Manga and Western comics tell stories with the same basic tools — panels, gutters, bubbles — but the traditions around them differ in ways that shape the whole reading experience. If you want your page to feel like one or the other, these are the details that matter.
Reading direction
The biggest difference is direction. Western comics read left to right; traditional manga reads right to left. On a manga page the first panel is in the top-right corner, and the eye travels leftward across each row. Everything else — the placement of the first speech bubble, which way characters face, where the “forward” direction of action points — flips accordingly. If you are drawing manga-style, commit to it fully; a page that mixes directions is disorienting.
Page size and format
Western comics are usually drawn for Letter or a US comic trim, while manga is traditionally printed at B5 or the smaller tankōbon volume size. The aspect ratio affects how many panels sit comfortably on a page and how tall your panels can be. Striply includes Letter, A4, and manga B5 as page-size presets so you can start from the right canvas.
Panel density and pacing
Western superhero comics have leaned toward relatively regular grids and, in recent decades, the slower widescreen style with a few big panels per page. Manga tends toward looser, more varied layouts — panels that tilt, overlap, break their borders, and vary wildly in size within a single page. Manga also tends to “decompress,” spending many panels and even whole pages on a single beat to build atmosphere, where a Western comic might cover the same ground in two panels. Neither is more correct; they are different rhythms of storytelling. (For more on rhythm, see composition and pacing.)
Screentones versus color
Most manga is printed in black and white, and it uses screentones — sheets of halftone dots, lines, and gradients — to create shading and texture without ink washes. A skilled manga artist builds an entire tonal world out of dot patterns. Mainstream Western comics, by contrast, are usually full color. Striply supports screentone overlays — dots, lines, and crosshatch — on any panel, so you can get that black-and-white manga texture, or leave panels in color for a Western look.
Gutters and sound effects
Small conventions add up. Manga frequently uses black gutters for flashbacks or to change the emotional register, where Western pages default to white. Manga sound effects are often integrated into the art as flowing, hand-drawn kana, while Western SFX tend to be bold, blocky, colored lettering. You can lean either way in Striply by styling your SFX and gutter colors to taste.
Pick a lane and try it: open the editor, choose the B5 page size, add a screentone to a panel, and lay the page out right-to-left. Then do a Western version and compare how differently they read.