Hello dear Mangaupdates members.

I recently started learning japanese and I really am a beginner. I dont have much knowledge in japanese but I was looking for mangas in raws to help me get motivated to learn the language. Does anyone know of japanese mangas that are really easy to understand in raw? I am principally looking for slice of life mangas, it can also be shoujo mangas, shonen-ai or yaoi mangas but it doesnt have to be that kind of mangas. I am just looking for something really easy to read that can have some useful word in it for the daily japanese user. I would prefer if the words were mostly in hiragana or I would like if the manga had the hirgana wrotten next to the kanjis. Thank you.

Thank you !

Last edited by UnknownHuman at 10:13 am, Dec 20 2010

I'm pretty sure Yotsubato! has hiragana next to kanji since I saw it in raw years ago. It's also a slice of life and quite simple I think.

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I would also love to find some. I am self teaching myself japanese. So far i only know hiragana. And a couple hundred words i learned from reading manga for years.

If you're a beginner, it'd be best to start with either shoujo or shounen manga.
They usually have furigana next to the kanji and the sentences will be easier to understand.

Maybe it'll be good to start off with stuff like Naruto or Shugo Chara, since they're usually targeted towards younger kids.

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I started learning to read Japanese with Detective Conan and One Piece, my favorite manga at the time. It's best to pick a series you genuinely like, since it's easy to get bored on the slow trek from word to word. Battle shounen is particularly nice because the words are often very connected with the actions, making it easier to understand.

Hiragana/katakana next to kanji is called furigana and is typically seen in manga aimed towards young readers, like shounen and shoujo. It'll be harder to find full furigana in yaoi and such, though there might be some out there.

Bakuman is interesting, though the vocabulary is probably pretty different from typical manga.

Full Moon wo Sagashite

Hana no Namae

Lucky Star, Yotsuba&!, Azumanga Daioh, simple series like those probably have furigana as well.

I agree with the shoujo/shounen thing, but of course, how appropriate a manga is really depends on what you're learning... in many manga there is a lot of colloquial Japanese and most Japanese language learning books and courses start you off with very standard formal Japanese, so it might be difficult to work out the meaning if you're a beginner.

Having said that, precisely because manga uses so much casual everyday speech, I think it's really good for learning practical Japanese. I think slice of life manga and manga set in school or in the workplace are therefore really useful. Certain manga genres, like historical, or anything with a lot of politics or a very in-depth subject like cooking, might have a lot of obscure and/or outdated words/terms so probably better to avoid those.

I would just get your hands on a bunch of shoujo/shounen raws, whatever's available and looks interesting to you, and see which ones work out best.

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Chi's Sweet Home is really really simple, but the story is still really cute! Not sure where to find it in raw form though

But if you've got a favorite series, read that in Japanese instead! I definitely learned my rudimentary Japanese from Fruits Basket!

This one's really, really easy: Gakuen God.

Minimal speech bubbles, very easy vocabulary. A good motivator.

@reid1: Ah that is perfect for me, I have been looking for that manga since a long time ago ! Thanks a lot.

@StarlightDreams: Hmmm I guess that is pretty logical but as i've heard before, Naruto for example has too much fighting words and etc. which would be useless for me. I guess I will go looking for either shoujo or shounen, school life or slice of life mangas. Thanks for the tip.

@Blique: Well as of i've read earlier most battle shounens make you learn some words you wouldn't really necessarily need normally so I would tend to read more school life/daily life stuff to learn some useful words BUT I will still look at your suggestions that looks interesting. Thank you .

@mogiks: I will then concentrate my search on mangas of this genre. Thank you for the tip that was pretty useful .

@Lorraine: Yeah I just found that manga earlier !
Hmmm I don't have any favourite series but with my level of japanese I doubt I would be able to read most of the stuff I would want ._. .

@kawaiiusagichan: Thats perfect, I will take it in note. Thanks

Lucky Star and Azumanga Daioh do not have furigana next to the kanji.

I think it would be best to start with shoujo titles. I really do think they are easier to read. Try mangas published in Ribon or Nakayoshi, since those are aimed for young girls. You can also try Betsufure titles, since those are pretty easy too. As for specific titles... hmmm... try Love Berrish. If you want shounen then I think Katekyo Hitman Reborn! has pretty easy dialogue so it's easy to translate.

Last edited by niiica at 5:28 pm, Dec 22 2010