Hoping this is OK to be posted here [Easy manga]

[AdamLeliel]

Hey there. Apologies if this is the wrong place to put it in but I wasn't sure.

I'm looking for some "easy" manga to read. I've heard of Doraemon and am considering it-- but I'd like to hear some other recommendations before I go with that. Perhaps something newer, or..? If it helps, I generally like しょうねん and comedic manga.

Thank you in advance.

[Jason]

よつばと！ by Kiyohiko Azuma for the most part is pretty easy to read and is hilariously awesome. There is a lot of colloquial Japanese in it though. Volume 7 was just released in japan last week and I'm itching for my copy to get here soon.

[sphere]

oh yes!!! That's a comic I like a lot!!! have not followed up in a while, din know that it has already reached 7 volumes. time to visit the local kinokuniya bookstore

[NickT]

This sounds like an interesting manga. I am looking for relatively easy reading material, too.

Does anyone know where it can be purchased online? I could only find the English translation on Amazon.co.jp, for some reason...

By the way, how easy is "pretty easy to read"? Does it have furigana above all kanji, or only some? (or none?) Would you need to be close to JLPT level 2 to comfortably read it, or would level 3 suffice?

[Jason]

My shop of choice is Sasuaga Books, though I don't know if they ship outside of the US. Theres also

http://us.yesasia.com/en/Index.aspx
http://www.nippon-export.com/
Amazon.co.jp

There is furigana on all kanji. For most of it, I'd say you should be somewhere between JLPT 3 and 2 to be able to read it without having to stop to look things up too much. Or at least be pretty familiar with very informal speech.

[AdamLeliel]

Ah, thank you very much! More suggestions are welcomed, by the way. But I'll look into that one.

[Javizy]

Does anyone have any similar recommendations for children's books? I wanted to order some of the Kaidan Hoteru series, since the subject matter might be more interesting than the usual cutesy fantasy style kid's stuff, but all online shops neglect to mention whether there is furigana or not.

All of the children's books in a shop I went to were kanji'd out, except for one series, which is insane because even the Death Note manga has furigana, and that's aimed at a much older audience. I can't take much more ぼくは王さま

[NickT]

Javizy, Rather than read childrens books, have you thought about the "Japanese Graded Readers" series? They are similar to children's books, but aimed at adult learners of Japanese as a second language.

I have read them all and thoroughly recomend them. You can find them all on: http://www.whiterabbitpress.com/

Each set consists of 5 books, each of which is 20-40 pages long (depending on the level). There are four levels, the easiest of which corresponds to just below JLPT level 4, and the hardest is probably somewhere between JLPT levels 2 and 3. There are two sets of 5 at each level, so in total that is 40 short books to get through.

You can also pick up some of the books individually on ebay. Just do a search for "Japanese graded readers"

[Javizy]

They look really good. I was after some audio books of this nature, but didn't have any luck. I think these are just what I'm looking for. I ordered Level 2 Volume 1; luckily the dollar remains weak, so they're not overly expensive.

[NickT]

All of the Japanese Graded Readers series come with CDs with the books read by a native Japanese speaker. So if it is audiobooks you are after, they should be ideal. And since the book functions as a transcript, if you need to verify what you have have heard you can just look it up.

[Shaydwyrm]

Another great, relatively easy manga I've been reading lately is Detective Conan （名探偵コーナン）. It has furigana over all the kanji, and the subject matter is pretty normal, so I find that I can usually infer the meaning of words I don't understand (I read it without a dictionary).

Note that many Japanese children's books, particularly picture books, tend to be written almost entirely in kana, which can make them quite difficult to read (as opposed to kanji with furigana).

Edit: while we're talking about getting books, let me add that for the lucky few that have one in their area, BookOff is by far the best place to buy manga. Used manga there sell for １０５円 (less than a dollar) in Japan. I've been to the New York store; I don't remember how much they charged there, but it was really cheap. Londoners, if you have a friend in Paris or near a US or Japan store, it may be worth it to get them to buy some for you and ship it!

[Javizy]

I reluctantly bought the first volume of Doraemon Plus after a shop attendant awkwardly tried to help me find children's books with furigana. It's actually quite funny, and it has pretty useful vocabulary. It's made up of a bunch of stories involving the main kid getting into some kind of trouble, and Doraemon giving him some crazy device that solves everything. There are still a few sentences that I have a hard time translating though.

[NickT]

Was that in London? Which shop?

[Javizy]

At the Japan Centre, which is a restaurant/grocery store with a bookshop upstairs. It is located right near Piccadilly Circus Tube station; just go down the road named Piccadilly when you come out of the station, and you'll see it on the left about 100 yards down. It was a little over £4, but they go for £2.80- £3.50 on Yes Asia.

[NickT]

Ah, yeah I know The Japan Centre. Actually I went there today, and picked up a copy of よつばと Volume 1, based on the recommendations below, as well as a few other bits and bobs. It looks interesting, but I haven't had a chance to read any of it yet. It looks pretty easy, too.