I’m not very good at beginning reading challenges on their start date. I have a bad habit of finding a challenge that sounds amazing, making a mental note to join in and write a blog post about it, and then forgetting about the reading challenge until it shows up in my social media feed again. Such is the case with the #ReadManga18 Challenge by Manga Hoarder.

There are a total of 52 challenges along with 5 Bonus challenges to be completed over the coarse of 2018. While I’ve started four months late, I think I’ve already knocked a few off of the list. However, some of the challenges are going to be more difficult, especially ones that include genres I rarely read. But that’s the point of a reading challenge anyway, isn’t it? For now I’ll list out the challenges below. Check back next week to see how I’ve done with the challenges from January through March and at the end of April I’ll post another update on how I’ve done this month.

Challenges: 

1. A meta manga (Any manga that also features manga in it.)
2. A battle manga
3. A horror manga
4. A comedy manga
5. A romance manga
6. A 4-koma manga (This is a specific comedy format. 4-panels are stacked on top of each other reminiscent of comic strips)
7. A historical manga
8. A martial arts manga
9. A sports manga
10. A foodie manga
11. A mecha manga
12. A josei manga (This is a manga that was specifically marketed to an adult female audience)
13. An out-of-print manga
14. A hyped manga
15. A gekiga or alternative manga (Any title that doesn’t fit into the mainstream of manga would work for this one.)
16. A nonfiction manga
17. A borrowed manga
18. A western/steam-punk manga
19. A space/science fiction manga
20. A harem/reverse-harem manga
21. A contemporary/slice-of-life manga
22. A thriller/mystery manga
23. An OEL “manga” (OEL stands for Original English Language. Any “manga” or manga-inspired comic book or graphic novel that wasn’t written in Japanese would work for this challenge.)
24. A digital only/or digital-first release manga (This refers to legally licensed digital releases available through the English publisher. Please do not read scans for this challenge.)
25. A translated manga, where the title was not changed from Japanese
26. A manga that features a character with a disability
27. A manga that features a transforming character
28. A manga that features siblings
29. A manga features a character with super-powers
30. A manga that features non-human characters
31. A manga that features gods or monsters
32. A manga that features a female main character
33. A manga that features an LGBT+ character (Bonus: written by an LGBT+ author)
34. A manga set in a country outside of Japan
35. A manga that you’ve owned for over a year
36. A manga that is older than you
37. A manga by 2+ authors
38. A manga with a 1-word title
39. A manga with a colour in the title
40. A manga from an author you like
41. A manga recommended to you
42. A manga from a genre you rarely/never read from
43. A new to you author
44. A collection of short stories
45. A hardcover release
46. A 2018 release (volume 1)
47. Read the manga/watch the anime
48. A manhwa/manhua
49. Catch-up on or complete a series
50. A light novel (This is a genre of Japanese fiction that has close ties to the manga industry. Usually published as a serial, and often featuring the same stories and characters as the manga or anime.)
51. A comic/graphic novel from another country (Manga only represents Japan’s comic book traditions. Don’t forget to check out the great work coming out of other countries!)
52. Your favourite manga

BONUS:

1. 2+ series by the same translator
2. A manga in original Japanese
3. 3+ series by the same author
4. An omnibus/single-volume over 500 pages
5. An award winner

Is anyone else participating in this challenge? Remember, its never too late to jump in! If you’re participating remember to use #readingmanga18 on social media.

If you want a handy printable PDF of all the challenges you can find one here: Manga Hoarder’s 2018 Manga Reading Challenge.