For most of us, the thought of being able to read manga online legally is more like a pipe dream.

Sure, some websites and apps allow you to read manga online legally. But the problem with these websites and apps is that they’re only available in some countries.

Take the Viz Manga app, for example. Yes, it’s not a free app. But with only $2 a month, you can gain access to any manga that Viz Media has published so far.

While the thought of paying $2 a month can still feel like a stretch to some of us, $2 a month can be considered a steal for most of us.

But guess what? The Viz Manga app is only available in certain countries, though.

Tough luck if you don’t live in any of those countries. It’s no wonder that many of us are resorting to using scanlation sites to read manga online.

The good news is there’s a website that allows you to read manga online legally.

Not only can you recommend the website in the open like I always do. However, you can also read the manga in many different languages, not just English.

And the best part of all? It’s free and it’s available worldwide, no VPN or downloading an APK is required.

The website that made it possible to read manga online legally

If you’ve been reading my blog long enough, then I’m sure that you’re already familiar with MANGA Plus by now.

With MANGA Plus, not only can you read Weekly Shonen Jump manga for free. But you can read the latest chapter of your favorite Shonen Jump manga as soon as it comes out, too.

Of course, the Weekly Shonen Jump manga isn’t the only manga that you can read on MANGA Plus. You can read Jump Plus manga in MANGA Plus as well.

For those who aren’t familiar with Jump Plus, it’s similar to your usual Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. The only difference is that it’s an online publication.

As much as I enjoy reading Shonen Jump manga, I have to say that most of the manga that I recommend on my blog tend to be Jump Plus manga, for the most part.

Manga such as Dandadan, The Vertical World, Jigokuraku, Summer Time Rendering, and SPY x FAMILY. Those are the Jump Plus manga series, in case you’re wondering.

It’s all thanks to MANGA Plus that I get to read these manga series for free.

I don’t think I would even discover those manga series on my own if it were not for MANGA Plus.

How is that even possible?

How is it possible for MANGA Plus to publish the Shonen Jump and Jump Plus manga without getting flagged by the copyright police, Remove Your Media?

Well, the reason for that is simple – Shueisha is the one who owns MANGA Plus.

For those of you who have no idea who in the world Shueisha is, it’s a Japanese publisher that owns the copyright for all the Shonen Jump and Jump Plus manga in Japanese.

While many of the English rights for the Jump Plus manga belong to Shueisha, the English rights for Shonen Jump manga belong to Viz Media, though.

Despite that, you can still read the Shonen Jump manga on MANGA Plus since their licensing agreement also includes distributing the manga through MANGA Plus.

Of course, this is only speculation on my side, though.

If my understanding of how the licensing works is correct, then that can be the reason why we get to read Shonen Jump manga on MANGA Plus, despite Shueisha not owning the English rights to those manga series.

There must be a catch, right?

Yes, you’re right about that. There’s a catch when you read the manga on MANGA Plus.

For one, the chapters in between aren’t viewable in the app and also on the website. The only chapters that you can read for free are the first three and the last three chapters.

And that only applies to the ongoing manga.

If you want to read the chapters in between, then you will need to upgrade to their Standard plan.

But what if you want to read completed manga, such as Assassination Classroom and Astra Lost in Space, then?

Well, you will need to upgrade to their Max Deluxe plan.

Not only can you read the completed manga, including the ones that ended prematurely. But you can read the chapters in between for the ongoing manga, too.

While you can only subscribe to either plan on the app, you will be charged in your local currency.

Give this manga app a try as well

Another manga app you can try is Manga UP!.

For those who aren’t familiar with Manga UP!, it’s another manga app that allows you to read manga by Square-Enix.

What I love about Manga UP! is that you have many ways to read the manga.

You can choose to opt to subscribe to Vault Pass, which allows you to read unlimited manga with a small subscription fee.

Or you can also choose to buy virtual credits in whichever amount you prefer for a one-time purchase.

If you ran out of virtual credits to read the chapter, you can always buy them again.

But what if you don’t want to spend any money at all?

Well, you can use the UP or XP coins instead to read the chapter for free.

While you’ll get 160 UP and 800 XP coins upon signing up for the first time, the UP coin will be replenished again at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. local time if you’ve used it.

But the XP coin? You can’t replenish it once you’ve used it to read a chapter.

The only way for you to replenish the XP coin is to read a chapter from a new manga, which they tend to update the website or app with new ones from time to time.

Depending on the manga you read, you can rely on the UP coin for the most part to read the chapter.

But you need to use the XP coin or the virtual credits to read the recent chapters, though.

Another way to read manga online legally for free

While it’s not technically a website that has the same vein as MANGA Plus and Manga UP!, it’s worth mentioning here that Bookwalker does have a free manga promotion once in a while.

As you already expect, not all manga will be eligible for the promotion. And let’s not forget that the promotion is available for a limited time only.

If you’re looking for a new manga to read, then I highly recommend that you have a look at Bookwalker.

Just to let you know that some of the manga and light novels that I recommended on my blog are the ones that I got from Bookwalker.

You can read this post right here on why you should get the manga and light novels from Bookwalker, too.

This is how you show your support

As far as I can tell, Shueisha and Square-Enix are by far the manga publishers that I know that do this kind of thing.

If this kind of pursuit can combat manga piracy and increase sales at the same time, then I’m sure many publishers will follow suit as well.

Of course, your support matters too in this regard.

If you want more websites like MANGA Plus and Manga UP! to exist, then you should consider supporting the legal sites even if they come with a caveat.

As long as it’s something that we all can do within our means, I don’t see anything wrong with supporting a website like these in making their manga more widely accessible to a larger audience.

P.S. Another way to support your favorite mangaka and authors is to buy from them directly whenever possible.

The reason for that is simple. They get paid a lot more when you buy directly from them.

As you can see here, I don’t just blog about my favorite books and muse about anime and video games. I’m also an author, and I publish my own books.

If you’re curious about my writing and interested in supporting me, you can take a look at my Payhip store right here:

Sekina Mayu Payhip Store

Found something that caught your fancy? Don’t forget to use the coupon code SEKINAMAYUBLOG to get 25% off on your purchase.