Tankōbon

A tankōbon (単行本; lit. 'independent/standalone book') is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as shinsho (17×11 cm paperback books) and bunkobon. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that was previously published in a serialized format. Manga tankōbon typically contain a handful of chapters, and may collect multiple volumes as a series continues publication.

Major publishing imprints for tankōbon of manga include Jump Comics (for serials in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump and other Jump magazines), Kodansha's Shōnen Magazine Comics, Shogakukan's Shōnen Sunday Comics, and Akita Shoten’s Shōnen Champion Comics.

Increasingly after 1959,^{[citation needed]} manga came to be published in thick, phone-book-sized weekly or monthly anthology manga magazines, such as Weekly Shōnen Magazine or Weekly Shōnen Jump. These anthologies often have hundreds of pages and dozens of individual series by multiple authors. They are printed on cheap newsprint and are considered disposable. Since the 1930s, though, comic strips had been compiled into tankōbon collecting multiple installments from a single series and reprinting them in a roughly paperback-sized volume on higher quality paper than in the original magazine printing. Strips in manga magazines and tankobon are typically printed in black and white, but sometimes certain sections may be printed in colour or using colored inks or paper.

In English, while a tankōbon translation is usually marketed as a "graphic novel" or "trade paperback", the transliterated terms tankoubon and tankōbon are sometimes used amongst online communities. Japanese speakers frequently refer to manga tankōbon by the English loanword "comics" (コミックス, komikkusu), although it is more widespread for being used in place of the word "manga", as they are the same thing. The term also refers to the format itself—a comic collection in a trade paperback sized (roughly 13 cm × 18 cm, 5 in × 7 in) book (as opposed to the larger 18 cm × 25 cm, 7 in × 10 in format used by traditional American graphic novels).

Although Japanese manga tankobon may be in various sizes, the most common are Japanese B6 (12.8 cm × 18.2 cm, 5.04 in × 7.17 in) and ISO A5 (14.8 cm × 21.0 cm, 5.83 in × 8.27 in). The tankōbon format has made inroads in the American comics market, with several major publishers opting to release some of their titles in this smaller format, which is sometimes also called "digest format" or "digest size". In the United States, many manga are released in the so-called "Tokyopop trim" or "Tokyopop size" (approximately 13 cm × 19 cm, 5 in × 7.5 in).

An aizōban (愛蔵版; lit. "cherished edition") is a collector's edition volume. These volumes are generally more expensive and lavished with special features such as a special cover created specifically for the edition, a special paper used for the cover, higher quality paper, a special slipcase, etc. Aizōban are generally printed in a limited run, thereby increasing the value and collectability of those few copies made. The aizōban format has begun to make inroads into the US market, with titles such as Fruits Basket and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin being reissued in a similar format.

A bunkoban (文庫版; lit. "paperback edition") edition refers to a tankōbon printed in bunko format, or a typical Japanese novel-sized volume. Bunkoban are generally A6 size (105 mm × 148 mm, 4.1 in × 5.8 in) and thicker than tankōbon and, in the case of manga, usually have a new cover designed specifically for the release. In the case of manga, a bunkoban tends to contain considerably more pages than a tankōbon and usually is a republication of tankōbon of the same title which may or may not have been out of print.

Thus, the bunko edition of a given manga will consist of fewer volumes. For example, Please Save My Earth was published in 21 tankōbon volumes, and then re-released in 12 bunko volumes. If the original manga was a wide-ban release, the bunkoban release will generally have the same number of volumes.