Being from the US and rather old, well 38, not toooo old :p, I havent really dabbled in manga. Now I did read comics growing up, but this is more of a graphical novel type thing I take it. So I was wondering what kind of recommendations would be given to a newbie to Manga, a good series etc to get started on to see if I like it.

What do you like to read? There are lots of different genres of manga.

What do you like to read? There are lots of different genres of manga.

I know. I am lost in the sea of manga :). I typically read alot of fantasy aka Stephen Donaldson, Robin Hobb, Pullman, OS Card, and of course the hilarious Pratchett.

If you're into fantasy, then you should start with the series from Hayao Miyazaki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki

There are dozens of genres out there, so you can be a bit more specific. Do you like "out of this world"-fantasy, or "fantasy mixed with reality".
The more "apocalyptic mood" or the "cheerful" ones?
Actionpacked, or romantic?

Its one of those things that I am ignorant of it that I dont know what to ask for. Basically it seems to be information overload. I dont really think I want romantic manga, however. The Miyazaki series sounds like it might be a good place to start. I like sci0fi out of this world, dark magic , apocaluptic is good. I don't really know what you mean by cheerful :)

sci-fi, out of this world, apocalyptic: we've got Alita/Gunnm for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Angel_Alita definately a well researched, actionpacked manga. One of my personal favorites.

The thing is, there are just too much out there and you should start with a few to get you going.

A nice mix of humar, action, art manga, which are easy to find. I'd recommend (male) beginners is something like this:

-Battle Angel Alita/Gunnm (scifi, apocalyptic, action)
-Rurouni Kenshin (medieval, actionpacked, humor)
-GTO (humor, modern)
-Love Hina (base romantic slapstick)


For more, you can browse at tokyopop. http://www.tokyopop.com/shop
But these four are famous and easy to find in the store and are really worth the money (and if you by any chance don't like them, easy to sell).
If you really really want to try them out before buying... there are scanlations too. Although these are hard to come by for these titles. A code of honour for scanlators is, that when a series is licensed and published in english, they will stop distributing. But there are always strays...

Oh, a recent series I've been following. Fantasy/action and humor:
King Of Hell:
http://www.tokyopop.com/Robofish/tp_manga/287300.html

Thanks for the ideas, sounds like those 4 are an excellent place to start!

Be 'careful', though. Out of these four, only Gunnm isn't specifically targetted toward boys/teenagers (especially the second part 'Last Order').

GTO I guess you could get a laugh out of, and it can be a bit of interesting in what you learn about the Japanese school system.

Honestly for an adult who wasn't into manga until now, I think a much better choice would be:

- Berserk (Dark Heroic Fantasy)
- Blade of the Immortal (similar mood, though not as dark and in medieval Japan)
- Monster (Contemporary, mistery)
- MPD Psycho (Contemporary. Psychological thriller with a touch of SF)
- Nausicaa (Post Apo). As far as I'm aware, the only significant manga from Miyasaki. Don't be confused: manga=Japanese comics :grin2: . Most of Miyasaki's work is animation.

There are quite a few others, but this is a good start I think.

You like a lot of the same authors I like, though I don't care for Donaldson. Yes, definitely try Nausicaa. Deep story, only six volumes, and about as apocolyptic as you can get and still have characters to tell a story with. The art is rather dense, though, a bit atypical of manga, which is usually more spare. Miyazaki is better known for his anime movies, e.g. Spirited Away, which I highly recommend.

Try Rumiko Takahashi - Ranma 1/2 is easy to find, or Inu Yasha, but more specifically I think you'd like some of her Rumic World stories, e.g. The Laughing Target. I'd also recommend 3x3 Eyes, which is sort of horror-comedy, with a lot of quirkiness.

If you're interested in watching some anime, I would definitely recommend Neon Genesis Evangelion based on your reading tastes, but the manga isn't much like the anime. Same with Vision of Escaflowne-- I think you'd like the anime, but the manga is completely different (and not very good).

Be 'careful', though. Out of these four, only Gunnm isn't specifically targetted toward boys/teenagers (especially the second part 'Last Order').

GTO I guess you could get a laugh out of, and it can be a bit of interesting in what you learn about the Japanese school system.

Honestly for an adult who wasn't into manga until now, I think a much better choice would be:

- Berserk (Dark Heroic Fantasy)
- Blade of the Immortal (similar mood, though not as dark and in medieval Japan)
- Monster (Contemporary, mistery)
- MPD Psycho (Contemporary. Psychological thriller with a touch of SF)
- Nausicaa (Post Apo). As far as I'm aware, the only significant manga from Miyasaki. Don't be confused: manga=Japanese comics :grin2: . Most of Miyasaki's work is animation.

There are quite a few others, but this is a good start I think.

I don't agree. Although the titles you named are good, I don't think they're good to throw at beginners. They're too specific on the edge and only proofs the initial misunderstanding of many unknown to manga: "manga is just pornographic psyhotic material

The list I made can attract a wider public. Even though you say that Gunnm is targeted to teenagers, it sure has it's gore too, but more importantly, the story is well researched and deeper than it looks like. A teenage boy would be impressed by the gore and humor, an adult by the balanced story. (A technogeek by it's implementation of science).

Nausicaa... I don't know what to say.. OK, it has a deep story, and drags you in, but afterwards it did not give me a satisfied feeling and it's not a story i'd read again and again...

As for love hina and gto, they're good for laugh. And really, who would mind a good laugh.
I'd name rumiko takahashi too, but her more famous work are more off those silly humor... which might not suit everyone.... (especially a 38 years old)

you have forgotten some "big tittles" like

20th century boys (mistery of the same author of monster)
Akira: better the manga that the anime

and if you like sports:
Touch or Hajime no Ippo

if you specify a little more of what you like i will post more ;-)

you have forgotten some "big tittles" like

20th century boys (mistery of the same author of monster)
Akira: better the manga that the anime

and if you like sports:
Touch or Hajime no Ippo

if you specify a little more of what you like i will post more ;-)

20th century boys got a good start but got dragging in the middle. And the ending left me like this :snobby::dead:

(with so many mangareaders here, I don't understand why my manga2ebook didn't get more responces)

now i'm with pluto if you like the autor and osamu tezuka, think of a history original of osamu tezuka, telled by the author of Monster and 20th Century Boys

and about the final i'm in the volume 21, i will have to go and buy the 22 volume ;-)

Wow, lot of action here on what's good and what's not. Be lucky you cannot actually walk into one of these bookstores over here that are literally crowded with 3-floors specifically tailored for manga. Word of advice though, be wary of some of the titles you pick up, as the Japanese have a penchant for some really bizzare and twisted stuff; i.e., there's any flavor of manga you can think of, and many you haven't.

There's a ton 'o good stuff out there though, so have fun and find what you like; it's tough to go wrong with all the suggestions people have provided here.

Wow thanks for all the suggestions. i'll probably put in order into amazon for some of these this week and see how they are. I didn't really expect this thread to explode as it is has, but it seems I have alot of options now.

I've only recently gotten into manga and graphic novels in the last year or so but I'm pleased to have found another dimension of story telling to enjoy. I'm not familiar with many manga so I'm going to look into some of the recommendations here as well.

Out of curiousity, what would deathnote be categorized as? I've started reading that one last week and so far I'm really enjoying it.

deathnote would be shonen mystic/mystery. (good story, but I find the part after <..> death not suiting..)

Death Note was so popular it spawned a couple of live-action movies, not to mention its own anime series. Pretty good for something that started in a pulp-grinder mag!

Death Note was so popular it spawned a couple of live-action movies, not to mention its own anime series. Pretty good for something that started in a pulp-grinder mag!

The same could be said off GTO which has it's movies, series and of course anime :)

And Detective Conan too. Actually a lot of manga gets it's fair share of real-live action, but the question is.. how good are the live-action conversion ;)

with so many mangareaders here, I don't understand why my manga2ebook didn't get more responces

Hey, give me a minute. I've only got my librie a few weeks ago. ;)


Apart from that, no offense Athlon but I disagree with you about the choice of mangas.
Basically, except for Gunnm which is seinen (manga made for young adults), all your other recomendations are shonen manga (manga made for boys/teenage boys). I'm not saying an adult can't enjoy them (especially GTO), but I'm fear an adult starting with these will feel mangas really are for children and not look back.

Yes, my suggestions include pretty harsh books (hint for those who don't know: Berserk), but on the other hand they have adult's themes and treatment. As a side note I have every volumes (in some cases original AND translated version) of the series you suggested - except 'Love Hina' which I find gets old really fast.


I would advise anybody in doubt about this to check out the first volume of the series mentionned - either on the net or at a bookstore - and get a feel about all these.

Hey, give me a minute. I've only got my librie a few weeks ago. ;)


Apart from that, no offense Athlon but I disagree with you about the choice of mangas.
Basically, except for Gunnm which is seinen (manga made for young adults), all your other recomendations are shonen manga (manga made for boys/teenage boys). I'm not saying an adult can't enjoy them (especially GTO), but I'm fear an adult starting with these will feel mangas really are for children and not look back.

Yes, my suggestions include pretty harsh books (hint for those who don't know: Berserk), but on the other hand they have adult's themes and treatment. As a side note I have every volumes (in some cases original AND translated version) of the series you suggested - except 'Love Hina' which I find gets old really fast.


I would advise anybody in doubt about this to check out the first volume of the series mentionned - either on the net or at a bookstore - and get a feel about all these.

But you have to remember that the topicstarter is a "mangabeginner" and adult so we should be careful with the title suggestions. My titles are targetted more for the common public, while yours are already on the edge of specialized manga themes (and as far as I know, harder to purchase too). Wouldn't want to get them a tunnelvision right away :)

And once the interests has started, they will get their own style too (noticed how I know and read the manga you've suggested even though I don't recommend them to beginners. They'll get there on their own. ;) )

Oh yeah, Tokyopop now has the first volume/chapter of a lot of manga online, so you can check their style out before you buy.

So, to summarize:


Athlon and I enjoy(ed) both sets of suggestions (to various degrees of course)
Athlon feels his proposed set are more mainstream, both in availability (to which I guess I must agree), and in theme and treatment.
I feel that what he calls "more mainstream" is familiarity with the manga's "boy style storytelling" only. I'd agree with the assessment only to the extent that they are the Japanese comics equivalent to most US's superheroes comics as they were in the 80's/90's (nowadays these get to be more difficult to categorize).
My view is that if you start to read manga with no prior knowledge of them, "mainstream" is irrelevent: you should go for those that are the most appropriate for your age range for fear of getting quickly bored by the repetitiveness of Shonen manga - especially those where action/fighting/martial arts are the main theme.


Well, notwithstanding whatever anybody chooses to start with, I guess at the very least everybody will have understood that available choices are much more numerous than whatever it is you pick up first.

I interested read Manga of the English version.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chobits
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negima
http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345470461

Negima has the sleeve notes of Japanese special words and is easy to read.

Well, if we're going to talk about variety, in addition to making recommendations specifically for volworth, who likes Orson Scott Card, Philip Pullman, and Terry Pratchett (among others), I should say that I'm fonder of Aa Megamisama (Ah My Goddess) than nearly anything else we've been talking about. I also like a lot of shoujo titles such as Fushigi Yuugi, Magic Knight Rayearth, and Sailor Moon. I find that these stories have quite a bit of depth, especially when compared to what's sold in the US for the same audience. :/

But the reason I asked what volwrath likes to read is so we could make recommendations suited to the particular reader. I think age and presumed gender are less accurate indicators of what manga someone might like than finding out what written fiction they like. I could make a pretty strong case for the better shoujo stories being more like Pullman than any of the other titles we've been discussing. And I think someone who likes Pratchett would probably like Rumiko Takahashi, and her stuff is pretty easy to find.

Orson Scott Card is harder to match. That's where I'm thinking Evangelion would be a good suggestion, but again, the manga isn't quite like the anime. Does anyone have a manga to suggest that's somewhat similar to the Evangelion anime? Revolutionary Girl Utena, maybe. Nausicaa reminds me a little bit of Wyrms, or a little bit of Speaker for the Dead. That's why I think it might be a good recommendation here.

True, but problem for me is that I don't know the authors he named, so I had to go with the fantasy/scifi stuff.

But then again... asian fantasy is soooooo much more different than western....

Orson Scott Card is harder to match.

Very true. Planets, maybe. For the hardscience SF and introspection part.

That said I'm not sure that what books someone reads are more than a slight indication to what a might enjoy in manga. I know for a fact that although I like the affored mentioned Ah, My Goddess in its manga form, I'm not so keen of some novelization I've seen (by the same author, mind you).

I'm a huge fan of:
- Lone Wolf & Cub
- Gunm (& Gunm Last Order)
- Akira
- Monster
- 20th century boys
- Sanctuary

There is a Star Trek manga and there will be a second Star Trek manga coming out.