When it comes to reading manga legally, there are a few ways to do it. Viz Media, one of the largest publishers in North America for manga in English, makes it a bit confusing, though, with two distinct apps it owns. Should you get the Viz Manga or Shonen Jump app? Here are the positives and negatives of each, and which one might work for you.
Screenshot by Siliconera
Viz Manga App Benefits and Cost
The Viz Manga app is the cheaper of the two options for official Viz Media manga reading. With a rather cheap subscription of only $1.99/month, you get more than 10,000 manga chapters instantly and available for offline reading.
In addition, you get new manga chapters each week. It features some of the best and most recent manga, too, like Inuyasha, Komi Can’t Communicate, Nana, and many more. The only problem is that it doesn’t feature some of the classic shonen manga, and the ones it does have are severely limited.
For instance, My Hero Academia is available in the app but it only goes up to Volume 34, which is rather far off from the current Volume 38 of the series.
Screenshot by Siliconera
What Comes With the Shonen Jump App?
On the other hand, Shonen Jump app is for those of you who adore the latest shonen series like My Hero Academia and Black Clover. If you are someone who needs the latest chapter of Hunter x Hunter, if it ever returns again, this is the app for you.
Unfortunately, this comes with a slightly steeper price of $2.99/month, but you get access to even more manga chapters with a vault of more than 15,000 chapters with download options. Plus, you get the awesome simulpub feature, which guarantees new chapters in English hours or days after the Japanese release.
But if you aren’t huge on shonen series like Boruto, this may not make a lot of sense for you.
Which App Is Better for You?
In the end, the right app for manga reading comes down to your personal preferences. If you like the idea of having chapters in English right after the Japanese release or love shonen series, the Shonen Jump app is for you.
If you have a wider set of preferences, such as fantasy, rom-com, slice-of-life, and the like, you might be better off with the Viz Manga app. Alternatively, you could get both of these for a total of $4.99/month. But if you’re truly torn, I suggest downloading both apps and trying them out. They each have free manga chapters anyone can read without paying a cent.
