Welcome to MangaBlog! I started this site because my kids are big manga fans, and there doesn’t seem to be much information about manga out there for parents. I have always been a big fan of comics—Richie Rich and Little Lotta when I was little, Archie and Superman when I was older, and of course Zap Comix in college.
In addition, I grew up reading British comics, which have a very different format from American comics. Beano, Dandy, and Whizzer and Chips had a whole menagerie of characters, each of whom got a page of their own in every issue. The girls’ comics—Bunty, Judy, Diana—were a bit like the magazines that spawned girls’ manga: each had six or seven stories that continued from week to week. I believe these stories, many of which were set in schools, are part of the tradition that led up to Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling must have read Bunty!
Manga are totally new to me, and probably to most parents. That’s why I thought a review site might be helpful. Most publishers provide a rating, but that’s not an infallible guideline. There are some 13+ books that have themes I don’t like at all, and some books rated for Older Teens that are fine for my children.
This came to a head when my girls ordered some manga over the web. When they arrived, I realized they were rated for Older Teens. I confiscated them and read them myself—one was OK, I decided, but the other one wasn’t.
One of the most helpful sites on the web is www.filmvalues.com, which gives total information about movies—if someone so much as smokes a cigarette, it’s in there. I like it because it puts me in the driver’s seat—I’m not relying on someone else’s judgment about what’s appropriate for my kids. I envision manga4kids as being similar, but for manga.
I hope this is the longest post I ever put on this blog. Now you know where I’m coming from, join the discussion and send me your questions, suggestions, and critiques. Arigato!