Manga (and a little bit on anime)

4 main demographics- Shōnen, Shōjo, Sienen, Josei.

You can use www.yenpress.com/titles-by-rating to get an idea of age ratings for some manga. Yenpress publishes a lot of manga in the UK and US.

The basics

Aimed at boys aged 10-18, though has a much larger appeal and will likely form the bulk of manga you buy.

Might be action orientated, but varied genres.

Examples include: Naruto, One Piece, Attack on Titan, Yostuba&!

Shōnen

Aimed at men aged 18-30.

Some adult themes, may have some nudity. Will be more violent.

If you have a sixth form some might be suitable, though you will likely need to restrict to older years only.

Examples that would be good for a sixth form: Akira, Ghost in the shell, Battle Royale.

Shōjo

Aimed at girls aged 10-18. Generally has a wide appeal.

Good for encouraging reluctant female readers.

Examples include: Card Captor Sakura, Sailor Moon, Vampire Knight.

Sienen

Aimed at women aged 18-30 but again will likely to appeal to older women too.

Unlikely to be seen much in school manga collections as mostly about adult relationships with some softcore elements, some exceptions of course.

Examples include: Shirokuma café (a good choice for schools)

Josei

If you’re completely new to manga a simple google search for “best manga for schools” yields several good results.

Aim for shorter series. Some manga have been going for years and as such can run into the 100’s of volumes, not ideal for a small library budget!

Definitely avoid any of the following: Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, Berserk. These manga’s have been going on for too long or are published irregularly and the cost of attempting to buy every volume is likely to run into the several hundreds.

How do I know what to buy?

The average cost of one volume is generally around £5-7. Each volume generally has 3 to 4 chapters if it’s an on-going story. Or 3 to 4 short stories if it’s self contained.

You’re going to want to aim for series that have around 15 volumes or under ideally.

A useful tip: If you don’t have a big budget, or are looking to buy a longer series, don’t feel obligated to buy the whole set. Try just buying the first couple of volumes. This also lets you see if it’s worth investing in the rest depending on readership.

Cont…

Aim for manga that is listed as Shōnen or Shōjo on wikipedia.

Have a read of the plot on wikipedia as well, to get a feel for if it’s suitable.

If main characters are listed as being between the ages of 10-18 the manga is usually a safe bet.

Don’t forget to check yenpress

How do I know what’s appropriate?

Available from both Peters and Browns, and these are likely your easiest options. Browns has a much bigger collection but is slightly more expensive.

It is not recommended to buy off a non specialist book seller, eg amazon ebay etc as manga can be so varied and amazon is not always clear on what you’re buying.

If you find a series you think might be suitable make sure you check how many volumes it is on wikipedia before buying it.

Where do I buy manga from?

Not an exhaustive list, but a good number of series to get you started:

Yostuba&! (up to 84 volumes but each volume is self contained, so recommended to pick any 5 at random, they’re all great!)

Attack on Titan (Up to 13 volumes, is expected to run til 20 volumes)

Card Captor Sakura (12 volumes) Death Note (12 volumes) Code Geass (8 volumes)

Recommended Titles

The best (and pretty much ONLY place) I’ve been able to buy anime dvds from the UK is at http://www.anime-on-line.com/xcart/home.php

In my opinion you are far better buying one off movies than a whole boxset of a series, simply because the box sets cost much more and are more of a time investment to watch.

Anime DVDs are much easier to buy because they follow the same rating standards as in the uk, e.g. 12, 15 etc.

General recommendations: Anything by studio Ghibli, more famous examples include Princess Monoke, Grave of the

Fireflies, Spirted Away and Howl’s Moving Castle. Summer Wars 5cm per second

Voices from a Distant Star Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack

Children who chase lost voices

Anime

Any questions?

Email me at ctownson@shuttleworth.lancs.sch.uk if you need any help. Or post on padlet!

Finally..