Not sure about random glyph variation, but you could definitely make a variable font pretty easily if you have something like the Glyphs app.

A strange thing about lettering manga is, the speech balloon/line count on average is almost always 1400.

Lots of dialogue = less SFX.
Lots of SFX = less dialogue.

But for some odd reason it always comes to around 1400 lines of text.

(Or maybe it's just the stuff I work on? 🤷‍♂️)

Some insight on why Kagurabachi simuls look different.

∙Simuls are lettered within 24 hours
∙Some letterers do 2-3 simuls (same day)
∙Chapters can arrive at random times
∙Corrections are done in-house, & text needs to be editable
∙It needs to be a font we have a license for

This was supposed to be lettered in InDesign using fonts. It wouldn't have worked.

Hand-lettering isn't always practical and isn't always allowed, so kudos to the editors who let their letterers to break the rules.

Going back to analogue.

This pretty much sums up the entire manga industry.

submarinegallery.stores.jp

Found a gorgeous book from BNN called 神話とホラーのデザイン (The Aesthetics of Design in Myth and Horror).

It's a collection of stunning horror & fantasy designs in the form of book covers, playing cards and posters etc.

Great book if you're into fantasy/horror and want some inspiration.

A few of my favourite SFX I got to work on for Kagurabachi vol. 2.

Incredible new book マンガの原理 from Kadokawa.

Aki Irie (Go with the Clouds), Kaoru Mori (Emma) and editor Oba Wataru discuss every aspect of creating manga.

From dialogue length to using speed lines properly to fingernails, noses and why artists don't draw corpses.

Hope it gets translated one day!

Some pics from the new Morisawa Fonts book for 2024-2025 I recently picked up.

If you're a font lover or curious about some of the typography used in manga, it's a great book to try and grab. Good price, too (¥1200) 🙃