It’s no secret that many UC High students enjoy scooping up a good comic book series every once in a while and diving into an action-packed, drama-filled story. Superheroes and dynamic characters seem to pull at the heartstrings of many and draw in a diverse onslaught of readers. But what you hear about a lot less in UC High halls are students who actively enjoy reading manga.

Manga, in the simplest of terms, is a genre of graphic novel or comics that originates from Japan. The genre is aimed particularly at adults and young adults, and many students at UC High enjoy reading their captivating stories that find themselves on shelves in bookstores all over the place. “I love to read manga. All the different types of stories you can read are really interesting,” said Sophomore Bianca Encio.

The cool thing about manga is that there’s something for everyone. Whether you like cheesy romance, ridiculous humor, action, drama or even horror, there’s a manga that you are bound to like. Do you like intense action and cutthroat kitchen cook offs? There’s a manga for that, Shokugeki no Soma. How about dystopian adventures? There’s one for that, No. 6. Do you like a particular sport? There’s bound to be a manga for that sport.

“There are a lot of genres to it. It’s just a matter of finding what you are into. There’s one for everything,” explained Senior Gemma Serrano. Many Americans are quick to dismiss the idea of manga because it is foreign, or because they find it strange that they read from right to left (in Japanese style) instead of left to right like in America, but you’d be surprised by how tantalizing a good manga series can be. “You read from right to left instead of left to right, and a lot of people have misconceptions about that. Since they don’t know how to read it, they kind of just shoot it down and say it sucks,” said Serano. Once they are used to the format, though, many students find that they enjoy manga.

One manga series that is well worth checking out is called One-Punch Man (OPM), written by an author that goes by the name “ONE” and illustrated by Artist Yusuke Murata. The plot of OPM follows a very average-looking bald guy named Saitama who is, for the most part, dull and ordinary in every way. Saitama works as a real-life superhero as a “hobby” and faces one big problem: not that he cannot defeat a villain, but that he can’t seem to find an opponent well matched to him; he beats every boss, no matter the size or strength with one punch. In addition to being action-packed, OPM is ridiculously comical and will surely have you rolling on the floor if you decide to give it a chance.

If you like drama with intense themes and characters, then a manga series to try would be GANGSTA., written and illustrated by an author who goes by the name “Kohske.” This series offers vivid art and complex characters that will linger in your mind long after you read through the available volumes. GANGSTA. follows two “Handymen” who take any job from anyone, whether that person be a cop, a mob boss or a granny in need of roof repairs. Handymen Nicholas Brown and Worrick Arcangelo and Ex-prostitute Alex Benedetto, along with an onslaught of other wildly imaginative characters, all try to survive and thrive in a rough city ruled by the mafia and riddled with criminals, prostitutes, hunters and a race of people called “twilights.”

It’s easy to make fun of someone for liking manga or graphic novels, but in the end, you can’t judge something until you try it out for yourself. You may surprise yourself and find a manga series or two that you actually like.