Manga Manhua and Manhwa, any advocate reader will come across these three different types of Asian comics, but do you know the differences between the three? This time, QooPedia takes a look at the three different types of comics!
First, let’s take a look at examples of each comic.
Manga – 漫画
Origin: Japan
Read Order: Top to Bottom Left to Right
Manhua – 漫畫
Origin: Greater China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong
Read Order: Top to Bottom Right to Left
Manhwa – 만화
Origin: Korea
Read Order: Top to Bottom Left to Right
If you haven’t already noticed, all three types sound similar. That’s because they all originate from the Chinese word Manhua 漫畫. Japanese and Korean were both influenced by Chinese characters. Even now Japanese uses Kanji which are often modified Chinese characters. Korean used to have kanji too, but in the 15th century, King Sejong the Great developed the Hangul, the Korean alphabet, which eliminated the use of Chinese characters.
So in conclusion, they are all essentially the same, each is comics from the three different regions. The difference between the three is the cultural differences that affect the reading order. Additionally, with the increasing popularity of webtoons (webcomics), most modern Korean manhwa and Chinese Manhua have become fully colored webtoons. Japanese Manga although affected by increasing webtoons, is still mostly print-based.
Are there any more you’re interested in learning? Seen or heard something you want to know more from anime? Let us know, maybe we can help you learn more!