# Educational manga/anime **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** cartoons-animation\ **Created:** [October 14, 2025, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educational-manga-anime/1023956 "2025-10-14T09:26:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educational-manga-anime/1023956/1 "2025-10-14T09:26:33Z")
I’ve been mulling over making a thread about this for a while now, and given that one of my examples is freshly coming off an anime adaption I’m finally getting around to it. This is a genre of manga/anime that centers around a specific real-world interest or hobby. The main character stumbles into the interest with little knowledge of it and they (and the audience) have many things explained to them along the way. It is typically ally a low-stakes slice-of-life story that doesn’t necessarily go anywhere in particular. Here are some that I like as manga. (I’ve never watched the anime for any of them.) In all samples, read left page, then right page. Panels read from right to left. _Houkago Teibou Nisshi_, known under several awkward attempts at English translation: _Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater_, _Afterschool Embankment Journal_, _Diary of Our After-School Fishing Club_: A girl moves back to a seaside town. She has no experience with fishing but is quickly drawn into the school’s fishing club where the other members teach her about many types of fish and fishing methods. The manga is ongoing at 85 chapters, the anime ran for 12 issues and is on Crunchyroll. [![](https://i.imgur.com/38uNmMX.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/38uNmMX.jpeg) _Yuru Camp_, translated as _Laid-Back Camp_: A girl joins her school outdoors club and learns about camping techniques, and locations. The manga is ongoing with 102 chapters. The anime has 37 episodes, 5 OVAs, and a movie (some but apparently not all available on Crunchyroll.) [![](https://i.imgur.com/UXtENcS.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/UXtENcS.jpeg) _Himitsu no Reptiles_, translated into _Reptile Secrets_: On impulse a salaryman walks into a large pet store thinking about picking a pet. While looking at the typical pets he encounters an employee who is really, really, really into reptiles and gets drawn into their (and her) world. The manga ran for 135 chapters, there is no anime as of yet [![](https://i.imgur.com/tQyhC9P.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/tQyhC9P.jpeg) _Dagashi Kashi_: No attempt was made to translate the title into English, which is a pun. Dagashi is a term for cheap sweets traditionally sold in specialty shops in Japan, like the early 20th century candy stores in the US (and like candy stores, pretty rare now. The main character is the son of a Dagashi shop owner who doesn’t want to spend his life running the store, who meets a girl who is extremely enthusiastic about all things dagashi and spends much of the manga describing various sweets and their history in detail. Here she waxes on about ramune drinks. The manga ran for 186 chapters and the anime (available on Crunchyroll) for 12 episodes. [![](https://i.imgur.com/CmCEKAp.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/CmCEKAp.jpeg) _Ruri no Houseki_, translated into _Ruri Rocks_ or _Introduction to Mineralogy_: A high school girl who discovers an interest in crystals meets a graduate student in mineralogy, taking her under her wing and teaching her (and the readers) about aspects of mineralogy, geology, and, in these pages, how to create thin section slides. The manga is ongoing with 38 chapters. The anime is 13 episodes and on Crunchyroll. [![](https://i.imgur.com/WzBAwZp.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/WzBAwZp.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educational-manga-anime/1023956/2 "2025-10-14T22:28:14Z")
I do not remember where I saw it, but there is a manga, _Bartender_, where this guy is an excellent bartender and makes and explains a lot of different drinks… ---
**Author:** ![Meatwater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meatwater/32/20074_2.png) [@Meatwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatwater)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educational-manga-anime/1023956/3 "2025-10-14T23:11:24Z")
I know Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure isn’t itself an educational manga/anime. However, in the later chapters when the main cast has to identify and defeat the enemy’s confusing powers, it seemed to me the mangaka read a fun fact of the day and made a whole power around it and how it needs to be defeated. I’m not sure how to articulate it other than thats just how it feels given the randomness of it all. Yet I leave some episodes slightly more knowledgeable.. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educational-manga-anime/1023956/4 "2025-10-14T23:25:03Z")
ISTM that quite a bit of Japanese entertainment media, from the little I know about it, includes this infotainment aspect. Workplace _dorama_ series that I’ve watched, including _La Grande Maison Tokyo_, _Atelier_, _Riku Oh!_, etc., will have scenes specifically devoted to explaining how some key aspect of this artisanal job works. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educational-manga-anime/1023956/5 "2025-10-15T00:45:46Z")
It may not be exactly the same genre, but I love [**Cells at Work!**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cells_at_Work!), and it’s certainly educational. Anthropomorphic blood cells working hard to keep the body going and free from disease. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educational-manga-anime/1023956/6 "2025-10-15T04:41:10Z")
Not exactly the same genre either, but I enjoyed the show **Dr. Stone** and its semi-educational take on how to manufacture items from scratch to create a new industrial revolution.