<p><a href="https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/40583/who-decides-the-usage-of-furigana-in-a-manga/40666#comment54975_40583">Ross Ridge's comment</a> is correct:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I believe it's essentially determined by the media the the manga is original published in. Just like how the content of the manga needs to be age appropriate to for the target demographic, so does the use of furigana. Any one not in their teens is going to have difficulty reading manga without it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Each manga magazine has target audience. It's usually categorized into 6 sections, by ages and gender: 少年 (boys), 少女 (girls), 青年 (youngs), レディース (ladies), 女性 (female), 男性 (male).</p>
<p>Boys and girls are &quot;officially&quot; targeted for elementary school students. Youngs and ladies are for the teen.</p>
<p>For boys or girls category, like <em>Jump</em>, &quot;magazine&quot; or <em>Sunday</em>, they always use furigana. Publisher enforces it and doesn't allow furigana in furigana (example: using kanji 二律背反 as furigana to ジレンマ (dilemma), because the kanji also needs furigana). In your example, <em>Air Gear</em> and <em>Attack on Titan</em> came from &quot;magazine&quot;, they always have furigana.</p>
<p>For Youngs category, they use furigana for difficult kanji only or the first time it's used. <em>Kaiji</em> is published in Young Magazine and <em>Mushishi</em> is published in Afternoon and both are ok to not include furigana.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2017-06-03T04:52:42.043Z
2020-10-27T12:29:45.547Z
2020-10-27T12:29:45.547Z
kumagoro
<p>Recently I started to seriously read digital manga in Japanese by utilizing their free-reading (立ち読み: read while standing) feature for some first chapters. Then I realized that some serieses use <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furigana" rel="noreferrer"><em>furigana</em></a> on all kanji, and the rest only on some difficult/rare kanji.</p>

<h1>Furigana on all kanji</h1>

<ul>
<li><p><em>Air Gear</em></p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/w60Xl.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/w60Xll.png" alt="furigana on all kanji in Air Gear"></a></p></li>
<li><p><em>Attack on Titan</em></p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/aRLP0.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/aRLP0l.jpg" alt="furigana on all kanji in Attack on Titan"></a></p></li>
</ul>

<h1>Furigana on some kanji</h1>

<ul>
<li><p><em>Kaiji</em> (<em>furigana</em> on <em>itazura</em>)</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/wHEM4.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/wHEM4l.png" alt="1 furigana on Kaiji: itazura"></a></p></li>
<li><p><em>Mushishi</em> (<em>furigana</em> on <em>igyou</em> and <em>mushi</em>)</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/QGxng.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/QGxngl.jpg" alt="2 furigana on Mushishi: igyou, mushi"></a></p></li>
</ul>

<p>So, who decides the usage of furigana in a manga? Is it the author's preference, or is it decided by the publisher?</p>

<p>Note: in this case, it's about <em>furigana</em> used for standard reading, not on its artistic usage/alternative reading/pun.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-30T00:37:43.820Z
Additional case: on one manga that I forgot the title currently, all kanji inside the dialog box has its furigana, but the kanji used on a sign/building doesn't.
Aki Tanaka
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-18T14:00:25.153Z
Related on Japanese.SE: [Why would a light novel have furigana for common kanji?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/73930/5464)
Aki Tanaka
<manga-production>
Who decides the usage of furigana in a manga?
# Who decides the usage of furigana in a manga?
Posted by: username_0 on 2017-05-30
Recently I started to seriously read digital manga in Japanese by utilizing their free-reading (立ち読み: read while standing) feature for some first chapters. Then I realized that some serieses use [*furigana*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furigana) on all kanji, and the rest only on some difficult/rare kanji.

# Furigana on all kanji

* *Air Gear*

  [![furigana on all kanji in Air Gear](https://i.sstatic.net/w60Xll.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/w60Xl.png)
* *Attack on Titan*

  [![furigana on all kanji in Attack on Titan](https://i.sstatic.net/aRLP0l.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/aRLP0.jpg)

# Furigana on some kanji

* *Kaiji* (*furigana* on *itazura*)

  [![1 furigana on Kaiji: itazura](https://i.sstatic.net/wHEM4l.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/wHEM4.png)
* *Mushishi* (*furigana* on *igyou* and *mushi*)

  [![2 furigana on Mushishi: igyou, mushi](https://i.sstatic.net/QGxngl.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/QGxng.jpg)

So, who decides the usage of furigana in a manga? Is it the author's preference, or is it decided by the publisher?

Note: in this case, it's about *furigana* used for standard reading, not on its artistic usage/alternative reading/pun.
**Tags:** manga-production
> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Additional case: on one manga that I forgot the title currently, all kanji inside the dialog box has its furigana, but the kanji used on a sign/building doesn't.  
> **username_0**: Related on Japanese.SE: [Why would a light novel have furigana for common kanji?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/73930/5464)  
---
## 1 answers
### Answer by username_1 on 2017-06-03. Score: 9 | Accepted answer
[Ross Ridge's comment](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/40583/who-decides-the-usage-of-furigana-in-a-manga/40666#comment54975_40583) is correct:

> I believe it's essentially determined by the media the the manga is original published in. Just like how the content of the manga needs to be age appropriate to for the target demographic, so does the use of furigana. Any one not in their teens is going to have difficulty reading manga without it.

Each manga magazine has target audience. It's usually categorized into 6 sections, by ages and gender: 少年 (boys), 少女 (girls), 青年 (youngs), レディース (ladies), 女性 (female), 男性 (male).

Boys and girls are "officially" targeted for elementary school students. Youngs and ladies are for the teen.

For boys or girls category, like *Jump*, "magazine" or *Sunday*, they always use furigana. Publisher enforces it and doesn't allow furigana in furigana (example: using kanji 二律背反 as furigana to ジレンマ (dilemma), because the kanji also needs furigana). In your example, *Air Gear* and *Attack on Titan* came from "magazine", they always have furigana.

For Youngs category, they use furigana for difficult kanji only or the first time it's used. *Kaiji* is published in Young Magazine and *Mushishi* is published in Afternoon and both are ok to not include furigana.
---
