What Does P161b Mean In Manga Chapter Listings?

Fun little notation, right? When you see something like p161b in a manga chapter listing it usually just means "page 161, version b" — basically an extra page that sits after the regular page 161. As someone who spends too much time flipping through raws and scanlations, I’ve seen this pop up a lot around color pages, short epilogues, author comments, or little bonus strips. Publishers and scanlation groups add the letter so they can keep the original magazine numbering intact when an extra page is inserted (ads or fold-outs often cause that), or so readers know there’s a distinct page that doesn’t fit the straight 1–2–3 numbering.

In practice that means p161b is the page that comes immediately after p161 and before p162. It can be an omake (author short comic), a single-panel gag, a short extra scene, a color illustration, or even an alternate panel that was added to the chapter in the magazine serialization. If you’re reading online, some groups will tag pages as p161a and p161b when there are two separate inserts after the same page number. If you switch to the collected volume (the tankōbon), those lettered pages are often renumbered or folded into a continuous sequence, so what was p161b in the magazine could become, say, page 165 in the volume. That’s why sometimes your bookmarked page numbers don’t line up between magazine scans and official volumes.

A few practical tips from my own chaotic reading sessions: if you’re hunting for a specific scene and a site lists p161b, scroll a page past p161 because it’s usually hidden right there; if the site offers a table of contents for the chapter, look for sections labeled with letters or "omake"; and if you’re citing a panel in a forum or discussion, using the letter is useful (e.g., "p161b has the omake where the author apologizes for the hiatus"). Also, be aware that a small subset of releases might use letters for different reasons — versions (like censored vs uncensored) or multiple prints — but the common case is simply an inserted bonus page. I love those tiny extras, they often carry silly author notes or little jokes that make rereads even more fun, so next time you spot a p161b don’t skip it — it’s often the treat at the end of a chapter.