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[AugustWest]

My daughter, who is almost 12, has recently become interested in Manga.  I know nothing of the stuff.  Can any of you recommend stuff she might enjoy?  PG rated (OK, maybe PG-13), please.

Right now she's reading every Shonen Jump she can get her hands on.  I'm sure there's more stuff out there.  Help a guy and his comic readin' daughter out.

[V-Adore]

Most of the stuff in Shounen Jump is also available in collected volumes; she might look there, if there are any particular series she likes. Otherwise -- well, what does she enjoy? Action stuff? Slice-of-life? It's a bit hard to guess from just "manga."

[AugustWest]

Most of the stuff in Shounen Jump is also available in collected volumes; she might look there, if there are any particular series she likes. Otherwise -- well, what does she enjoy? Action stuff? Slice-of-life? It's a bit hard to guess from just "manga."

I would say primarily action stuff, although there was one series about a kid learning to play Go that she seemed to particularly like.  Made me buy her a Go set after which she proceeded to methodically kick my ass at it.  And laugh at me.  Kids.

And I think the collected volumes is what she has.

[CortJstr]

Based on the TV series I think Trigun should be acceptable and fun.

Vision of Escaflowne was a great show with a female lead and not at all inappropriate. Assuming there's a manga version it should be good as well.

But this reminds of something that never made much sense to me. The character Ayanami Rei is referred to as 14 many times, yet in the manga there's clearly some Rei nipplage going on. How was the publisher not required to white that out?

[V-Adore]

But this reminds of something that never made much sense to me. The character Ayanami Rei is referred to as 14 many times, yet in the manga there's clearly some Rei nipplage going on. How was the publisher not required to white that out?

IIRC 14 is age of consent in Japan? I've heard that Japanese laws are generally more lenient about this sort of thing, although this may be changing.

[CortJstr]

But this reminds of something that never made much sense to me. The character Ayanami Rei is referred to as 14 many times, yet in the manga there's clearly some Rei nipplage going on. How was the publisher not required to white that out?

IIRC 14 is age of consent in Japan? I've heard that Japanese laws are generally more lenient about this sort of thing, although this may be changing.

True, but I saw this manga at Barnes & Noble where Japanese laws aren't all that important.

[wombat]

And I think the collected volumes is what she has.

What she means is, if the kid likes one of the stories in Shonen, you can go out and buy a whole book that's more of just that.  Shonen is like the Reader's Digest of manga, it just reprints stuff from other places.

My favorite manga series is called What's Michael.  It's about a cat, but it's no Garfield.  It might be more directed at grownups but I think any age can enjoy it.  You'll need to look for it on line, I can't imagine finding it in a bookstore, but they even have it at Amazon.

[starlight]

What a coincidence.. I was just talking about manga with someone last night....

Unfortunately, I realised the manga I read at least has some naked hot springs scenes and bloody noses... go figure :\

I s'pose X/1999 and Sailor Moon from the days of old were the safest in terms of non-sexual, but there was violence in X/1999.. I stopped reading that after 3 volumes since it took itself too seriously I think.

Chobits is fun and not toooo sexual.  that's the one I was discussing last night.. it's about this college student and his persocon and how they fall in love.  it's, for the most part, cute.

I also read Love Hina and Tenchi, but I think they get a bit risque at times, so do look inside before purchasing any if ya see them.  there are some safe side stories for Tenchi I think; not sure for Love Hina.. only to vol.8 since I stopped where the bilingual manga stopped.

[Ben-San]

If as you suggest what she likes is the action series, Flame of Recca and Hunter x Hunter are both good series that are being released in the US in TPB form. Both are targeted at the same audience as Shonen Jump and they're more or less my favorites of the fighting-manga genre.

Battle Angel Alita is also an excellent fighting manga but is not written for as young an audience; the violence gets pretty nasty at times (although not generally in a "gratuitous gigantic meat balloon explosion" kind of way) and the characters tend to ramble about philosophy while beating the crap out of each other.

Hikaru no Go, which is almost certainly the go manga you mentioned, is a top-quality sports manga and unfortunately I can't think of any at that level of quality in that general style currently slated for US release.

Edit Footnote: None of these are being released in the same publication format of "lots of pages on cheap paper" as Shonen Jump. They're generally only the pocket-sized TPBs.

Edit Footnote Again Because I'm Absent-Minded:I'm not sure exactly what constitutes PG/PG-13, but be warned that Flame of Recca has the occasional torn female shirt or toplessness. Not really a big deal if you ask me but some people are bothered by it.

[slink]

Worth a look, although I haven't gotten round to properly reading it yet, and thus can't comment on content, although it looked clean, would be Usagi Yojimbo. Check it out. It looks fantastic.

[CortJstr]

Battle Angel Alita is also an excellent fighting manga but is not written for as young an audience; the violence gets pretty nasty at times (although not generally in a "gratuitous gigantic meat balloon explosion" kind of way) and the characters tend to ramble about philosophy while beating the crap out of each other.

I've always wanted to read Battle Angel Alita/Gunnm but wasn't sure where to start. I've seen the anime and want to find out the rest of the story before the live-action movie comes out (I think Cameron is directing). I'm guessing Last Order is a sequel.

[Ben-San]

Last Order is indeed a sequel. Viz LLC translated the entire series some time back in TPB format and has recently rereleased them as the currently-popular pocket sized right-to-left TPBs. I recommend the first release if you can find it, since the rerelease shrinks down the art even further and by all reports was kind of a halfassed job (for example, they used the script from the left-to-right release exactly so every time directions are mentioned they are reversed.) As for where to start, the first volume was released as simply "Battle Angel Alita"; if I can find my collection I'll edit this post to include the other titles in order.

[CortJstr]

Cool. Mutant brain-eating cyborgs are bad for business

[arkabee]

would the cowboy bepop releases available at hastings and whatnot be appropriate for that age group?