Webtoons|Another Look at Manta After 2 Months
Hello dear BAYOG Fam! I’m back today with another manhwa/webtoon related post! Y’all know I love my webtoon/manhwa series. I basically use every official platform like LINE Webtoon, Lezhin, TappyToon, Tapas, Pocket Comics, Copin, etc. I’m also one of those people who’s willing to drop coins for my series. I’ll even pay to use a fast pass on a free platform like LINE Webtoon. Back in January, I talked about a new platform called [Manta]. RIDI’s Manta Comics is a bit different from the other platforms we’re used to. It differs in that it’s a flat rate subscription service instead of paywalls and having to pay-per-chapter. My original post had been based on my 2 week trial using their service. We’re at the end of March, so it’s been about 2 months since my post on Manta. In that time Manta has had some changes, and I’ve had more time to familiarize myself with their platform. So I figured it was a good time to do a follow up post
RECAP: MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS AFTER 2 WEEKS
Before we get into it, let’s do a recap of my original post! Manta was still brand new and in the middle of improving as they went along. Still, it was a pretty great app. It looked really sleek and looked professional. I won’t name specific platforms, but there had been platforms that were relatively new and did not look that great. It was to the point I questioned if those platforms were legit or some sketch app. However, Manta was beautiful. It loaded quickly too. I didn’t have to sit there waiting for a chapter to load. While the titles that I was interested were a bit limited, they did have a wide variety in titles and genres for everyone. I also did like that they had various recommendation lists for specific interests. Looking for romance series? BL series? Horror? Supernatural? Manta has gotchu! However, what made Manta unique was that it was a flat rate subscription service. For about $4 per month, you get unlimited access to all of their titles and chapters. UNLIMITED. You were completely free to binge read to your heart’s content! No need to worry about interruptions and having to top off your credit.
Manta was great. Of course, it wasn’t perfect. Which was totally understandable since it was new. Still, there were somethings I wasn’t totally in love with. I also did think there could be certain improvements as there were also some inconveniences.
- Titles were still a bit limited.
Again, understandable considering it was just starting off. However, it was also clear that they would be adding more titles to their platform over time. So this wasn’t as big of an issue. I was just more on my part and tastes because there weren’t many titles I was particularly interested in. The ones I did like were series I had already bought/completed on other platforms. - Difficulty Navigating
It was a bit difficult navigating my way around the app. In particular, I had trouble finding a way to look up series I was interested in or wanted updates on. Again, it was a bit inconvenient during the first stages of the platform. It was a bit inconvenient because I wanted to look up series that I was following, or caught my eye from a glimpse before. It was also just difficult because it didn’t seem like there was a way to choose how to view the list of series. Normally, I would look for specific categories/genres, or want to sort a list based on popularity. That wasn’t an option. So I just had to scroll through a list with every title.- Need of a Daily Calendar
There was a “Today’s Update” section. However, I preferred having a calendar. It allows a reader to see all the available and updated titles, while also letting you know the release schedules. I like knowing which series I’m interested in, and I like knowing what day each series is updated. - Need of a Search Function
At the time, I didn’t see any type of search function. Which made looking up a series really difficult. I had to manually sift through lists and titles to find the specific series I was looking for. - Need of a Bookmark/Subscribe/Favorites Option
At the time, there wasn’t a bookmarking or favoriting option. A way to bookmark or favorite a series is important in helping keep track of the series you’re following. It’s also key to knowing which series you’re following is updated as well. Readers needed a way to make a list of what they’re reading somehow.
- Need of a Daily Calendar
- Font/Typesetting
This was my only big kind of issue at the time. I felt like the fonts and typesetting didn’t match a majority of the series. To me, it felt out of place and didn’t look look like it meshed well with the speech bubbles or art. The font and typesetting made the text look stiff and flat. They were mostly thinner types of fonts that were a bit more straight? It was a bit jarring to the eyes, especially considering that most webtoons/manhwa series used more thicker and rounded types of font. Some of the series looked fine, while others looked similar to lower quality fan translations that used MTL (machine translations). It might just be me being picky, but I thought that certain fonts/typesetting made the series just look less professional.
Overall, I still found Manta to be pretty appealing. So I concluded that I would continue to use their service for a while longer. I made my original first impressions post back on January 6th. I just did it because I love reading manhwa/webtoons, and I wanted to see what Manta had to offer. Like I said, I use alot of platforms and I enjoy sharing things I like. I thought it would be helpful for my fellow manhwa/webtoon fans. I was surprised Manta actually shared and retweeted my post on their Twitter account. I was also surprised when I saw that they followed me on Instagram. I just thought, “Oh~ That’s cool~” I was happy as it was and felt like I did something properly. I thought that was that, but It didn’t end there.
So I was really confused and surprised to find that Manta had DMed me on Instagram?? They basically contacted me to say that they read my post. Which I totally didn’t expect… They thanked me for my feedback and asked if they could get my opinion on some things to help improve their service. Honestly, this was super unexpected and surprising. I agreed to help however I could. Honestly, this exchange with them made me appreciate Manta even more. They were super chill and it was a pleasure to talk to them. I’m a veteran at customer service (since I grew up in the restaurant industry), and I was really impressed with their customer service. They felt super sincere. It seemed like they genuinely cared, and it wasn’t lip service. It’s really nice to see a company actually value the feedback from their audience, and actively try to make improvements on the feedback that they receive. On a side note, this exchange really threw me off. I’m just a nobody that blogs about things I fangirl over; Mostly for me and my friends’ enjoyment. I honestly forget that I’m a blogger sometimes. This just weirdly made me feel like I was a legit blogger or something lol
2 MONTHS LATER
Anyway, it’s been 2 months now. There’s been some changes and I’ve gotten more familiar with their service than I was during the 2 week trial. I can I honestly say that they followed through with their promise to improve their service. I’m also very impressed at how quickly they implemented the changes and improvements. Their changes and improvements actually hit every thing I had previously mentioned.
- Wider selection of titles
They’ve added alot more series over the past 2 months. They also already had several titles that had been available on the other platforms like TappyToon, Tapas, Lezhin, and Copin. However, they were already completed series. Manta has now added many, many more titles to their catalogue. It includes several ongoing series that are currently published on those other platforms. At first, I noticed that the chapters and scheduling was still somewhat behind to the other publishers. Like My String of Fate had been several chapters ahead on TappyToon. However, they’re now caught up and released on the same schedule. They’re also adding many new series that’s been released in Korea not that long ago as well. So their catalogue is pretty up to date. I’ve found several more series that piqued my interest. So I’m now able to make more use out of the service. - User Friendly Navigation/Updates
As I said earlier, it was difficult to navigate the platform before. It was admittedly inconvenient and not very user friendly in that aspect. However, they’ve implemented the features to help solve those issues. Which is great because it just makes it so much more user friendly and easier to browse through. I also want to say that I really appreciate them putting the series’ update schedule under the titles on the series’ pages.- Addition of a Daily Calendar
A daily calendar was added. Now you can see which series are updated on which day throughout the week. - Addition of a Search Function
A search function was added, so now I can easily look up a series. You can also browse by genres. You can also sort the results by popularity or whatever is the latest series. - Favorites Option
There’s now an option to favorite a series. You can easily view your favorited series in the My Series section.
- Notification Option
In addition to the option to favorite a series, there’s also an option to turn on notifications for a series. That way you can easily be notified of any new updates. It’s also really nice that it’s a separate option. For me it’s a nice way to bookmark a series I might be interested in, but not yet commit to following like my favorites. It’s also a way for me to keep track of series I’m not particularly in love with, but am interested in enough to kill time with.
- Addition of a Daily Calendar
- Improved Fonts/Typesetting
Again, the fonts/typesetting was probably the thing that kind of annoyed me the most. It’s not something that I was able to not take notice of. There were times where it looked less professional than fan translations. Again, this is something Manta reached out to me to talk about and said they’d improve on. They kept their word. They actually went above and beyond what I expected. I feel like it’s such a huge improvement that’s really evident in their more brand new releases like Observing Elena Evoy and My Father Is A Tyrant. It looks really clean and much more professional. The fonts and text blends in so much better with the art and everything. It’s a good thing because it doesn’t look jarring anymore. So it doesn’t break my concentration and enjoyment while reading now.
(I do it for my bishies/꽃미남!)
2 months has also made me realize even more that Manta is such a great bargain. Of course the most appealing thing about Manta is that it’s a flat rate subscription service. Honestly, $4 per month is a damn steal. I pay $7 for each large 3Q Milk Tea I order from Vivi Bubble Tea. Manta is literally cheaper than the bubble tea I drink. Last time I said I wouldn’t look to see how much I spend on reading manhwa and webtoons. I went to take a look at my 2021 spending so far to give you a better idea of what a steal this is. Also note that I do read alot of webtoons. Especially with the addition of many new series on all the various platforms. Despite that, I actually did cut down on reading many of my series for the past couple of months. It’s still alot though, but significantly less than my average… So for TappyToon, I usually top of $15 of tokens at a time. I just topped it off the other day. The last time I topped it off was back at the end of January, but I should note that I had actually bought $25 worth of tokens then. Apparently I had topped off $15 worth of tokens at the beginning of January too. I also spent $10 on coins for LINE Webtoon in January. Around the beginning of February I topped off $11 worth of ink for Tapas. I had to stop myself from looking at the rest of my spending February and March at that point… As you can see, it can really start to up! This doesn’t even include my spending on Lezhin, Copin, or Pocket Comics. Although, I should note that I don’t spend as much on those platforms and it’s a while since I even had to top off my credit on those. Honestly, I knew I spent some coin on my readings. Still, I never realized I spent that much… Now there’s another other good thing with Manta that kind of ties to this is. Manta has several popular titles that are appear on those other platforms. They’ve actually started adding more of these kinds of series too. So it can actually save you more money than you realize!~ Despite my big spending on the other platforms, Manta’s service has helped me save some of my credit on those other platforms. Now I can read a handful of my series over at Manta and save my coins for other series. For example, I now just read My Red String of Fate over at Manta instead of TappyToon. So in a way, I don’t need to top off as often.
After using Manta for 2 months, I can confidently say that it’s a really wonderful webtoon platform. I love the additions and improvements. I also really love how they were implemented pretty quickly. To be honest, while I did enjoy Manta the first couple of weeks, I didn’t really have any expectations for me to particularly love it as much as my other go-to webtoon apps. After all, services like LINE Webtoon and TappyToon have been around for several years. They’re pretty well-established and popular with webtoon fans. However, I can see Manta is growing and improving really quickly. While it’s not yet my favorite webtoon platform, it’s quickly becoming one of my favorites. I previously thought I’d really just be sticking around for just a couple series. I figured I’d just be using it every now and then for some series, but still just enough where it was still getting my money’s worth. Surprisingly, I’ve found myself using it much more frequently than I thought. So yes, I’ll be happily continuing my subscription to Manta~
With that being said, I’d also like to include some of the titles I’ve been reading over at Manta (be it my faves or just series to kill time):
- [Under the Oak Tree]
- [Lamia Orphe is Dead]
- [My Red String of Fate]
- [Amina of the Lamp]
- [Observing Elena Evoy]
- [My Father is a Tyrant]
- [A Bookstore Romance]
- [A Royal Princess with Black Hair]
- [The Demon Queen Has a Death Wish]
- [Cheoyong: A Ghostly Romance]
- [Wake Up, Warrior!]
- [Lady Devil]
My favorites that I had actually bought/completed on other platforms, but are also available on Manta:
So yeah, kudos to Manta! I definitely recommend their platform if you’re a manhwa/webtoon fan. Again, I’m genuinely impressed. I’m a longtime fan and consumer of webtoons/manhwa, and I’ve used nearly all of the platforms. I legitimately have high expectations and can’t wait to see how they continue to grow and improve. I genuinely can see them becoming one of the most popular webtoon platforms despite being relatively new. Anyway, who else is using Manta? What are some of your favorite reads and/or platforms?~ Let me know in the comments, my socials, or Discord! Take care and stay safe!~ Stop the hate, spread more love! Have a lovely day BAYOG Fam!~
LET’S BE FRIENDS!~ (つ✧ω✧)つ
Hihi! I’m Minty! I’m Thai-American~ เป็นคนไทยค่ะ~ ยินดีที่ได้รู้จักนะคะ~
I’m BAYOG’s hella basic Asian chick, Real People Stuffs expert, and boba addict. I’ve been a part of the BAYOG Crew since 2017~ I fangirl and mostly blog about music, live action movies/dramas, manga/webtoons, and occasionally webnovels~ When I’m not blogging, I’m usually writing/singing Thai-English covers~
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WASH YOUR HANDS. WEAR A MASK.
SOCIAL DISTANCE. PLEASE.
Take care y’all. Please stay safe and take care of yourself. All jokes and fun aside…Always wash your hands, practice social distancing, and wear a mask! It’s better to be cautious than face irrevocable consequences of health complications or death.
BLACK LIVES MATTER
AS A GROUP OF BIPOC, BAYOG strongly stands with Black Lives Matter. We are all too familiar with the racism that we, our friends, and family have faced on a daily basis. Every life is precious. However, as BIPOC, we also recognize that black people are a group of people that face extreme racism and at a higher risk for their safety. We’ve individually done several donations. Of course, donations to support the cause and support change isn’t the only thing needed. Support for the cause and change also requires conversation and understanding. Make sure to have those conversations. Please remember to be an active supporter, be it through donations, sharing information, and/or conversations and speaking up.
If you can, please consider donating. I’ve donated more than once as well. For one of my donations, I donated through the BTS ARMY x BLM project. I recommend that if you’re unsure of where to donate. This is because the donation will be split amongst several different non-profit organizations. Of course, you can also choose a specific organization(s) if you wish as well. You can find that [HERE].
You can also check out the following:
- http://blmsites.carrd.co
- http://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co
- http://blackliveswillalwaysmatter.carrd.co
- http://blmstanguide.carrd.co
- http://saytheirnames.carrd.co
STOP ASIAN HATE CRIMES
As an Asian-American, racism and hate crimes against AAPI isn’t new. It’s always been around. Unfortunately, misinformation and the pandemic has caused an insane surge in racism and xenophobia. There has also been an insane rise in hate crimes. More recently, we’re seeing a surge of hate crimes against the Asian elderly. Particularly in the California and New York areas. Some cases even leading to injuries and even death. The sad thing is that many cases do not get alot of attention, or are just looked passed. It breaks my heart and is cause for concern since it affects our community. Since some of the BAYOG Crew (including myself) are Asian-Americans ourselves, I wanted to use our small platform to help in anyway. Hate, racism, and xenophobia is an ugly thing. We’re friends, in the same community, and against the same social injustices. So be kind and let’s fight these things together.
You can also check the following for more information, ways to help, & to donate:
- http://hateisavirus.org
- https://gofundme.com/AAPI
- http://advancingjustice-aajc.org
- http://caasf.org/
- [Donate to Different Organizations to Support AAPI Communities]
- https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co
- https://stopasianhate.carrd.co/
Please report hate crimes at Stop AAPI Hate:
Volunteer
You can see if your community has a volunteer chaperone or neighborhood watch/patrol program.
Some examples:
- Compassion in Oakland @ Oakland, California| http://compassioninoakland.org
- Safe Walks @ NYC, New York| https://safewalx.com/en/welcome
- Guardian Angels| http://guardianangels.org/volunteer
They’re well known patrol volunteers in NYC, but they do have other branches too.
Volunteer at any other organizations that provide assistance to Asian-Americans; Particularly the elderly.
Some examples:
- Heart of Dinner @ NYC, New York| https://www.heartofdinner.org/
An organization that supports local businesses and provides meals and care packages to the Asian elderly in NYC.
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