Tankōbon is a Japanese word recently borrowed into English. Its use in English refers to a collection of episodes of a cartoon that first appeared in weekly or monthly manga comic books. Manga books in Japan are usually thick printed on lightweight, cheap paper. The cartoons in them are usually continuing stories. A tankōbon is a collection of episodes of one of those cartoons as a book. Additional tankōbon volumes are printed as the series continues.

Manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term manga is used in Japan to refer to both comics and cartooning. Outside of Japan, the word is typically used to refer to comics originally published in Japan.