Tankōbon
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Tankōbon (単行本?) is the Japanese term for a "compilation volume" of a particular series (such as a manga or a novel series, magazine articles, essays, craft patterns, etc.), as opposed to a magazine or a complete works series which often contain multiple titles.
Typically, manga are first published in phone-book-sized weekly or monthly anthology manga magazines (such as Afternoon, Shonen Jump or Hana to Yume). These anthologies often have hundreds of pages and dozens of individual storylines by multiple authors. They are printed on very cheap newsprint and are considered disposable. A tankōbon collects chapters from a single series and reprints them in a roughly paperback-sized volume on higher quality paper.
In English, while a tankōbon translation is usually marketed as a "graphic novel" or "trade paperback," the transliterated terms "tankoubon" and "tankobon" are sometimes used amongst online communities. Japanese people frequently refer to manga tankōbon as komikku (コミック?), from the English word "comic".
The term may also refer to the format itself — a comic collection in a trade paperback sized book (as opposed to the larger format used by traditional American graphic novels). The tankōbon format has made inroads in the American comics market, with several major publishers opting to release some of their titles in this smaller format.
[edit] Aizōban and kanzenban
An aizōban (愛蔵版?) is a collector's edition volume. These volumes are generally more expensive and lavished with special features such as special covers created specifically for the edition, special paper used for the cover, higher quality paper, a special slipcase, and so on. Aizōban are generally printed in a limited run, thereby increasing the value and collectability of those few copies made. Generally only the most popular manga (such as Dragon Ball) are released in this format. Kanzenban (完全版?) is another term sometimes used to denote this kind of a special release. While the aizōban appellation emphasizes the value of the volumes, the term kanzenban emphasizes their completeness.
[edit] Bunkoban
A bunkoban (文庫版?) edition is a typical Japanese novel-sized volume. These are smaller (about 16cm tall) and thicker than tankōbon, printed on much higher quality paper, and usually have a new cover designed specifically for the release (in the case of manga). If there was a wideban release, the bunkoban release will generally have the same number of volumes. The term is abbreviated to just bunko (without the -ban). An approximation for the number of bunko is half the number of regular tankōbon, e.g. Please Save My Earth was published in 21 tankōbon, and then re-released in 11 bunko.
[edit] Wideban
The wideban (ワイド版 waidoban?) edition is larger than the regular tankōbon, and generally collects a series in fewer volumes than the original tankōbon release. For example, Maison Ikkoku was originally released in 15 tankōbon volumes, but was released as 10 wideban volumes.
