, not chapter level. I didn't start out doing this but I've gotten so I like doing it. It's kind of similar to above but in this case is driven first by comments. I'll pick some from the list that I haven't read and have a decent number of comments and do a quick scan looking at some of the comments. When I do I'm searching for comments that discuss it or give a little insight, not the "great / love it" or "this sucks / done better elsewhere / trope" . From there I'll usually look at the themes just to filter out any

One less common way that I use but have had good luck with is when I find somebody that is also reading something I like a lot and they appear to have the same view (comments section) I sometimes will take a look at what they're reading, see if we have other matches and then look at what else their reading.

So how do you guys pick?

 

[Nick_Asano]

The first thing I do is read the comments section both to see what people think about it and to see what kind of people read it. The second thing I do is read the first few pages of the manga, and if I like the art and the storytelling format I finish the chapter. If it holds up to chapter 4 I might just finish the entire manga. I don't trust the ratings themselves. I've read a handful of manga that I was bored to tears with just because they had great ratings and reviews, so no matter what everyone else thinks about it you have to make up your own mind and decide what speaks to you.

 

[sterven]

I first look at the cover if the art is ok i'll click on it then go straight to the comments. Depending on how people are talking about it i'll either go straight into it or read
the description. If the description manages to tickle my curiosity then despite people shit talking the series i'll give it a go.

 

[PantsMan]

No joke, I have an autistic "game" I've been doing since back on Batoto in which I'll set a goal number (~50 - 100), then click the "Random" button that many times. The counter gets set back depending on which series appear and catch my eye: if it's something I'm following/already read, -1. If the description/cover interest me enough to check a few first chapters, -5. If I decide to bookmark it, -10. I wish I could filter manhua/manwha but hey; play stupid games, get stupid issues.

After a while it gets to a point where you can kind of tell whether you're going to be interested in something from the artstyle, basic premise or even a few pages. Reading manga is so easy, accessible and quick that even if you accidentally start reading garbage you can finish it within a day or drop it and move onto something else at the drop of a hat. Because of that I don't mind going by gut feeling and not being too picky about what first catches my interest. It's barely any skin off my back, and I come across hidden gems more easily this way. (I'll still follow stuff featured on the front page that catches my eye, mind you. I'm not that pretentious to snub anything popular).

Sticking to reviews, popularity, ratings and comments in my case are a lot less reliable than going by personal whim. When all Ecchi is rated on average around 7.5 yet gets tens of thousands of daily views and anything "sad/feelsy" tends to stay firmly in the upper 8.7s, it's best to just use them as a guideline of how controversial the series actually is than quality. I like rec threads though, and find a lot of stuff through those.

 

[EOTFOFYL]

A simple trick used,
watch the daily top rated
and see what pops up.

Or just straight up pick at random.