MangaBlog

The Arizona Republic has an article on librarians using graphic novels as a way to get teenagers interested in reading. They contend that graphic novels have an “expansion effect”—teenagers will move on to traditional books.
I’m actually finding the reverse is true at my house: I walked into my younger daughter’s room yesterday and noticed that there were almost no regular books on her bookshelf, only manga. She recently cleared her shelves of quite a few books that she had outgrown; this is what’s left. I’m not worried, because her reading is driven by her interests; in a year or two something else will be elbowing the manga aside.

There’s quite a discussion on Love Manga (scroll down a bit) about the upcoming issue of Comics Journal, which will focus on shoujo manga. This becomes a conversation about the perception that girls don’t read comics.
Here’s my two cents: I think girls will read comics if they can find satisfying ones, but story-driven girls’ comics have been missing from the American market until recently. The British girls’ comics of the 1960s and 1970s, titles like Bunty and Judy and Diana, had stories and characters that were very like those in shoujo manga: schoolgirl stories, mysteries, teenage love, plucky orphans making it on their own, and the ever-popular my-classmate-is-an-alien plotline. Even after 25 years, my sisters and I still remember and talk about those stories, and my kids like them too.
These comics have disappeared, although Bunty and Mandy hardback annuals are still available. They’re totally safe for kids and would make a nice gift for girls 8 to 10. I have a 20-year run of them, and my daughters love them.
Here is an interesting if a bit depressing essay on why that particular genre bit the dust. What is interesting is the apparently clueless publishing exec dismissing the idea of girls’ comics because girls have less time to read and are spending their money on other things. You wouldn’t know that from my house, where we have pre-ordered the next two issues of Fruits Basket and the girls are offering to do extra chores so we can pour even more money into the Tokyopop coffers. It’s amazing that DC Thomson could miss the boat so spectacularly.
A non-manga title that my daughters also enjoy is Amelia Rules. Actually, “enjoy” is not a strong enough word; our copies are worn to tatters.

For a wealth of manga reviews, check out Comics Worth Reading. This site also includes a Previews section, so you can predict what your kids will be bugging you for next month, and a blog, Cognitive Dissonance, that keeps up with developments in the field. CWR covers all comic books, not just manga, in a site that is attractively designed, easy to navigate, and best of all, updated regularly.

Komikwerks – Grounded Angel is a new web manga that looks promising, although the plot is just getting under way. It’s rated PG-13.

I haven’t posted to the blog lately because I’m busy trying to beef up the content on the site. My initial method for selecting manga to review was very unscientific: I picked up the books that were lying around the house. The quality was pretty uneven, though, and I wanted to get some books up there that I could be enthusiastic about. So I turned to The Librarian’s Guide to Anime and Manga which has an interesting list of recommendations.

From this I found Kare Kano, which is subtitled “His and Her Circumstances” but should really be subtitled “The Secret Life of Overachievers.” The plot is completely over the top, but it’s well written and well drawn as well. It’s safe for the kiddies and a nice light read for the grownups.

The Kindaichi Case Files are murder mysteries that are intricately plotted but too violent for kids. If you like “Monk” and “Law and Order,” you’ll like Kindaichi; the books have the same sort of plot, with the sleuth following a complicated trail of clues to find the killer.

The website also recommended Ranma 1/2, and I got it from the library, but I haven’t been able to read it yet because my kids won’t give it up. I guess that’s as good a recommendation as any.

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!