Forum - View topicManga recs for girls middle school?
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st_owly
 Posts: 5234 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland |
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I enjoyed Sakura Hime, but it's not the first Arina Tanemura series I'd suggest. She's most well known for Full Moon, which also has an anime series. It's not all light and fluffy spoiler[the main character is dying of throat cancer] but it's still enjoyable.
I'd second Dessa's recommendation of La Corda d'Oro. I enjoyed it a lot when I was a teenager, and the romance really isn't that big a deal, it's more about learning to love music. Now I'm at home and can see my shelves, I'd also suggest I Am Here! by Ema Toyama. It's about a really shy girl whose only friends are the people who visit her blog. It's basically about her opening up and becoming more confident. I think the shyer girls would really enjoy it. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9835 Location: Virginia |
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Since you report you have people into fantasy, I would also recommend the four Twelve Kingdoms novels put out by Tokyo Pop if they are available. While this is not the complete series the fourth novel ends at a good stopping point. This is where the anime series stops as well. You need the paper back version of the fourth novel as the hard back had a couple of pages missing.
For manga, I would recommend Sunshine Sketch from Yen Press. This is the manga version of the Hidamari Sketch anime and is excellent, as is the anime. The manga version of K-On! also from Yen Press would also be appropriate. |
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lys
 Posts: 1008 Location: mitten-state |
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Just saw this and wondered if you meant Story of Saiunkoku, rather than Suikoden? Suikoden III is an adaptation of a fighting/rpg videogame (or something?); Story of Saiunkoku is the one others here recommended. Maybe it was just mis-typed, but if you actually ordered Suikoden, you might have some confusion over why it was recommended. (I don't actually know anything about the Suikoden game/manga series, so I hope its fans will forgive me if it's actually awesome and I have no idea what I'm talking about :) ) It seems like you've got a good long list of titles to check out, but I'll just add in Yotsuba&! (about a little girl discovering every-day things like pizza and acorns and riding a bike, but sends me into gales of laughter every time I pick up a book) and Chi's Sweet Home (delightful for any cat-lovers) as manga that I think every age will enjoy :) |
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LHanson11
Posts: 6 |
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lys, Dessa recommended Suikoden III:
yuna49 also recommended The Twelve Kingdoms, so I ordered the first one of those used from Amazon, too, to check it out. I've put the other additions on my list! Some of them I had already pulled from the other middle school recs postings, but some are new, so thank you!!! The titles I've read have been really fun so far! I think we will have some difficulty narrowing down our choices -- we have limited space. Looking forward to enlisting the library club in the screening process this afternoon -- they will be very excited to read manga as an assignment! 
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Tamaria
 Posts: 1512 Location: De Achterhoek |
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Don't worry, it's a good series. Sure, there are lots of characters to keep track of, but I bet most readers who're interested in fantasy won't have much trouble with that
Plus, like Dessa said, no lack of diversity! There's also some really cool character designs in there. Chris, the female knight, actually looks like a proper knight. No stupid boobplate or anything. But, she still looks feminine thanks to her classy yet practical hairstyle. |
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lys
Posts: 1008 Location: mitten-state |
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Oh, sorry then!! I should have read the thread more carefully and not assumed... Well, now I've learned some things :) |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2606 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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Sakura Hime works out really well in the end, but it isn't as strong as Full Moon or Phantom Thief Jeanne. Ion is also fun and only one volume.
It's out-of-print, but if you can track down Karakuri Odette, that's a good title - it's about an android learning to become human in a very light and sweet vein. The same author also writes Kamisama Kiss, about a girl who becomes a minor goddess. It's got a some light romance and a heroine who's really strong as she learns how to be both herself and who she needs to be to run the shrine, to say nothing of (safely) attractive supernatural boys. I absolutely second the suggestion of I am Here, and her (out-of-print) Pixie Pop is also a lot of fun. Both are set in middle school as well, which is a plus. |
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glowingdawn
Posts: 16 |
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Tokyo Mew Mew is a magical girl series like sailor moon featuring middle school age girls and discusses pollution and endangered species.
Cardcaptor Sakura by CLAMP is also a magical girl series featuring a 5th grade girl and is a manga classic. Suki: A Like Story, Wish, and The One I Love by CLAMP are all good shoujo romance stories and fairly short Magic Knight Rayearth and Magic Knight Rayearth 2 also classics. none of what I suggested has (except maybe Tokyo mew mews costumes might offend some) scantily clad women and they all feature strong female protagonists |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Soul Eater might be a good choice as well, and something a bit different since it is a shounen series, but one that has a lot of female fans. Now, the first volume at least does perhaps have a bit too much fan service in it, so this is one you'd definitely need to check out personally. But the later volumes don't have nearly as much, so you might even be able to start at a later volume without actually having the first couple in the library.
Love*Com is a really fun series. I enjoy it especially since so few romantic comedies out there actually follow through beyond the point where the couple gets together. Ouran High School Host Club is another fun series with a really awesome female lead. A few from my favourite mangaka, Yuu Watase, might be a posibilities: Alice 19th, Imadoki!, and Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden. Full disclosure, Alice does have a full on attempt at sexual assault though it doesn't go far (her shirt gets ripped) and Imadoki has one that stops even faster. Pretty sure Genbu Kaiden is all fine though and Takiko is probably Watase's most kickass heroine to date. I'll also second Nodame, since a good stopping point has been recommended. It's really a shame that the last volumes are never going to get released in English. I would say no for Honey and Clover though, I think middle school might be a bit too young to really connect with the cast, who are all in their final years of university. |
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LHanson11
Posts: 6 |
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marie-antoinette, how obvious or threatening is the sexual assault? Edgy content I will clearly need to read for myself, but thought I would ask anyway.
Would you also recommend Fushigi Yugi in addition to Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden? (I have the first sitting in my pile from the other middle school thread!) Thanks!!! |
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st_owly
Posts: 5234 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland |
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In Fushigi Yuugi spoiler[one of the main characters is raped and uses that as her motivation to get revenge. It's revealed late on in the series that she wasn't actually, and was just being manipulated. Nothing graphic is shown as far as I recall but it has been a few years. The main couple do also have sex in the last volume, but again it's not graphic] so it all depends on how comfortable you are with that. I would certainly say keep it for the older girls.
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CatSword
 Posts: 1489 |
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As someone who is actually in middle school, I have seen girls of all types fight over and eat up Ouran High School Host Club. Like seriously, the hype over it last year was unreal.
Another one I recall seeing is Hana Kimi though I don't know much about that one. Fullmetal Alchemist is a masterpiece series and has Winry, a female lead who kicks a lot of butt and isn't held back by guys. Definitely recommend. |
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LHanson11
Posts: 6 |
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Thanks!
I had also posted this to a Yahoo group on graphic novels for libraries, and got those three as suggestions there as well, so we're definitely on track!
In all, I have 61 series recommendations that we are screening (whew!). I expect we will start adding manga series to the library in January but continue screening well into the winter. I will post again here when we've made some decisions -- in case others are looking for the answer to this or a similar question! Thanks so much for all your recommendations!!! |
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I'd say it is decently obvious but it doesn't get very far beyond the ripped shirt. Also the original Fushigi Yuugi is a series that I quite adore, despite its many flaws. As st_owly pointed out, it does also have some sexual assault portrayal, though (and that isn't the only occurrance of it). Genbu Kaiden is the better series on a whole, as well as being significantly shorter, but I would recommend both. The only Watase title that I would outright avoid would be Ceres, since that one was definitely meant for an older audience than her other shoujo works. |
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Hitomi Higurashi
 Posts: 6 |
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