Manga is the Japanese word for printed comics and cartoons. (Anime, on the other hand, is a cartoon for television or cinema.) Although manga is essentially a cartoon, manga ranks higher in Japanese culture than comics in American society. Manga is highly respected as an art and as a form of popular literature. In fact, much of the adult population in Japan reads manga, and several major manga magazines in Japan sell several million copies each week.
This should tell you that manga is not just for kids.
What kind of story would you be interested in?
A tough detective hired to locate a missing girl?
A world dominated by animal-human hybrids after an apocalyptic war in 2054?
An adventure between a boy and a girl and a giant robot?
A historical play that revolves around the shadowy generals of the Genpei war?
A successful journalist who accepts a handsome homeless man as a pet when her fiancé leaves her?
There are hundreds of stories to choose from in manga books and there is something to suit everyone’s taste. Additionally, many manga titles combine clever images and frames with nuanced stories for highly entertaining and addictive reading.
Manga is generally classified into different genres. The most popular include:
– shonen manga for boys and teenage boys
– shojo manga for girls and teenagers
– kodomo for kids
– redisu for adult women
– seinen for adult men
– jidaimono is historical drama
– suiri is crime and murder
– ecchi is erotic food
So how do you get started with Manga? Easy.
1. Enter the store. Most large bookstores have a section dedicated to manga, but to really get a variety of titles, try a comic book store. Either way, manga books usually have color covers and maybe the first few pages as well, but the rest of the story is usually black and white.
2. Look at the books, read them a little. Stop when you find something you like and take it home.
3. If you are comfortable surfing the Internet, read manga online first. Do a search of one of the many online manga site directories and scan those sites for titles that are interesting. Many of the sites will display the drawing and text from their website’s manga book.
Remember that when you read manga, you read the frames from right to left. Often times when you open a manga, as you would a normal book, there will often be a page telling you how to read it.
Try some manga titles to get an idea of what you like. Once you find a title that you like, you can search for more of the same or similar titles with that editor. Look for the publisher’s website in English on the cover of the book, then check that site; It will probably contain descriptions of all your books and maybe even a small online sample.
