Manga
So I asked my 12 year old niece in Australia what she would like for her birthday…
“ Oh.. anything Manga or Anime… you know… Japanese comic books.”
I thought…that will be easy! Little did I know!
I went to school in Japan for a month as a teenager. I have drawn Manga cartoons (not very well) and love the Japanese movie Totoro! I used to teach Japanese… So I thought I knew a thing or two. I wasn’t prepared to be overwhelmed.
I went into Borders today and there was a whole aisle, both sides brimming with Manga books. These are Japanese books, so they start at the back then you read left to right, back to front. 
They are regular comics but are in book form, about a half inch thick and the size of an average paperback. They have themes ranging from superhero/fantasy/sci-fi to teenage romance/dogs and princesses. They are series and some of them are very large such as Naruto which has about 45 books in the series so far! They have a rating guide on the back (Teen 13+). Now the search was on…what to pick!
I finally settled on getting the first book in four series that represented the different genres:
Anima: Fantasy Selection: The Anima are beings who possess animal-like powers. In this alternative universe, they walk among us, shunned by society, as they search for others who have similar traits.
Fruits Basket: Romance Selection. Tohru Honda was an orphan girl with no place to go until the mysterious Sohma family offered her a place to call home. Now ordinary homeschool life is turned upside down as she’s introduced to Sohma’s world of magical curses and family secrets. There are a lot of books in this series.
Me and My Brothers: Comedy Selection. When Sakura, a 14 yo orphaned girl, discovers she has four half-brothers, her world is turned upside down as they’re all forced to live together under the one roof.
Megatokyo: Piro, an obsessed manga fan and Largo, a hard core American gamer fly to Japan on a whim and get stranded. This is their experience of Japan from their unique perspectives. They also have a web comic series.
I noticed some books covered in plastic which were labeled explicit language/themes which I steered clear of. I started reading one and was surprised by how racy (lots of cleavage and very short skirts!) some of the stories are without being explicit. Also there were references to suicide and similar subjects which definitely put these comics into the young adult category.
I’m wondering if this is a big trend in the US? I have noticed Manga making materials in Jerry’s Artarama! Are any of your teens into this?
