Read Manga in Japanese! "Japanese in Anime & Manga B1B2 (Black Jack) Self-Study Course"

Nihongo Kyoiku News: This corner introduces the latest information on matters of high interest to overseas Japanese-language educators from among the Japanese-Language Education Programs conducted by the Japan Foundation.

May, 2025
The Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Kansai

There are undoubtedly some Japanese learners who would like to read manga in Japanese. However, reading manga in Japanese is a high hurdle... or so many people may think. This article introduces an online course perfect for these learners: the Japanese in Anime & Manga B1B2 (Black Jack) Self-Study Course.

“Japanese in Anime & Manga” Courses

The Japanese in Anime & Manga B1B2 (Black Jack) Self-Study Course (hereinafter the “BJ Course”) is a course through which learners can enjoy reading an episode of the manga “Black Jack.” It launched on the Japanese language learning platform “JF Japanese e-Learning Minato ” in July 2024. The course is mainly aimed at learners at B1 and B2 level who like anime and manga, and enables them to experience reading and enjoying a real manga.
Courses that involve anime and manga have previously been offered on Minato: the Japanese in Anime & Manga A1 (Greetings) Self-Study Course and the Japanese in Anime & Manga A2 (School Expressions by Scene) Self-Study Course. In the A1 course, learners took on the roles of characters often found in anime and manga to give greetings and self-introductions. The A2 course saw participants learn expressions from school scenes and record script lines. The three courses all aim to motivate people to learn Japanese and to enjoy anime and manga in the Japanese language.

The Manga “Black Jack”

Before giving an overview of the course, we will introduce the manga “Black Jack.” “Black Jack” is a work by Osamu Tezuka, known as the “God of Manga”; the main character is a genius surgeon called Black Jack. Osamu Tezuka, who had a medical degree himself, said that he created “Black Jack” based on the idea that if he were a doctor, this was the kind of doctor he would like to be. The manga was serialized in a magazine from 1974 to 1983, and is still one of the most popular of the 700 or so titles created by Osamu Tezuka.
“Black Jack” has a total of 242 episodes; participants of the “BJ Course” read one called “Ope no Junban (The Order of Operations)”; English title: “A QUESTION OF PRIORITY.” We hope you enjoy this 25-page drama.

The first screen of the Japanese in Anime & Manga B1B2 (Black Jack) Self-Study Course

Course image
Manga: (c) TEZUKA PRODUCTIONS

Overview of the Japanese in Anime & Manga B1B2 (Black Jack) Self-Study Course

The “BJ Course” has the following three Can-do objectives.

1．Can enjoy reading a real manga and generally understand the content if there are explanations of vocab and expressions.
2．Can imagine the scene after learning expressions used in anime and manga.
3．Can express your impressions and thoughts in Japanese after reading the manga.

The course structure is as follows. Participants aim to complete the Can-do objectives by studying 1–8.

1About the course: Participants check the course objectives, learning structure, and basic information about the work.
2Read the manga: Participants read a real manga with no alterations in vertical scroll format.
3Manga with support (option): Participants read the manga while looking at support for vocab and expressions.
4Check the content; check the expressions, and then read the manga again: Participants check their understanding of the story content and manga expressions, and then try reading the manga again.
5Write your thoughts: Participants vote for their opinions and write these to the Group.
6Test: Participants check whether they have understood the content studied.
7Watch in anime form; learn about Black Jack (option): Participants watch the same story in anime form and learn more about “Black Jack.”
8Review: Participants look back at the work and what they have learned and check the Can-dos.

1. About the course
2. Read the manga

3. Manga with support
(mouse-over display/side display)
4. Check the content

5. Write your thoughts
7. Learn about Black Jack

Course Characteristics

This course is characterized by its goal of participants finding enjoyment in reading manga in Japanese. Its greatest attraction is surely that this isn't a manga that has been engineered for learners to study vocab or sentence patterns, this is an unaltered chapter of a real manga that participants can read in its entirety (2. Read the manga). The reading format of vertical scrolling on a screen enables learners who are used to reading manga on a PC or smartphone to enter the manga’s world as they read. It is also possible to adjust the display size, including viewing larger Japanese text.

If it is difficult for the learner to read the manga as it is, they can read it while checking the support for vocab and expressions (3. Manga with support). To accommodate learners’ Japanese levels and their different ways of reading manga, this is provided in three forms: (1) a mouse-over display, (2) a display to the side of the screen, and (3) a list to download. Participants should use these based on their own needs, whether they want to read the manga with a sense of speed or read while checking every part they don’t understand.

Participants can use interactive study materials to check the story content and manga expressions (4. Check the content). They can have fun as they learn through experiences not possible with a paper manga: putting the plot of the episode in order, and dragging the most appropriate line to the middle of a speech bubble.

Another characteristic of this course is that it incorporates voting through the “Write your thoughts” activity (5. Write your thoughts). Even though online self-study courses do have set output activities, there is a tendency for people to quickly get through them just by viewing them. The participants think about what they would do in this situation and vote on this, and can immediately find out how many people thought the same as them by looking at the results of the vote. Doing this means the participants will reexamine their own ideas and actually write their reasons.

We hope that the participants will watch the story in anime form at the end of the course (7. Watch in anime form). Adding the experience of watching the animated story to what they learn during the course will give learners a better sense of satisfaction and achievement.

Comments from Participants

Here, we share some of the reactions of people who have actually taken this course. It is evident that the participants enjoyed the manga, and that “Black Jack” has universal interest as a work and draws in participants.

I thought this was an old manga, but it was interesting when I tried reading it. I intend to watch the anime afterwards.
I enjoyed it thanks to the support resources, and also learned something.
The main character and the message of the story left an impression.
Before this, I didn't think that manga had much value, but having read this work I learned there are some very interesting manga.
I was happy that I learned new words and culture while reading the manga.

Plus, while learning Japanese through reading manga isn't the main objective of the “BJ Course,” enjoying the manga and savoring the artwork is a practical activity that uses Japanese, so it will ultimately help to establish/improve participants’ Japanese language abilities.

Finally

We think that all learners who love anime and manga will enjoy this course. And we will be thrilled if using this course to study inspires learners to read real manga in Japanese and learn more about the world of manga.

(ISHII Yoko, MIYAKE Naoko and KITAGUCHI Nobuyuki, Japanese-Language Education Specialist, The Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Kansai)

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