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If I remember correctly, in MangaDex v3, volume numbering didn't matter when it came to read order, only chapter numbering. (If I'm misremembering, lol.) Regardless, MangaDex v5 doesn't work this way and the volume numbering takes precedence, allowing chapter numbering that gets reset per volume to be respected without issue. However, this then clumps No Volume chapters together at the end, regardless of chapter number, regardless of when they should be read. Putting aside the No Volume chapters that haven't yet been collected (or won't be because the series was cancelled) and series that have no volumes at all (because then it's not an issue), I'm specifically asking about the (extra) chapters, generally from Twitter X or pixiv (or FANBOX), that aren't included in the volume releases. How should they be handled? I can think of and have seen 3 different ways to handle them:
1. Put a volume number on the chapter, even though it's not a part of the volume.
1. Put a volume number on the chapter, even though it's not a part of the volume.
- While inaccurate, this is simple and preserves read order. The biggest example of this I know of is The Dangers in My Heart, which has all of the Twitter chapters and other extras right in line with the main chapters, numbered by release order, despite the fact that they don't appear in the volumes and many are in the future chronologically. In fact, the Twitter extras even got their own volume releases!, but a unique MD page was never made and the chapters were never migrated. Altho, maybe that's wrong. Should such a page be made? (Honestly, it seems crazy to me that one hasn't been.)
- What spurred me thinking about this and therefore this post was actually Parakeet-chan Wants To Inform You “Vol. 1” Ch. 7.5, which while more plot-relevant than most extras and chronologically right between Chs. 7 and 8, was not included in Vol. 1 for some reason. Is that fine as is, or should the inaccuracy be fixed? (Also, for reference, Chs. 8–10 are a part of Vol. 1, but I haven't reported it yet because the need for this clarification interrupted me.)
- As mentioned in the intro, this results in all such chapters being clumped together at the end, regardless of their chapter number and regardless of when it would be best to read them. For plot-relevant and/or chronology-fitting chapters, this seems ridiculous. Altho, not all extra chapters are like Parakeet-chan Ch. 7.5. For chapters that can be read whenever, it doesn't really matter if they're clumped together at the end. However, even in those cases, this seems like a suboptimal middle ground. Tho, when there are very few such chapters, it might seem like overkill to do the next option.
- One example is Starting Today We're Childhood Friends with its single non-volume extra. Should that be moved to Vol. 3?
- As mentioned before, sometimes the extra chapters are moved to their own page (despite them not really being their own series). The biggest example of this I can think of is The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses. Some months ago, the Twitter extra chapters were all migrated to a new page. When there are many such chapters and when there is no direct interchronology with the main chapters, this seems like the obvious best choice. However, as previously mentioned, this is not always done (The Dangers in My Heart) and doesn't seem super necessary when there are very few such chapters. Tho, should the number of such chapters not matter?
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