Japanese graphic novels, known as manga, are traditionally printed in black and white, but over the past decade have also moved to digital platforms, allowing for a wider range of accessibility for international audiences. The medium generally contains little dialogue between panels, letting the artwork do most of the storytelling; and unlike its animated and televised counterpart (anime), the art within manga must entice and hold a reader within a single frame to keep the individual engaged with the content until completion. Due to this medium’s nature and its popular accessibility, its imagery plays a very large role in providing context to readers. This imagery can be graphic in nature depending on the subgenre—a fact that tends to be ignored or dismissed by commentators who may only be familiar with manga vaguely or generically. Considering its widespread influence and the issues of desensitization it has been accused of raising, it’s important to consider the ethical implications of manga’s intention and impact alike. In other words, manga today is at once enormously popular and undertheorized.