Scanlations Part Two: Why Should I Know About Scanlations?

It happens fairly regularly at my library:  someone comes over to the desk wanting to know about a series of manga that I've never read.  Sometimes it's a teen ("I love Tokyo Mew Mew; will I like this?"), sometimes it's a parent looking for an age appropriate series, and sometimes it's a teen asking for a title they love by it's Japanese name.  When the age rating on the back of a manga is nonexistent and Wikipedia fails me, I turn to Manga Fox.

Why I Like Manga Fox

• there are plenty of scanlation sites out there, but Manga Fox has the best search engine
• I don't get a virus warning every time it loads a page.
• I can find out most of what I need to know by hovering my mouse over a title.  A pop up box appears with almost all the details I need.

How to Find a Series on Manga Fox

• Search by English title or Japanese; it usually has both, unless the series hasn't been released in English yet.  
• Advanced search lets you limit to Japanese, Korean, or Chinese titles, by publication year, and whether or not a series is completed.  There is also a list of genres which you can include in or exclude from your search.
• Scroll down past the advanced search fields, and you can browse your way through an alphabetical listing of over 10,000 series.
• Search results are listed below the search fields.  There's a book icon next to each title.  A closed book means the series is finished; an open book means it's ongoing.  Right of each title is the latest chapter to be uploaded along with its the volume number.  Useful info if you can't afford to order a series with 50 volumes.

 Other Goodies

• On the home page is a list of the Top 25 series on Manga Fox.  Chances are that any series on the list will be popular at your library, too.
• The pop-up box for each manga contains mangaka, year of publication, a list of genres, and a blurb about the manga.  The blurbs are written by fans, who may not speak English as their first language, so they aren't always coherent, but the list of genres is always helpful.
• If all else fails, check the forum for a manga.  It will be filled largely with "I love this series!  I hope she falls in love with X," threads, but sometimes you can find serious discussions if it covers adult themes or describes an abusive relationship in a positive light.
• A quick scan of the genre labels with let you know if a manga has sex in it or not.  Yuri, yaoi, and smut all guarantee sex scenes.  Adult, mature, josei, and seinan may have some, as they are written for ages 18 and up.  Mature can also mean lots of violence and swearing. Ecchi means there will be plenty of innuendo, shots of girls' butts, and accidental groping, but no actual sex scenes.

What do the Genres Mean?

This post is already very long, so check out my Manga for Beginners page.  Most of the common genres are listed there.