日本人の知らない日本語 1 なるほど~×爆笑!の日本語“再発見”コミックエッセイ

Fun and Informative

This was a fun read, but definitely best for people who already have some experience with Japanese language and culture. It's much more entertaining with that knowledge and would likely be quite difficult to read otherwise, despite the furigana.

It is a collection of stories, anecdotes, etc from the perspective of a teacher at a Japanese language school. If you have ever attended a Japanese language school, or are interested in why Japanese language is the way it is (why is the standard polite is です・ます and not でありますす、why one kanji has so many different readings, etc) this is the manga for you. Almost everything has furigana, so even if you don't know that many kanji you should be fine. I like how Nagiko, the author and the main character, writes her explanations about the Japanese language between chapters. They're fairly easy to read, but not completely dumbed down like textbooks can get. The chapters or segments are also fairly short, so you are less likely to get fatigue from reading this manga. It really is an interesting read because there are just so many facets in the Japanese language (enough for 4 volumes of this series), and this manga explains it to you in a fun and interesting way.