Rainbow Days Manga Reading Order (All 16 Volumes)

Rainbow Days Reading Order: The Complete Guide

Here’s the reading order for Rainbow Days. It’s exactly what you’d expect — Volume 1 through Volume 16, read in sequence. That’s the entire series, cover to cover.

The full Rainbow Days reading order:

• Volume 1 — Meet Natsuki, Tomoya, Keiichi, and Tsuyoshi — four close high school friends whose lives and love interests drive the whole series. The story kicks off with Natsuki’s crush on a girl named Anna after a chance encounter on Christmas Eve.
• Volume 2 — The four friends’ relationships with each other deepen, and early romantic sparks start flying. Natsuki’s awkward attempts to get closer to Anna set the comedic tone.
• Volume 3 — Each character’s love life begins to take shape beyond Natsuki’s storyline. You’ll start to see why this is a four-romance series, not just one.
• Volume 4 — New complications arrive as the boys navigate high school romance and the girls in their lives become more defined characters in their own right.
• Volume 5 — The comedy starts sharing more space with genuine emotion. One relationship in particular moves past the early-crush stage.
• Volume 6 — Romantic storylines progress with real emotional stakes. This is around where readers who were on the fence tend to get fully hooked.
• Volume 7 — Key turning points for multiple characters’ relationships. Expect some confessions and some setbacks.
• Volume 8 — The halfway mark. All four romantic storylines are firmly established and moving forward, each at a different pace.
• Volume 9 — Deeper emotional territory as established relationships face new challenges. The series shows it can handle heavier moments without losing its warmth.
• Volume 10 — Continued development across all four storylines, with some characters reaching crossroads.
• Volume 11 — Later-story drama with genuine payoffs for patient readers. Threads planted early start coming together.
• Volume 12 — The story builds toward its conclusion as characters make decisions about their futures.
• Volume 13 — Major emotional moments as storylines start resolving. Keep tissues nearby.
• Volume 14 — The endgame is in sight. Remaining loose ends begin tying up.
• Volume 15 — The second-to-last volume — things are wrapping up with care.
• Volume 16 — The final volume. The complete conclusion to all four characters’ stories.

That’s it. That’s the whole thing. No spin-off manga, no prequel stories, no companion volumes, and no side-story collections published outside the main sixteen volumes. If someone tells you there’s more to track down, they’re thinking of a different series.

Rainbow Days is a completed manga — Mizuno Minami wrapped the story up, and what you see in those sixteen volumes is the full picture.

Why the Reading Order Is Straightforward

You might be wondering why you even needed to look this up. Honestly, it’s a fair question — and the answer is that most manga reading orders aren’t this simple, so it makes sense to check.

A lot of popular manga series come with side stories, novel tie-ins, bonus chapters only available in certain editions, or spin-off series that happen at the same time as the main story. Readers understandably want to know if they’re missing something before they start.

With Rainbow Days, you’re not missing anything. Here’s why the reading path is so clean:

Single continuous narrative. The manga follows four high school boys — Natsuki, Tomoya, Keiichi, and Tsuyoshi — and their romantic lives across one unbroken story. There’s no time skip that spawns a sequel series, no “Part 2” under a different name, and no reboot. Volume 1 is the beginning, Volume 16 is the end, and everything in between moves forward chronologically.

Romantic storylines build gradually. Each of the four main characters has his own romantic storyline that develops over many volumes. These storylines interweave with each other, and the emotional payoffs in later volumes rely on setup from earlier ones. Reading out of order would spoil key relationship developments and undercut the moments that make the series so satisfying.

No alternate editions that restructure content. Some manga get re-released in omnibus formats (multiple volumes collected into one thicker book) or expanded editions that reorganize chapters or add new material. Rainbow Days doesn’t have any of that — the standard individual volumes are the only format the series has been published in, both in Japan and in English.

An anime adaptation exists as a companion. Rainbow Days received an anime adaptation that aired in 2016. It works as a fun supplement to the manga, but the manga is the original and complete source material. You don’t need to slot the anime into your reading order at any specific point — it’s a separate experience.

Which Edition Should You Buy

There’s only one English edition of Rainbow Days, so the main decision is whether you want physical or digital copies.

Physical Volumes

The English-language physical edition consists of 16 individual volumes. These are standard manga-sized paperbacks — the kind you’ll find on shelves at any bookstore that carries manga.

There is no box set for Rainbow Days, and no edition that bundles multiple volumes together. The single volumes are your only option for physical copies, which keeps things simple.

Because the series is complete, all sixteen volumes are already out. You won’t be waiting for future releases. You can buy them all at once or pick them up a few at a time — whatever works for your budget and shelf space. They’re available through major book retailers and manga shops.

Digital Editions

If you prefer reading on a tablet, phone, or e-reader, Rainbow Days is available digitally through major manga platforms including Kindle, BookWalker, and others. Digital volumes are identical in content to the physical ones — same chapters, same page count, same reading order.

Digital is a great option if you want to start reading immediately, don’t have shelf space, or want to carry the whole series with you. The trade-off is that you don’t get a physical collection to display, and digital libraries are tied to whichever platform you buy from.

What About the Japanese Edition?

The original Japanese edition also runs 16 volumes, published by Shueisha. If you’re learning Japanese and want to practice with the original text, the Japanese volumes are worth considering — shoujo manga tends to use relatively accessible language. But for most English-speaking readers, the English edition is the way to go since nothing is lost or cut in translation.

What to Know Before You Start Volume 1

Going in completely fresh? Here are a few things that are helpful to know before you start reading.

It’s Shoujo Romance Told From the Boys’ Side

This is one of the things that makes Rainbow Days stand out. It was serialized in Bessatsu Margaret, which is a shoujo manga magazine — the same magazine that published other well-known romance series aimed at a similar audience. But instead of centering on a female protagonist, Rainbow Days tells its story primarily through the perspective of four high school boys.

The result is a manga that has all the hallmarks of great shoujo romance — tender emotional moments, the tension of wondering whether two characters will actually get together, expressive artwork — but filtered through a male friend group. It’s funny, it’s sweet, and it offers a slightly different angle on the kinds of stories the magazine is known for.

The Tone Is Lighthearted (With Real Emotional Depth)

Rainbow Days leans heavily into comedy, especially in the early volumes. The four boys have a great friendship — they tease each other constantly, get into ridiculous situations, and generally behave like actual teenage friends. It’s genuinely fun to read.

But don’t mistake the lighthearted tone for a lack of substance. As the romantic storylines develop, the series delivers real emotional payoffs. Characters grow, relationships face actual challenges, and the resolution of each storyline feels earned rather than rushed. The comedy makes the serious moments hit harder because you’re already invested in these characters as people, not just as parts of a romance plot.

Early Volumes Are Setup — Stick With Them

Because Rainbow Days has four main characters who each get their own romantic storyline, the early volumes spend a lot of time establishing the cast and their relationships. If you’re a couple volumes in and wondering when the romance is going to really get going — keep reading. The setup is doing important work, and the later volumes reward readers who paid attention early on.

This isn’t a series that puts all its best moments up front. It’s a slow build with a satisfying shape, and the payoff across the full sixteen volumes is worth the patience.

A Great Entry Point for Shoujo Newcomers

If you’ve never read shoujo manga before and you’re curious about the genre, Rainbow Days is a fantastic place to start. It’s not too long (sixteen volumes is very manageable for a complete series), the tone is accessible and fun, and the male-perspective angle makes it feel fresh even if you’ve watched a lot of romance anime. It’s the kind of series that can turn someone into a shoujo fan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to read anything before starting Rainbow Days?

Nope. Rainbow Days is completely standalone. There’s no prequel, no predecessor series, and no required background reading. Just pick up Volume 1 and you’re good to go.

Is the manga finished?

Yes. Rainbow Days is a completed series at 16 volumes. Mizuno Minami wrapped up the story, and all sixteen volumes are available in English. You can read the entire thing from beginning to end without waiting for anything.

Is there a sequel manga?

No sequel manga has been published. The story concludes in Volume 16, and Mizuno Minami has not continued it in any form. The ending is a proper conclusion — it doesn’t leave threads dangling for a follow-up that never came.

Should I watch the anime or read the manga first?

Read the manga first. The anime adaptation aired in 2016 and covers only a portion of the manga’s story, so the manga is where you’ll get the full experience. Starting with the manga also means you’ll hit every emotional beat and plot development as intended, without gaps.

That said, if you’ve already seen the anime, the manga will still feel fresh — there’s far more story in sixteen volumes than the anime covers. And once you’ve finished the manga, the anime is a fun way to revisit your favorite moments with color, music, and voice acting.

How long does it take to read the full series?

Sixteen volumes of shoujo manga is very manageable. Most readers can get through a single volume in about 30 to 45 minutes, so the entire series clocks in at roughly 8 to 12 hours of reading depending on your pace. That makes it easy to binge over a weekend if you want, but it’s equally satisfying spread across a couple of weeks — the kind of series you can look forward to picking up each evening.