Soooo my friend (soon-to-be-boyfriend, but that's another story ;3) thinks manga is retarded.

He's never read it, and I dont want him to think I'm a nerd because of his ignorance. So I've decided to get him into manga!

He's a male. Think male. >_>

Any good (LICENSED) series out there that's bound to get him to change his mind on manga?xD

I have the choice of 1) pretending not to like manga that much or 2) get him interested. THERE IS NO "COME OUT ABOUT MY OBSESSION" UNTIL HE GETS INTO MANGA BECAUSE I SAID SO. >__> And he's not allowed in my room or allowed to see what are in the boxes in my basement's storage room, because then I'd be a bigger nerd. XD TOO MANY RAWS ALL OVER MY ROOM.

This is not love advice, it's manga advice.

Shounen series I own include School Rumble, Negima, Love Hina, Ichigo 100%, Death Note, Ranma 1/2, Chobits and probably some other crap I can't remember.... But whatever, something tells me they're not epic enough. :<

HALP.

what type of entertainment does he like, start with something similar to his taste, this is how i got my mom hooked, and then she would buy the series for me just so she could read it

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GTO is a good place to start for anyone you'd want to convert, really. Not exactly easy to find from my experience though.

You can try Urasawa Naoki's Monster if he wants some serious, mature-oriented stuff, as well as to counteract his "manga is retarded" mindset.
Vagabond would be a good choice for action-oriented guys.


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Well from your collection I would say Death Note since it's so popular that even those who have never read any manga before would have at least heard of the live action movies.

Also it would probably shatter his misconception of manga being retarded more so if he watched the movies.

And from your profile I would presume that you're a girl so showing him ecchi shonen series as a first impression is out of the question since the girls around me who read manga have classified Ken Akamatsu works as "hentai", although this might just be a prejudice on their part.

@true_grave_unit I'm not so sure about GTO for the reason stated above and someone who thinks that manga is retarded would most likely know nothing about the Japanese culture or society so it won't be a good manga to start.

Oh yeah did I forget to mention that Naruto isn't a bad series to start? Although most of us might hate it now but don't forget how much we loved it when we first picked it up.

Last edited by NoobLuck at 3:08 am, Dec 27 2008

One of the first Manga I read was Love Hina. but I was a massive fan of the Anime first so it was an easy read for me. Ichigo 100% I loved too, Death Note started well and ended well but the middle third was a tad slow for me. I liked Chobits, too.School Rumble is a great comedy read. (Mind you I tend to like "girlie" stories, my wife reads the "boy" stuff! Weird pair, eh?!)

Of the above, I would say try School Rumble as a safe bet. If he can't laugh at that there's no hope!

I'm in agreement with those who recommend something close to what he would read in a non-manga form first.

Well i started with dragon ball maybe thats a good choice too
From your List try Chobits if he Like sci-fi

You can also try Buso Renkin or Rurouni Kenshin (Kenshin if he like Samurais)

Dont try Naruto or Bleach no good becuse he could be scaere when he know how long they are.


Last edited by DarkBlade at 3:32 am, Dec 27 2008

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Bleach
Vampire Knight. FTW.

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I honestly hope you're kidding.

If your friend is like most of my friends, the transition to get someone to read a comic when they're relatively old (say 18-21 range) then i say you should take the middle step first, get him into anime, and then find an anime he likes and say how the manga is a lot better and that he should give it a look.

Anime to get people interested:
Cowboy bebop
Death note anime would be quite a good one
NGE

those are the 3 i'd probably pick from for first timers

That's not nice. O__o;;
Both of the mangas are good in their own standards and some people would recommend them to noobs..


Anyhu, here's some VERY GOOD LICENSED manga..highly recommened for your friend.

DOLL: IC in a DOLL <-- Licensed by Tokyopop
I recommended this to a dude who sat next to me in a bus ride when I went to London last year. He finished ALL the 6 VOLUMES in just 4 hours..and got addicted to it! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

Shigeshoushi <-- Licensed by Tokyopop (same mangaka as DOLL: IC in a DOLL)

My cousin got so into this manga, and it's the FIRST MANGA that she've ever read! The strenght of this manga is the thought-provoking plots and the main character himself. Eventhough this is a Josei, I think men would like it too!

God child <-- Art, story, themes, MSYTERY and the characters are very appealing to new manga readers. My cousin likes this more than Shigeshoushi! (Licensed by Tokyopop)

and my MOST FAVOURITE MANWHA of all TIME!
1001 Nights
I recommended this to EVERYONE I know, Non-manga fans or otaku alike. They all LOVE this.

You can purchased this manwha online.
Although it has some Shounen-ai elements on it, the plot and the art is very very EPIC. (I HATE Shounen ai BTW)

There's some mini-legends in every volumes. The details..the characters...stories varies. Try reading the mangas from the online scanslation first, maybe you like it. If you do, BUY THE MANWHAS!!!!111


I second GTO. That's a MUST for everyone. Boys and girls. >D



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The Hidden Agenda=Gol.D.Ace

This Week's favourite:
DoLL (Okado Tatsuya)
Xp

Because he is an adult male (I looked at your profile) and is skeptical of manga because of the perception of nerdiness surrounding it (though to some degrees it's true ), I would recommend Historie. I reason I am suggesting this manga -- although people tend to either love it or hate it -- is because although it is written for a Japanese audience, it has basically no Japanese elements. I would try introducing a series which is not too different from types of series typically found in North American and European cultures (I'm Canadian too). Does anyone have any other suggestions?

However, the choice depends on the genres he likes. If he is a fan of comedy -- and especially if he likes one of Simpsons, South Park, or Family Guy (I'm not really a fan of any of the 3 though, but I will admit they have their shining moments)--, Gintama could be a good choice. Unfortunately, it heavily depends on parody, which means there will be lots of references to Japanese culture. On the hand, I still found it funny (at least up to Volume 5) despite missing a lot of the parody. However, I might still find it funny because of my relatively high level of exposure to J-culture. [m]Nodame Cantabille[/m] or School Rumble could be good choices too.

I'm thinking mostly of seinen, josei, and older shoujo at the moment. Although I've only read 1 volume, the first volume of Blood Alone was pretty good, IMO. I've bought Yotsuba&!, but haven't read it, but it is very popular and looks to be normal. Other slice of life series might be good. On that note, slice of life 4-komas, like S.S. Astro might be ok too. Vampire Girl or Nana might be good older-shoujo/josei dramas.


If he could be into shounen, I would suggest Hunter x Hunter (it was my introduction to manga besides the end of DBZ in French). FMA might be good too. Love Hina might be dangerous -- both times I read through despite really enjoying the story once getting into it (though I now like the intro too).

Good luck -- there are some people who don't like comics (like my dad, but I don't think he's read any manga). With any luck, he'll be reading Hayate the Combat Butler (something towards the nerdy side) in no time.

i suggest that you see the thigs that she likes
like romance, comedy, supernatural
and that way it would be a better way
she must like comedy


oh i also suggest Midnight Secretary

Actually Dubby-san is looking for some manga recommendations for her ADULT MALE friend.

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The Hidden Agenda=Gol.D.Ace

This Week's favourite:
DoLL (Okado Tatsuya)
Xp

This is my wild guess but since you said he thinks manga is stupid, I guess he's like 90% of my friends who at the word manga think of pokemon in a comic... and he's what, 18 or 19, I guess? In that case I would skip shounen (except GTO), and try with seinen.

Try Berserk, was my first manga and the reason why I'm reading manga today and that was 5 years ago (mind you, it has some boring parts, but the characters and art gets better as the story progresses).

Someone suggested Blood Alone, and I second that, it's one of the best mangas with vampires, sometimes my girlfriend likes to read that one with me so you can try that.

Red Eyes if he likes war and politics, it's great. Unfortunately it isn't licensed in English so dunno, maybe get some scans.

Blame! could be a tough start since it isn't your typical manga where everything is handed to you, so you might want to keep that one for his 3rd or 4th series.

Besides Bleach and VK, all other suggestions in the thread are also a great start, it just depends on his preferences.

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You might want to start with the anime or movie version and work backwards. It can be easier to convince somebody to forsake an hour or two of their time to watch something rather than read. Series people I know like even though they're not really into manga:
Bleach
Naruto
Gantz
Cowboy Bebop
Hellsing
Trigun
Battle Royale