I need a Manga recommendation

[Gemma]

Hi, nerds!

 

I'm quite sure that someone in this wonderful group has some experience in the wonderful world of Manga.

 

I have none.

 

One of the Book Riot "Read Harder!" tasks this year is 'A Book of Manga.'  What would you recommend as a good entry point for someone whose only experience with this literary form is "The Life Changing Manga of Tidying Up?" I am sure I could just roll with Sailor Moon, since I have at least seen a couple of TV episodes so it would be familiar. But that feels like a cop-out if I could be exposing myself to something wonderful that I just haven't heard about yet. (Of course if Sailor Moon is, in fact, wonderful, that's cool too - I just don't want to assume that it's among the best of the genre based on a two-decades-ago television program.) This seems like something that I could really enjoy, but I don't want to begin randomly and risk picking up some random nonsense garbage that I ought not waste my time with.

[Scaly Freak]

I plan to read Monster. I've been meaning to do that for years anyway.

[CourtnieMarie]

12 hours ago, scalyfreak said:

I plan to read Monster. I've been meaning to do that for years anyway.

Oooo I thought this was related to Monstress which I read Vol. 2 last year. What qualifies a manga?

[Scaly Freak]

54 minutes ago, CourtnieMarie said:

What qualifies a manga? 

 

Per Wikipedia: "Manga are comics created in Japan or by creators in the Japanese language, conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century. They have a long and complex pre-history in earlier Japanese art. The term manga in Japan is a word used to refer to both comics and cartooning."

 

Per Scalyfreak: "Graphic novels from Japan"

 

[Hazard]

On 1/14/2019 at 3:54 PM, Gemma said:

What would you recommend as a good entry point

 

ReLife

 

[Gemma]

Wow, these all look great, thank you! I will definitely be reading more Manga in the future, I honestly thought it was all more 'Sailor Moon' type stuff but these look like they have amazing plotlines that would not translate well at all to Saturday morning cartoons  

 

I just bought a Kindle version of Phoenix, Vol 1, so I am going to start there, but I don't think that will be the end of it. Thank you for the great suggestions!!! 

[Scaly Freak]

5 hours ago, Gemma said:

Wow, these all look great, thank you! I will definitely be reading more Manga in the future, I honestly thought it was all more 'Sailor Moon' type stuff but these look like they have amazing plotlines that would not translate well at all to Saturday morning cartoons  

 

That's why I like thinking of them as "graphic novels". There's as much variety in manga as there are in regular novels from the rest of the world.

 

Monstress looks interesting... 

[juliebarkley]

I am hardly a manga expert, but I have enjoyed what I have read so far:

 

Black Butler: ongoing series. Antihero child and his demon butler set in Victorian London. The first arc is based on Jack the Ripper, the second on zombies. It starts very light for a few chapters, then takes a sudden dark (and bloody) turn. I love this series.

 

Pandora Hearts: surreal fantasy with characters named after Alice in Wonderland characters. I cried hard in the last few books as it became obvious that it was not going to end well for many (maybe all) of my favourite characters.

 

Fullmetal Alchemist: a classic. Two young alchemist brothers are trying to restore the body of the younger brother, which he lost when trying to bring his mother back from the dead. His soul now lives in a suit of armour. Of course, other things soon crop up, which take them adventuring with higher stakes. An adventure story with alchemy.

 

Midnight Secretary: vampire romance. Only 6 volumes long. Trashy but fun if you like that sort of thing. Didn't like the ending.

 

Ceres, Celestial Legend: first manga I ever read. I can't remember it too clearly, but there was a romance alongside a mythological thing with the main character. And some death.

 

My son (13) isn't into manga, but likes Chi's Sweet Home, about an adorable kitten who adopts a family and is adorable.

 

What sort of books do you normally like reading?

[CourtnieMarie]

On 1/19/2019 at 1:22 PM, scalyfreak said:

Monstress looks interesting... 

I super enjoyed it even though I accidentally picked up vol. 2 first so I still need to go back and read vol. 1

[Gemma]

13 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

 

What sort of books do you normally like reading?

 

Literary fiction, sci-fi, lots of fantasy. I definitely am adding Pandora Hearts to my TBR, also Black Butler. Thank you! 

[Scaly Freak]

17 hours ago, Gemma said:

Literary fiction,

 

You realize this is like saying you like to read "books", right?

[Gemma]

On 1/23/2019 at 11:23 AM, scalyfreak said:

 

You realize this is like saying you like to read "books", right?

 

Yes no maybe. I mean, okay, fair statement, it is a silly phrase, like saying I prefer 'edible' food.

 

But in my defense, that is how it is shelved in many bookshops - anything that is basically contemporary fiction that does not fit neatly into any other genre category gets plopped onto the 'literary fiction' or just 'literature' shelf as if genre fiction doesn't really count as literature. 

 

In my nerdier defense, I will say that at least the most recent three 'not sci-fi, not fantasy' contemporary fiction books that I really fell In Love with (and yes I fall in love with beautifully crafted novels, albeit kind of like a thirteen year old girl falls in love with beautifully marketed popstars, complete with clutch-the-pearls gestures at great turns of phrases or character revelations, and exclamations like 'wow, this is stunning') were truly literary in the most literal possible sense. As in - and I just realized this this morning - all of them had books as a major element, and principal characters that were shaped and defined to a very large extent by how they related to books. 

 

The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (And Their Muses); The Book Thief; Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore ... do these count as "literary?" In theme, at least, if not in genre?  

[Scaly Freak]

34 minutes ago, Gemma said:

But in my defense, that is how it is shelved in many bookshops - anything that is basically contemporary fiction that does not fit neatly into any other genre category gets plopped onto the 'literary fiction' or just 'literature' shelf as if genre fiction doesn't really count as literature. 

 

What does, then? How exactly does one define what "literature" is? Who decides what gets to have that label? The slippery slope into snobbery seems dangerously close to making an appearance...

 

Important clarification: I have no opinion on what counts as "literature", or belief that there is "real literature" (whatever that makes all the other literary works out there...) or any right or desire to judge someone's written works as good or bad. If I enjoyed reading it, it was a good book. If not, then I stopped reading. I just like talking about books.

[Gemma]

 

51 minutes ago, scalyfreak said:

 

What does, then? How exactly does one define what "literature" is? Who decides what gets to have that label? The slippery slope into snobbery seems dangerously close to making an appearance...

 

Philip Pullman, in Daemon Voices, has an essay called "Children's Literature Without Borders" (I think that's what it's called. I listened to the audiobook last week. He addresses similar themes in a lot of his essays, though.) 

 

He talks about the 'gatekeepers' of literature, the ones who insist that THIS book is for women, and THAT book for some particular ethnic group or sexuality/gender identification, and THOSE OVER THERE are for children, and the desire of some of these gatekeepers to label everything and make sure that they control which book gets into the hands of which audience and don't like to think about people breaking those rules and 'crossing over' ... of course, since he is Philip Pullman, it is brilliant and hilarious and sad and painfully true at the same time. The big, amorphous publishing industry, (which sounds like a big gray blobby monster instead of just a bunch of people who also love books and earn their living around them), has a lot invested in making sure that everything gets its proper label. 

[Scaly Freak]

19 minutes ago, Gemma said:

Philip Pullman, in Daemon Voices, has an essay called "Children's Literature Without Borders" (I think that's what it's called. I listened to the audiobook last week. He addresses similar themes in a lot of his essays, though.) 

 

He talks about the 'gatekeepers' of literature, the ones who insist that THIS book is for women, and THAT book for some particular ethnic group or sexuality/gender identification, and THOSE OVER THERE are for children, and the desire of some of these gatekeepers to label everything and make sure that they control which book gets into the hands of which audience and don't like to think about people breaking those rules and 'crossing over'

 

It's actually kind of hilarious how convoluted these labels can get, when they encounter certain types of books that span multiple genres/categories/demographics. Or how genres have sub genres that have multiple different classifications inside that sub genre...

 

And now I need to go find that essay.

[juliebarkley]

On 1/22/2019 at 5:43 PM, Gemma said:

 

Literary fiction, sci-fi, lots of fantasy. I definitely am adding Pandora Hearts to my TBR, also Black Butler. Thank you! 

 

Awesome! Be aware that after you read the first volume of Pandora Hearts (whenever you get to it), you will have no idea what is going on. This is normal, and this feeling will return periodically. It really is a weird world they live in.