Manga is the Japanese word for printed comics and cartoons. (Anime, on the other hand, is a cartoon animated for television or film.) Although manga is essentially a cartoon, manga ranks higher in Japanese culture than comics do 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 of the major manga magazines in Japan sell several million copies each week.
This should tell you that manga isn’t just for kids.
What kind of story would you be interested in?
A hardened detective hired to track down a missing girl?
A world dominated by animal-human hybrids after an apocalyptic war in 2054?
A boy-meets-girl-meets-giant-robot adventure?
A historical play revolving around the dark generals of the Genpei war?
A successful journalist who takes in 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 for everyone. Also, many manga titles combine clever imagery and framing with nuanced storylines for highly entertaining and addictive reading.
Manga is generally categorized into different genres. The most popular include:
– shonen manga for boys and teen boys
– shojo manga for girls and teens
– kodomo for children
– redisu for adult women
– seinen for adult men
– jidaimono is historical drama
– suiri is crime and murder
– ecchi is erotic food
So how to start with Manga? Easy.
1. Enter the store. Most big bookstores have a section dedicated to manga, but if you really want to 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 in black and white.
2. Browse 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 manga site directories online and scan those sites for titles that are interesting. Many of the sites will display the manga book (drawing and text) from their website.
Remember that when you read manga, you read the frames from right to left. Often when you open a manga, just like you would a normal book, there will often be a page that tells you how to read it.
Try a few manga titles to get an idea of what you like. Once you find a title you like, you can search for more of the same or similar titles with that publisher. Look for the English publisher’s website on the book cover, then check that site; it will probably contain descriptions of all of his books and maybe even a small online sampler.