recommend me some manga

[EricNoah]

Hey gang,

An anonymous student at my school has requested more anime/manga type comic book thingies. I can probably get my hands on just about anything but I don't know where to start! Could you recommend some titles? I'm looking for stuff that's appropriate for 12-14 year olds, features both male and female protagonists, doesn't have nudity or drug/alcohol use in it, stuff like that. Any hints welcome.

Thanks,

 

[your father is]

I think "Fruits Basket" is very well done and is school safe. It's a shojo, so girls might dig it more than boys, but there are plenty of male protagonists and martial arts battles.

 

[EricNoah]

thank you! I do most of my school book ordering from Follett and this is a series they carry, plus they have reviews from Library Journal etc. for me to double-check -- but getting a few titles to start off with is really helpful.

 

[Ibram]

Ruroni Kenshin: Samurai action durring the early years of the Menji... mixes serious drama and light hearted humor rather well.
Rebirth: story of revenge focused around a vampire... you might want to check on this one though, as it does have some religious themes later on that may not be approperat.
Ragnarok: Crazy action, lots of humor... I'd put it equal to Ruroni Kenshin for the 12-14 crowd.
Chronicles of the Cursed Sword: the action is not quite as over-the-top as Ragnarok, but it does have a strong plot with good characters.

None of the above are bloody... or have nudity.
Runroni Kenshin does have a story arc with a drug lord... but the use of drugs is portrayed in a negative light.
They all have a strong mix of male and female characters.

 

[Nightfall]

Sadly most of the manga I like are well above the 14 year old/some times 17 year old threshold.

I DO recommend you look at ANN (animenewsnetwork.com) Eric. They have a very GOOD listing of anime AND manga that might be useful for you.

 

[Caius]

I agree Ragnarok is a pretty entertaining one and it was actually the first one I started to read when I got into manga.

A while back when my sister was like 15 or so she read Magic Knight Rayearth and Dragon Knights. I read a few of dragon knights and there wasn't any real nudity or anything.

 

[Uzumaki]

There's a manga anthology out there called Shonen Jump! that you may want to pick up. It's targeted is boys around your desired age range. Here are a few titles from it.

Naruto! It's about ninja kids, but it's actually way cooler than that. It has no alcohol use, except for a couple of characters who drink sake, and no nudity except for a few times when it's comical. It's in bookstores now, you can see if it's too much (which I don't think it is).

Bleach Ichigo is a boy who can see ghosts. He meets a God of Death named Rukia. A temporary power transfer between them gets screwed up and Ichigo has to fight demons in Rukia's place.

Hikaru no Go A boy named Hikaru is searching through his grandpa's attic when he finds a Go board. A disembodied voice speaks to him and he finds himself possessed by the best Go player in the history of the world: Fujiwara no Sai, an overly emotional, Heian era (1000 CE) courtier spirit who wants Hikaru to play Go for him. A strangely compelling read for a manga about a board game. Watch out though, because kids might want you to get a Go board after that.

One Piece The anime is now being shown on FoxBox. The chronicles of a kid named Monkey D. Luffy who wants to be a pirate. That's all I can say as I couldn't handle the drawing style, but most people seem to absolutely love it.

And there are a few others in there as well. Girls as well as boys will like those. Here are some more which are more unisex. Bleach has a prominent female character (Rukia), but the others are somewhat lacking. Here are some which feature strong females:

Nausicaa
Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers)
KareKano

Uh, I'll think of more later.

 

[Alzrius]

I want to second the call for Naruto. As a fighting anime, it will appeal to boys. It's not really violent enough to be objectionable, but takes itself seriously enough that it should be popular.

Full Metal Panic might also be a good choice. I haven't read it myself, but my friends seem to like it a lot. It's about a schoolgirl who is being protected by a para-military bodyguard her age. He uses mecha and somewhat over-the-top military weapons to prevent her from being kidnapped.

Rurouni Kenshin is also a good recommendation.

 

[Testament]

Kenishin, Naruto, One Piece, Karekono, Kenshin, Lupin the 3rd, Kenshin, Escaflowne, Kenshin, and Ragnarok. And oh yeah, Kenshin.

 

[Chun-tzu]

I'd agree that Shonen Jump is a good choice, especially with its anthology format. It also includes one of my favorite series, Slam Dunk!, about a high-school basketball team. Fruits Basket is also good.

Rurouni Kenshin is one of my all-time favorite anime (I haven't gotten around to reading the manga), but I wonder if the content is acceptable for that age group. Cartoon Network moved the show from the Toonami afternoon block to their Adult Swim block. Overall, the series isn't gratuitously violent (and there's no nudity). But some of the episodes contain what they'd call "adult situations" on TV. Although Kenshin doesn't kill, there are characters who do (like Saito). Then there's the final showdown between Kenshin and Shishio, which (in the anime) is fairly explicit (would be R-rated in a movie) and would never pass on an American all-ages cartoon. Mind you, I haven't seen the manga version, and I'd bet most of these kids have seen far worse many times in movies like Terminator 2 and Aliens.