Kid-friendly manga?
June 24, 2006 5:29 PM Subscribe
Are there any quality manga titles that are appropriate for an eight-year-old?
Is Totoro manga? If it is, it's certainly appropriate.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 6:03 PM on June 24, 2006
posted by Dipsomaniac at 6:03 PM on June 24, 2006
It looks like Detective Conan has a good 50+ volumes of manga, and there's a TV show as well, if your eight-year-old is also interested in anime.
posted by ArsncHeart at 6:09 PM on June 24, 2006
posted by ArsncHeart at 6:09 PM on June 24, 2006
I have a 9 year old boy, and right now he loves:
Doraemon (THE Classic Manga for kids, both for girls and boys. A must-read!)
One Piece (Pirates! I think this is one of the best current manga for all ages, with an exciting, funny and moving storyline and beautiful artwork. He's reading one right now as I write this, and I'm a fan, too.)
I personally don't buy Detective Conan for my son, although it is very popular here, because it's a detective story obviously and people are murdered in unreal ways in what seems like every episode.
If you're looking for something current for a girl, I'd recommend Nodame Cantabile. It's a story about students of classical music that's hilariously funny but makes you want to listen to the music that's being played in it.
posted by misozaki at 6:44 PM on June 24, 2006
Doraemon (THE Classic Manga for kids, both for girls and boys. A must-read!)
One Piece (Pirates! I think this is one of the best current manga for all ages, with an exciting, funny and moving storyline and beautiful artwork. He's reading one right now as I write this, and I'm a fan, too.)
I personally don't buy Detective Conan for my son, although it is very popular here, because it's a detective story obviously and people are murdered in unreal ways in what seems like every episode.
If you're looking for something current for a girl, I'd recommend Nodame Cantabile. It's a story about students of classical music that's hilariously funny but makes you want to listen to the music that's being played in it.
posted by misozaki at 6:44 PM on June 24, 2006
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind isn't as explicitly for kids, but it's excellent and not particularly difficult.
posted by beerbajay at 5:15 AM on June 25, 2006
posted by beerbajay at 5:15 AM on June 25, 2006
No, Dipso, Totoro is anime, not manga. It's one of the many great animated films produced by Studio Ghibli. Nausicaa is another one of their fabuolous offerings, and it was so popular it spawned the manga version beerbajay links to.
The reason this question didn't generate a lot more response is Japanese comics (i.e. manga) aren't kid stuff. For whatever reason, many Americans find this a difficult concept.
posted by Rash at 9:15 AM on June 25, 2006
The reason this question didn't generate a lot more response is Japanese comics (i.e. manga) aren't kid stuff. For whatever reason, many Americans find this a difficult concept.
posted by Rash at 9:15 AM on June 25, 2006
Akiko on the Planet Smoo is a series of comics and novels. Not manga per se, but influenced by it in good way.
Astro Boy is a classic Osamu Tezuka manga that I think would appeal to today's 8-year-old. Lots of robot-smashing action; do make sure to review before buying--the books are 40 years old and may not match today's standards. There's an essay at the front of each volume discussing this topic.
Jason and the Argobots features a giant robot piloted by a young boy; seems like a good fit.
Herobear and the Kid; again, not manga, but drawn by a former Disney animator in an accessible style that crosses over into manga territory. There is only 1 book so far, but it's a classic.
Halo and Sprocket This comic book collection features an angel, a robot and their female roommate. It's whimsical, mostly innocent and jammed full of questions that an 8-year old would find amusing.
Zoom's Academy features a superhero school, and is soon to be a motion picture. Illustrated novels based on the comic book series; chock-full of great animated-style action.
I've mentioned Jay Hosler's books before, but the honeybee stories in Clan Apis and the pesky mites in The Sandwalk Adventures are worth a look. Again, I think that these two books capture the pace, feel and off-beat topics of manga, but they are American comics. I'm pretty sure that 8-year-old still like bugs and "Calvin & Hobbes"-style science.
Usagi Yojimbo is a long-running series about a samurai rabbit in feudal Japan; there are swordfights and other fantasy violence. I think it's tastefully handled, but read before buying.
posted by JDC8 at 9:43 AM on June 25, 2006
Astro Boy is a classic Osamu Tezuka manga that I think would appeal to today's 8-year-old. Lots of robot-smashing action; do make sure to review before buying--the books are 40 years old and may not match today's standards. There's an essay at the front of each volume discussing this topic.
Jason and the Argobots features a giant robot piloted by a young boy; seems like a good fit.
Herobear and the Kid; again, not manga, but drawn by a former Disney animator in an accessible style that crosses over into manga territory. There is only 1 book so far, but it's a classic.
Halo and Sprocket This comic book collection features an angel, a robot and their female roommate. It's whimsical, mostly innocent and jammed full of questions that an 8-year old would find amusing.
Zoom's Academy features a superhero school, and is soon to be a motion picture. Illustrated novels based on the comic book series; chock-full of great animated-style action.
I've mentioned Jay Hosler's books before, but the honeybee stories in Clan Apis and the pesky mites in The Sandwalk Adventures are worth a look. Again, I think that these two books capture the pace, feel and off-beat topics of manga, but they are American comics. I'm pretty sure that 8-year-old still like bugs and "Calvin & Hobbes"-style science.
Usagi Yojimbo is a long-running series about a samurai rabbit in feudal Japan; there are swordfights and other fantasy violence. I think it's tastefully handled, but read before buying.
posted by JDC8 at 9:43 AM on June 25, 2006
Damn it, Beerbajay! You stole my answer. You could really do much worse than anything by Miyazaki.
posted by absalom at 10:04 AM on June 25, 2006
posted by absalom at 10:04 AM on June 25, 2006
Er, Nausicaa's excellent, but there are some pretty graphic and awfully sad scenes of violence in that book, if it matters to you.
posted by furiousthought at 11:56 AM on June 25, 2006
posted by furiousthought at 11:56 AM on June 25, 2006
The reason this question didn't generate a lot more response is Japanese comics (i.e. manga) aren't kid stuff. For whatever reason, many Americans find this a difficult concept.
This is true, though I would add "most" before "Japanese comics." Although I could list a lot more manga for kids that are popular in Japan, I'm not sure if they've been translated into English, or if they are easily available outside of Japan. (Kaiketsu Zorori, for example, is a very popular character that originated from a series of silly illustrated childrens' books almost 20 years ago and that is still going strong, which has recently branched out into the anime and the comics genres.) The "quality" part makes this a hard question to answer, too, because a lot of the stuff geared towards kids exist solely to make them (er, us parents...) buy related toys. For example, I could say Yu-gi-oh!, which was also a very popular manga series (though I'd say the peak has passed), but in my opinion it's not "quality" stuff.
posted by misozaki at 5:08 PM on June 25, 2006
This is true, though I would add "most" before "Japanese comics." Although I could list a lot more manga for kids that are popular in Japan, I'm not sure if they've been translated into English, or if they are easily available outside of Japan. (Kaiketsu Zorori, for example, is a very popular character that originated from a series of silly illustrated childrens' books almost 20 years ago and that is still going strong, which has recently branched out into the anime and the comics genres.) The "quality" part makes this a hard question to answer, too, because a lot of the stuff geared towards kids exist solely to make them (er, us parents...) buy related toys. For example, I could say Yu-gi-oh!, which was also a very popular manga series (though I'd say the peak has passed), but in my opinion it's not "quality" stuff.
posted by misozaki at 5:08 PM on June 25, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by gnat at 5:31 PM on June 24, 2006