Quick manga recs!

[telophase]

My workplace has chosen a Christmas charity which is a local children's advocacy center which works with CPS and local law enforcement agencies to investigate child abuse cases. The form it takes is a list of kids, each with a few gift wishes, and we bring in items for them, which go to the (non-abusive) parent or guardian to wrap and give the kids.

So I'm idly scanning the cards with the kids' info and one jumps out: a 14-year-old girl, who lists that she wants manga. Obviously, I'm not given any information such as what manga she's already read or what she likes, so I'm not going to give her used manga and I'm going to include a gift receipt so that she can exchange it for something she hasn't read if she's got it already.

But as I'm all a-tizzy with Yuletide and whatnot right now, if anyone can throw a few thoughts my way as to manga that are appropriate for a 14-year-old girl, potentially in a conservative religious household*, who may also be physically, sexually, or emotionally abused? (i.e. NO FRICKIN WAY Hot Gimmick is going in there! And I'd be seriously concerned about later volumes of Fruits Basket too - without knowing the girl, I couldn't tell whether they'd be traumatizing, or be good to help her work through her issues.)

I'm looking at getting 3-4 volumes, either vol. 1 of a few different series or 1-4 of one series. I'd go straight gift card, except there's something really nice about getting a physical object. (Er, if anyone wants to throw a buck or two my way for an additional gift card, that'd be just as nice, but I'm not asking for that.)


* Quite common in Texas.

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

My first thought was Her Majesty's Dog. Though that has some violence and lots of kissing. And non-Christian relgion and rituals. Maybe not.

Aqua and Aria have nothing objectionable that I recall, though I suspect adults like the series more than teens.

Land of the Blindfolded is a sweet romance/school story that has nothing objectionable that I recall, unless psychic powers might set off witchcraft alarms. I haven't finished the series though.

Mixed Vegetables is an adorable cooking romance.

If you do an assortment, I'd pop in at least one volume of something shounen and fun.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Her Majesty's Dog: Vol 10 also implies sex between minors. Actually, pretty much confirms. (Well, she's a minor. No idea what he qualifies as.)

[estara.livejournal.com]

Land of the Blindfolded has the uncle manipulating his nephew so that he uses his mental power to show him his dead mother (sister to the uncle) in the last few volumes.

I thought of Aria right away, too.

How about From Far Away?

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I am really liking Kyoko Shitou's The Key to the Kingdom, which is completely inoffensive unless the household is so conservative fantasy isn't allowed at all.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thanks! (I suspect I'll run the risk of a non-fantasy-liking household. There's only so far I can really go. XD But the gift receipt will be there, so the parent can change it if necessary, I guess.)

[bitpig.livejournal.com]

First: Yotsubato. No one could object to Yotsuba's wacky antics! Then, What's Michael, if you can find it. Nodame Cantabile (my current favorite manga) would also be a good choice. Finally, Love Roma is a good teen relationship story with no sex.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[riot-o-curls.livejournal.com]

skip beat
beauty pop
crimson hero
imadoki
la corda d'oro
ouran host club

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[hang-nga-79.livejournal.com]

I`ll edit my comment with links and descriptions, but I gotta give the dog a walk first.

Uh, double check with others about the rating, but I think fluffy romances and youngish high-school stuff would be a safe bet:

1. High-school debut (Koukou Debut) **highly recommend
   On-going series,
   Boy gives girl makeover to help her find a boyfriend and falls in love with her himself -sounds corny, but it's the most adorable series and I proudly have it on my own shelf. Strong heroine (lit. into pitching baseball) but has insecurities that they deal with intelligently in the manga. Heroine spazzes but it's just part of her personality. Guy doesn't dominate the relationship and he blushes :) Deals with some sibling issues, but no major family (esp. abuse or parents stuff) that I remember.


2. S.A (Special A)
   Ongoing series **contains comical violence, father teachers daughter wrestling


3. Merupuri
   Complete, 4 volumes, parents passed away before start, I think, but truly fluffy stuff


4. Beauty Pop
   Ongoing series,


5. Chocolat
   Ongoing series


6. Fool's Gold **highly recommend
   Ongoing series, only 2 volumes out now **contains one or two girl slaps boy violence


7. Penguin Revolution
   Ongoing series, **no parents... can`t remember why

I`ve tried to avoid all violence (except comical), not just abuse, but if non-domestic violence stuff is okay, I can recommend some more. Personally, I`d just play it really safe, and anyways, these series are all lots of fun.

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

Penguin revolution- Mom divorced the dad and he ran away/is off scheming how to make millions.
I second this :)

[the_rck]

It's hard for me to judge what a fourteen year old would like, so I'm mainly considering what might or might not be offensive to the adults.

What I've read of Beauty Pop, Yakitate!! Japan, and Kitchen Princess are relatively inoffensive.

Maybe Case Closed or Prince of Tennis or Ouran High School Host Club?

I'm trying to remember if there's sex in W. Juliet. There might be near the end, but if there is, it's not explicit.

Would Wallflower be appropriate?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

No sex whatsoever in W Juliet. Wallflower would be ok were it not for the mangaka's bondage fetish.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Seconding What's Michael -- cute cats and all fairly innocent, and so episodic that just giving a single volume won't leave anything hanging.

Possibly Flower of Life? The only thing I can think about that might be a little objectionable is the one nutty otaku boy who's way, way too into dating sims and hits on his teacher, but for the most part it's all very light and sweet and warm-hearted, and even when the kids have had real-world problems -- cancer, teasing by classmates, etc. -- it's all handled with a light touch and things work out fairly happily in the end? And yet again this is one that's pretty episodic so just giving her a couple of volumes won't leave things at any sort of cliffhanger.

And how about Inubaka? It's extremely warm and sweet and fuzzy, girl-focused, full of cute puppies and cute clothes and dreamily cute boys, but while there are hints of crushes on both sides it's really more about friendships and growing up and becoming more independent than romance. The only things that might be remotely objectionable are occasional fanservicey shots of Suguri in skimpy skirts, and occasional mild gross-out potty humor (literally -- with unhousebroken puppies and such, it comes with the territory).

[rilina.livejournal.com]

Flower of Life - I think the student-teacher stuff is fairly iffy (more later on?), and the very long-winded and detailed analysis of yaoi would probably be a bit too much for a conservative household.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

*thinks of everything that wouldn't give her parents a panic/morality attack*

W Juliet, High School Debut, Suikoden III (unless there is badness in the last 4 volumes), Aqua/Aria, From Far Away, Pearl Pink, Skip-Beat.

[affreca.livejournal.com]

I'd avoid Pearl Pink. Second volume has a side story where girl ends up with her stepfather (he was 10 years younger than her mother, 10 years older than her).

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

Looking at my shelves, here's what I came up with:

Aishiteruze Baby is about a teen taking care of his kindergarten-aged cousin, I don't recall anything offensive in there.

I recently loaned Girl Got Game to a thirteen year old who loved it, but there is cross dressing so it might not be appropriate for a conservative household. Hrm. Come to think of it, she also loved the Buso Renkin volumes which I told her she could keep...

Land of the Blindfolded is a sweet story about a girl who can see the future and a boy who can see the past. I don't recall anything untoward happening between them.

Millenium Snow is a faintly strange, quasi-vampire story that is marginally less insane than the manga-ka's other translated work, Ouran.

[m00nface.livejournal.com]

Re: Aishiteruze Baby, Yuzu's being taken care of because her mother's temporarily abandoned her, something I think she gets pretty upset about at some points (understandably). This girl may be 14 instead of 5, but it might be best to avoid manga with parental issues at their core.

[sho-sunaga.livejournal.com]

I don't know which books are published in the States but the following are the recs.
And while I was trying to think about it, it made me realize how "unusual" for a manga to have no violence and/or sexual interaction in it...!

Nodame Cantable by TOko Ninomiya: A girl struggling to be a pianist no blood some violence but with comedy. no kissing until way later basically very non-sexual manga.
Yakitate Japan and other food oriented Manga
Card Captor Sakura by CLAMP: Some violence(fighting) but not graphic
Glass Mask by Suzue Mizuchi:About a girl who is trying to be an actress
Do da Dancin' by Satoru Makimura: About a girl who is trying to become a ballerina ( she has many such mangas and all are very good)

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

The first three are all definitely available, but Glass Mask isn't licensed here -- there's a real dearth of classic 70's shojo. (We don't even have a proper English version of Rose of Versailles yet! *weeps*) Do da Dancin' also looks like it's not yet licensed, but perhaps Swan could work for another ballet-focused title...?

[cicer.livejournal.com]

In trying to think up some ideas, I just realized how dubious nearly all the manga I read it. I was looking over my bookshelves and kept going, 'Oh, what about...no, that one has rape. Um, maybe...nope, incest. Uhh...perhaps...no, kinky sex. Er...that one has BDSM, that one has graphic gay sex...that one has crossdressing...hm.' My manga collection, it is apparently not child-friendly. XD

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

That was pretty much my experience. "Ok, you can have no alpha males who grab girls, no superjerk shoujo heroes, no incest, no slash, no kinky fetishes, no incest, probably no premarital sex, probably no demon boys with teenaged girls, no skewering, be exceptionally careful with pairings with age differences..."

[rachel-renee.livejournal.com]

Some series that I didn't see when I skimmed the comments:

Love Hina
Ai Yori Aoshi
His and Her Circumstances (the later ones deal with depression, but the earlier ones are very light)

I grew up in a VERY conservative religous household and those would pass my mother's initial inspection.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

Kare Kano also depicts some very abusive family situations for a major character.

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

Penguin revolution:(mentioned earlier)girl finds out girl is really a boy who wants to be and becomes his manager to keep his secret.
La Corda d'oro: girl in the general education class gets a magic violin from a fairy and joins a music competition.
Kingdom Hearts: Disney is pretty safe, right?
Ultramaniac? It was a short (5) book series about a little witch (are witches ok? or are we talking harry potter is teh evil?)
+anima: outcast kids with animal qualities on an adventure
Azumanga: older series but I think rereleased in an omnibus
Emma?
Nausicaa?
Nodame Cantabile might be a bit old for a 14 year old, but it is so good and I hate to underestimate kids.
I think Host club is pretty safe
Skip beat: I think this was mentioned earlier too.
Tokyo Mew Mew- essentially sailor moon but with kids with endangered animal powers and food names.

[estara.livejournal.com]

Emma has some veeeery sexy scenes in the volumes after the closing of the main storyline, but it was released as seinen as far as I remember...

[rilina.livejournal.com]

My first thoughts were Yotsuba& and Hikaru no Go (dude, character development through board games!), though the latter is obviously more aimed at boys even if the slash fandom might suggest otherwise.

[raucousraven.livejournal.com]

Ooh, HnG! Good idea.

[raucousraven.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... Aria/Aqua, I think, like everybody else. She might also like Emma, or Ouran. But most of the other shoujo manga i'm thinking of (Hana-kimi, Tora Dora!, etc.) have family issues of some sort, so the best bet might be something like Aria, where the heroine has left her old life behind and is building her own new family.

[sparkylibrarian.livejournal.com]

Ouran, with the bi father, might cause twitchiness in a really conservative household. Yakitate! Japan is hilarious, but also... mmmm... written with the adolescent male in mind, shall we say. Isn't there sex in Kare Kano? And I recall it getting pretty dark within the first 8 or 10 volumes.

Light shojo comedies I've enjoyed recently have included: Beauty Pop, High School Debut, Love*Com, and Wild Ones. La Corda d'Oro is pretty light and fluffy. Beauty is the Beast-- only 5 volumes total, but a bit strange. From Far Away is delightfully sappy.

Moving beyond the really girly stuff, Kekkaishi has a kick-butt girl in the main supporting role, and is a personal favorite.

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

Land of the Blindfolded. It's warm and fuzzy and beautiful, and the romance is sweet, but remains PG for the entirety of its nine volumes. And there's even a really cute puppy who gets rescued and loved. I wibble a little just thinking about it.