Get Into Manga

Manga (pronounced maan – Ga), or comics in Japanese, cover a wide variety of subject areas targeting both children and adults.

Translated comics are fun to read and is also an easy way to learn about popular Japanese culture.

Steps

  1. Decide what type of manga you are interested in. There are several different kinds to choose from, usually grouped by the gender and age of the target audience, including:
    • Shojo: Manga designed to target 12-18 year-old females through character-driven stories. Popular shojo themes include: magical girl (see below), school romance, historical romance, modern romance, science fiction, sports, Gothic horror/vampires, and boys love (yaoi) manga. Cosplay As Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket, Hot Gimmick, Fushigi Yugi, Peach Girl, Vampire Knight, Nothing But Loving You, Emma, Godchild, Ouran HighSchool Host Club and Kare Kano are examples of shoujo manga.
      • Magical girl (mahhokka) is a popular subgenre of shojo featuring young girls who use their superhuman powers to fight evil and protect the Earth. Examples of magical girl manga include: Sailor Moon, Cosplay As Sakura Kinomoto from Cardcaptor Sakura, Alice 19th, Shugo Chara, Tokyo Mew Mew and Wedding Peach.
    • Bishoujo titles involve extremely cute girls or animals. Think cuteness overload. Example titles include Hamtaro.
    • Shonen: Action-themed stories written for boys. Shonen manga is usually involves humorous plots featuring male protagonists. Camaraderie between boys and men in sports team and fighting squads are often plot elements. Shonen titles often feature attractive female characters with exaggerated features. Example titles include: Naruto, One Piece, "D. Gray-Man", Gon, Ranma 1/2, Slam Dunk, Lupin III, Bleach, Inuyasha, Prince of Tennis, the aforementioned Love Hina, Gun Blaze West, Rurouni Kenshin, HunterxHunter, Tenchi Muyo!, Initial D and Full Metal Panic!.
      • Mecha is a common subgenre of shonen involving giant robots. Mecha titles include Gundam Wing, Voltron and Big O.
    • Shonen-Ai: Stories involving affection between boy characters targeting a mainly female audience. Shonen-ai manga is aimed at teenage girls and usually involves feminine, effeminate characters resembling boy bands like NSYNC.
    • Seinen manga targets college-aged men, although some titles are aimed at men well into their 40s. Unlike shounen manga, seinen manga features a wider variety of artistic styles and subject matter ranging from avant-garde to pornographic. While seinen manga contains many of the same themes as shounen manga, it is more rooted in reality with a stronger emphasis on plot. Works of manga that are the most acclaimed for their depth and maturity, such as Maison Ikoku and Ghost in the Shell, come from the Seinen genre. Other popular seinen titles include Lone Wolf & Cub, Golgo 13, Eagle, Death Note and Monster. Chobits is one more on the adult side.
    • Josei is the female equivalent of seinen manga and considered the manga equivalent of a Harlequin novel. Most of the josei manga found in the United States, fits into the yaoi genre (see below). Storylines usually involve: office life, marriage, babies, infidelity, families, and romance. Non-yaoi titles include Paradise Kiss, Happy Mania, Tramps Like Us, Blue, Walking Butterfly, Midnight Secretary, and Honey and Clover.

      • Yaoi is manga involving graphic depictions of homosexuality. The vast majority of yaoi manga is produced by women, for women. This is the more mature form of shonen-ai.
  2. Learn the rating system. Because some manga contains adult themes, there is a rating system set up for manga which is very similar to that for video games and movies. Some U.S. manga publishers use the following ratings:
    • A (All Ages)
    • Y (Youth, 10+)
    • T (Teen ages 13+)
    • OT or T+ (Older Teen, 16+)
    • M (Mature, 18+)
  3. Read anime publications. New Type, AnimeInsider and Animerica are good sources to turn to for manga reviews.
  4. Find places to get manga, including the following:
    • Anime/Manga magazines like Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat -- monthly serialized anime compilations which allow you to sample many titles at a time.
    • Bookstores Many large chain bookstores like Borders and Barnes and Nobles have sections for manga and graphic novels.
    • Online Sellers Many manga online manga shops can be found simply by searching for manga in Google.
    • Another alternative to buying manga is reading it for free online. Sites like MangaFox have thousands of series online.
    • Online Rental Services Just like you can rent movies online through Netflix and Blockbuster, there are online rental services such as Anime TakeOut that allow you to rent books of manga.
    • Your Local Library: Yes, you read that correctly: your local library. More and more libraries these days have sections devoted to graphic novels and manga to encourage "reluctant readers" and bring more traffic into the library. If your library doesn't have the titles you want, you can often request items or obtain them from another library via Interlibrary Loan.
  5. Read manga from the farthest right page to the farthest left, and read each individual page from the top right to the bottom left. Some manga exported out of Japan is reversed, so that it is read from top left to bottom right. If this seems confusing to you, don't worry, open up a manga like you would open a regular book, and there will often be a page that will tell you how to read it.
  6. Find fellow fans. See if there is a manga/anime group at your school or in your town. Many metro areas host manga meetups. Many colleges and high schools now have manga and anime clubs. In addition, you can attend anime conventions which bring fellow manga/anime fans together.

Tips

  • The best place to read manga is your local library because its free. If you can't find the titles you want there, go online and find another branch. If you want new manga that was recently released, you don't have to buy it at Barnes and Noble/Borders. They have an area where you can sit and read it now. Just take care of the books. Not only is it courteous to others, but they have cameras, and so might libraries.
  • If you aren't sure which manga to choose, ask a friend who's into it, or ask in a forum like MangaFox or OneManga.
  • If the first manga you get isn't interesting, try getting some others, try reading different types and see what appeals to you.
  • Shounen manga is generally targeted toward boys, and shoujo/shojo manga is generally targeted toward girls. Shounen manga usually has more violence and "attractive" women, and shoujo manga is usually more romantic or everyday life with more "attractive" guys. Don't, however, limit yourself to one or the other based on your own gender. You may be surprised!
  • Before buying, open up the book and jot down the English publisher's site. Usually, the site contains descriptions of all their books. Preview first!
  • Shonen-ai and yaoi have male+male relationships, while shojo-ai and yuri have female+female relationships. Unless you are into that kind of thing, this may not be the best choice for you. You can be straight and still enjoy it. If you're still confused about what to get, ask a friend who's into manga or librarian/bookstore employee that may be able to recommend something.
  • Ask for your favorite titles for Christmas, birthdays, etc. Relatives think of it as being "interested in Japanese culture."
  • Even if you aren't 16 yet, you can still read T+ books. Most places don't check your I.D for books and most of the situations are understandable that even people younger than 16 face and go through.
  • Be aware that in the West, the term "shoujo" is often incorrectly used to refer to anything non-offensive which features female characters, including titles that aren't considered shojo in Japan. Examples of titles mislabeled in as shojo include as the light shounen comedy Azumanga Daioh and shounen works containing romantic elements such as Love Hina.
  • Online manga can sometimes be poorly translated, especially the newer manga. This rarely occurs, though.
  • If you go to the author's site, don't be surprised if it's in Japanese.
  • It can be harder to find a yuri or a shoujo-ai than a male+male manga. Most yuri are targeted at males and are somewhat sexual so be sure to check the rating.

Warnings

  • A lot of manga contains mild nudity such as shower and dressing scenes. If the manga has nudity it should have a warning on the back cover.
  • Most manga is fairly pricey in translation, $8 or more in the US, perhaps more in smaller markets. Be prepared to spend!
  • Even in shounen manga aimed at a younger audience, the level of violence depicted may be quite higher than what is usually accepted in Western entertainment.
  • If you're not prepared to spend money for one, go to a public library. Most libraries nowadays have them.
  • Be sure you know what you are getting. Use the ratings or previews on the publisher's sites.

Things You'll Need

  • A small knowledge of Japanese culture (the books were written in Japan, by Japanese people, with Japanese culture and point of view).

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Sources and Citations

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