The age rating system for North American manga releases is an accepted set of four ratings used by all major publishers.
Ratings[]
- All Ages: Recommended for readers of any age. According to Viz's ratings guidelines, an All Ages title "may contain mild language or fantasy violence but no swearing or nudity." Equivalent to E/E10+ for video games, G/PG for movies, and TV-Y, TV-Y7, TV-G/soft TV-PG for television. Examples include Yokai Watch (Viz Media) and Yotsuba&! (Yen Press).
- Teen (13+): Recommended for readers ages 13 and up. Equivalent to T for video games, PG-13 for movies, and hard TV-PG/soft TV-14 for television. Examples include Naruto (Viz Media), Fairy Tail (Kodansha Comics), and Sword Art Online (Yen Press).
- Older Teen (16+): Recommended for readers ages 16 and up. Equivalent to M for video games, R for movies, and hard TV-14/soft TV-MA for television. Some titles are shrinkwrapped at this rating, especially those with explicit nudity. Examples include Death Note (Viz Media), Durarara!! (Yen Press), and Monster Musume (Seven Seas Entertainment). Digital Manga Publishing uses an alteration of this rating with "Young Adult (16+)".
- Mature (18+): Recommended for readers ages 18 and up. Equivalent to AO for video games, NC-17 for movies and hard TV-MA for television. Most titles are shrinkwrapped at this rating, though it varies by store. Some stores may ask for ID, though it is not legally required to restrict these titles to adults only unless they are pornographic in nature. Examples include Berserk (Dark Horse Comics), Black Lagoon (Viz Media), and Velvet Kiss (Project-H). Publishers of Hentai manga may also refer to it as "adults only".
Defunct Seven Seas rating system[]
Seven Seas made updates to their ratings.
- All Ages: Appropriate for readers of any age. No swearing or suggestive themes/sexual content. May include mild fantasy action/violence. Equivalent to G for movies, E for video games, and TV-Y, TV-G and soft TV-Y7 for television.
- Ages 10+: Intended for readers aged 10 years and older. No swearing. May include mild action/comedic violence, mildly crude humor, or mild tobacco/alcohol use. Equivalent to PG for movies, E10+ for video games and hard TV-Y7 and TV-PG for television.
- Teen 13+: Intended for readers aged 13 years and older. May include mild swearing, mild suggestive themes, moderate violence, and/or tobacco, alcohol, or other substance use. Equivalent to soft PG-13 for movies, soft T for video games, and soft TV-14 for television.
- Older Teen 15+: Intended for readers aged 15 years and older. May include moderate swearing, mild suggestive themes/sexual content, partial nudity, violence, and/or tobacco, alcohol, or other substance use. Equivalent to hard PG-13 and soft R for movies, hard T and soft M for video games, and hard TV-14 and soft TV-MA for television.
- Older Teen 17+: Intended for readers aged 17 years and older. May include frequent swearing, intense violence, nudity, sexual content, and/or tobacco, alcohol, or other substance use. equivalent to hard R for movies, hard M for video games and medium TV-MA for television.
- Mature 18+: Intended for readers aged 18 years and older. May include intense language, nudity, sexual content, extreme violence, and/or other mature themes. equivalent to NC-17 for movies, AO for video games and hard TV-MA for television.
Defunct Tokyopop ratings system[]
Tokyopop took things further in terms of their ratings system, particularly because of local controversies over the mature content in some of their titles such as Peach Girl. At one point, there were five different ratings for manga, as well as content advisories that would appear below the rating.
- A - All Ages: Possible content advisories included "Cartoon Violence", "Potty Humor", and "Slapstick Humor".
- Youth - 7+: Was removed from Tokyopop's ratings before content advisories were introduced.
- Youth - 10+: Possible content advisories included "Mild Language", "Fantasy Violence", and "Bullying".
- T - Teens 13+: Possible content advisories included "Moderate Language", "Aggression", "Mild Violence", "Mild Gore", "Crude Humor", "Sexual Innuendo", "Mild Sexual Language", "Non-sexual Nondescript Nudity", "Mild Sexuality/Sexual Themes", "Mild Fanservice", "Tobacco Use/Reference", "Alcohol Reference", "Illegal Drug Reference", and "Occultism".
- OT - Older Teens 16+: Possible content advisories included "Strong Language", "Moderate Sexual Language", "Moderate Violence", "Moderate Sexual Violence", "Moderate Gore", "Non-sexual Partial Nudity", "Non-sexual Full Body Nudity", "Sexual Partial Nudity", "Sexual Nondescript Nudity", "Sexual Humor", "Representation of Pornography", "Moderate Sexuality/Sexual Themes", "Moderate Fanservice", "Alcohol Use", and "Illegal Drug Use".
- M - Mature 18+: Possible content advisories included "Excessive Language", "Explicit Sexual Language", "Intense Violence", "Explicit Sexual Violence", "Excessive Gore", "Sexual Full Body Nudity", "Explicit Sexuality/Sexual Themes", "Incest", and "Explicit Fanservice".
Trivia[]
- Ratings can change for manga based off later volumes. Examples of this include Claymore (went from Teen to Older Teen by Viz Media due to mature content) and Rave Master (went from Tokyopop's defunct Youth rating to a Teen rating in later volumes).
- Kodansha has labeled some of their T-rated titles for ages 10+, such as Witch Hat Atelier, as they do not have an in-between "Youth" rating like Tokyopop did.