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I have a 9 year old daughter that has expressed some interest in manga, but
I'm having trouble locating series that are appropriate for her age. No one at
our local bookstore could offer any advice. Is there a kid-friendly imprint or
other resource I could use to help her find something appropriate?

Clarification: I recognize that there's a lot of personal opinion wrapped up
in what is considered appropriate. What I'm really hoping for is a way to
narrow down my options so that I can make a judgement for myself.

My preference is for physical books but I'm willing to explore digital
options. I see from the potential duplicate question notification that the
Crunchyroll app may be an option.


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resources
How can I identify child-appropriate manga?


On the back of a lot of US manga there's an age guide.

**Y** – Youth, Age 10+ Similar to a "PG" movie rating, the "Y – Youth, Age
10+" rating means that the title may contain mild violence and/or cursing.

**T** – Teens, Age 13+ The manga rating equivalent of a "PG-13," "T - Teen"
indicates that the comic's content may include some sexual innuendo and/or
violent action scenes.

**OT** \- Older Teens, Age 16+ "OT - Older Teen"-rated manga may contain more
explicit sexual situations and some violent scenes, including blood and gore.

**M** – Mature, Age 18+ Manga rated "M - Mature" is strictly for adults. You
can expect to find explicit sexual situations, strong language and / or bloody
battles and mayhem.

You can usually find these ratings on the back cover, but occasionally they'll
be on the front:

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4KbBNs.jpg)

The design changes with publisher so be aware they mightn't all look the same.

Personally, I think the best way to determine if a manga is appropriate is to
flick through it yourself - if something undesirable occurs it's likely to
happen a few times and you'll probably catch it skimming through. As she's 9
though, I'd say the **Y** tag is fine :)


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The **content deemed acceptable for Japanese children generally differs** from
the concept in other countries; manga contains all genres of stories, so one
cannot responsibly presume that just because a title was marketed at Japanese
kids, that you would likewise consider it appropriate for your kid of the same
age.

As one example:  
The popular girl's series _Sailor Moon_ was published in the manga magazine
_Nakayoshi_ , which was marketed toward elementary school-age girls (1st
through 6th grade). This series includes strong language, bullying, violence,
death, war, genocide, refugees, lovers' suicide (more than once), non-
consensual kisses (forced while awake, while asleep, while drunk), a father
fondling his adult daughter while brainwashed, human/animal romance, demonic-
style alien possession of human bodies, nudity, cross-dressing, a non-
monogamous lesbian couple, and non-graphic sex resulting in teen pregnancy
(the 90s anime version, also marketed toward children, also added wrist/ankle
restraints for a [rape-like](http://www.btchflcks.com/2013/02/sexual-assault-
subtext-in-sailor-moon.html), pain-inducing entering of victims).

There are many **manga reviews** on the web, including those that specifically
**for parents and teen/preteen/kid readers** on what sort of possibly
objectionable content is included in the title (such as strong language,
violence, nudity, gender-bending, innuendo, sexual content, etc.) and what
sort of general content you can expect (for example: horror, potty humor,
serious themes like depression/body image/sexual
orientation/prostitution/parental abandonment/bullying/suicide) and let you as
the parent or the reader use your own judgment about whether a title fits what
you deem appropriate at what age. Browsing reviews also allows you to seek out
titles that reinforce and contribute to your family's values (such as traits
of selflessness, generosity, celebration of uniqueness, etc.).

Some good starting places are:

  * [A Parent's Guide to Anime](http://www.abcb.com/parents/)
  * [Good Manga for Kids](http://mangabookshelf.com/good-manga-for-kids/) at Manga Bookshelf
  * [Good Comics for Kids](http://blogs.slj.com/goodcomicsforkids/category/manga/) at School Library Journal
  * [Kids Manga](http://noflyingnotights.com/category/mangaandanime/mangaandanime-kids/) at No Flying No Tights

Since you have a daughter, she may be especially interested in shoujo manga,
which was written with the target audience of Japanese girls. Within shoujo,
nearly all genres of stories are included; some titles are very cheerful and
innocuous and teach a moral-of-the-day, others are dark and heavy. Good
starting places to get informed are:

  * [What is Shoujo Manga?](http://matt-thorn.com/shoujo_manga/japan_quarterly/), [What Shoujo Manga Are and Are Not](http://matt-thorn.com/shoujo_manga/whatisandisnt.php), and [Recommended Shoujo Manga](http://www.matt-thorn.com/shoujo_manga/susume/) by Matt Thorn, a professor in the Faculty of Manga at [Kyoto Seika University](http://www.kyoto-seika.ac.jp/eng/edu/manga/) (one of the world's experts on shoujo manga)
  * [What is Shoujo?](http://shoujo.tripod.com/intro.html) at [Energetic Heartbeats](http://shoujo.tripod.com)

Some shoujo manga review sites are:

  * [The Classics](https://shojocorner.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/the-classics/) at [Shoujo Corner](https://shojocorner.wordpress.com/)
  * [Emily's Random Shoujo Manga Page](http://niko-niko.net/shoujo/) (despite its unassuming name, contains many detailed reviews)
  * [Heart of Manga](http://www.heartofmanga.com/review-index/)
  * [Shoujo Savvy](http://www.shoujosavvy.com/)
  * [Shoujo Manga Recommendations](http://shoujomangarecs.tumblr.com/tagpage)
  * [Romance Manga Reviews](http://romancemangareviews.tumblr.com/)
  * [Shoujo Manga Reviews](http://kieuana.blogspot.jp/search/label/review)
  * [Shoujo Manga with Anime](http://shoujomanga-reviews.blogspot.jp/p/shoujo-manga-with-anime.html) at Anime Manga Reviews

More general review websites include
[MangaBlog](http://mangablog.mangabookshelf.com/category/reviews/) and
[Kuriousity](http://www.kuriousity.ca/reviews/), and a Google search will find
you many more.


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My personal answer to this question is for the parent to become involved in
what the child reads as well.

This helps in two categories:

  1. You can find things you feel comfortable with your child reading.

  2. You can share in the stories with your child, maybe not at the same level of emotional interest in the stories and characters, but you can have conversations about themes being discussed in the stories, etc.

This is the same view I have on parenting and gaming. But that is another SE.


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On the back of the book it should say the rating. If the manga is more adults
only it will have the black and white parental advisory sticker on it.

Y-10+: Is basically like a pg movie (Should be fine for ages 6 and over i
would say)

T-13+: Very similar to a PG-13 movie (May have some fan service and a bit of
gore)

OT-16+ A good example would be the popular manga called Berserk (Has some
sexual situations, nudity and gore)

M (Mature)18+ These series have content strictly for adults and anyone who
says otherwise is lying.


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