Recommendations for a student of Japanese?

DiscussãoManga!

Aderi ao LibraryThing para poder publicar.

Recommendations for a student of Japanese?

Este tópico está presentemente marcado como "adormecido"—a última mensagem tem mais de 90 dias. Pode acordar o tópico publicando uma resposta.

1camphorsunrise
Mar 18, 2008, 12:53 pm

Alright guys, I need some help. I've been studying Japanese for almost 2 semesters at university now and I'm ready to get some supplemental study things. I figured reading manga would be a fun way to study, so I need some recommendations.

Fiction-wise I'm into Neil Gaiman, Tom Robbins, Palahniuk, William S. Burroughs, Christopher Rice, etc. I'm also pretty much into anything resembling dark fantasy or intelligent sci-fi.

Comic-wise: Neil Gaiman again, Jhonen Vasquez..

Any ideas?

2Jenson_AKA_DL
Editado: Mar 18, 2008, 3:23 pm

The only things I've read that you might have an interest in that I can think of are maybe Night of the Beasts by Chika Shiomi which is a dark urban fantasy or Chobits by Clamp which is a cuteish sci-fi story with some dark aspects about androids.

Almost everything I read (including the above recommendations) has an element of romance and/or humor in it and if you are open to those kind of stories I'd have some additional suggestions as well.

edited to add Neil Gaiman actually has some graphic novelizations of his books (Sandman) but I'm not sure if they're written in Japanese.

3camphorsunrise
Mar 18, 2008, 7:15 pm

I've read the translations of Chobits and I love the anime. I also own just about everything Neil has ever done, in some cases multiple editions, including all of Sandman. :) I enjoy a little romance and humor too, mostly I'm looking for something as mature (in regards to intended audience) as possible that might have furigana. I would really rather not resort to manga aimed at junior high school kids, you know? I'll have to check out the one you mentioned, thanks for replying.

4Talvalin
Mar 19, 2008, 5:35 am

I'd suggest reading contemporary comedies/dramas since the vocabulary used will be sensible (eg: Maison Ikkoku by Rumiko Takahashi). The moment you wander into SF/fantasy territory, you run the risk of hitting a lot of odd and possibly made-up words and that can be an uphill struggle.

You should also be careful of furigana as occasionally the reading given will be for a different word, but one with the equivalent meaning (this may be for the benefit of kids)

5simside
Editado: Mar 21, 2008, 1:42 am

You might enjoy the extremely excellent Berserk, which is a very straight dark fantasy. It's also very long (32 volumes and counting), but it seems like it would fit in with some of the other things you mentioned. It's intended for an older audience, but I couldn't tell you whether or not it has furigana. I suspect it has at least some.

You might also try Pluto by Naoki Urasawa for a sci-fi series. I haven't actually read any of it myself (I'm waiting for a licensed English version), but it's supposed to be superb, and I have no doubt that it is. This is probably slightly less likely to have furigana than Berserk, but it may still have some.

I like Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, which is an extremely over-the-top fantasy/action series. It originally ran in a magazine aimed at a younger audience (so it would definitely have furigana), but recently was moved to a more mature magazine. Running in the younger magazine didn't cause it to pull any punches as far as I can tell, it's one of the most violent and over-the-top series I can think of. It's plot(s) is/are relatively serious (ranging from revenge to vampire hunting to mystery to racing across America Cannonball Run style, they do all engage in tournament-style battles though), but its execution is often very humorous. It's fairly long, nearly 100 volumes, but the series has many different plots that have different characters, settings, time periods, etc.

6franzeska
Mar 5, 2009, 12:53 pm

"mostly I'm looking for something as mature (in regards to intended audience) as possible that might have furigana. I would really rather not resort to manga aimed at junior high school kids, you know?"

I'm chiming in way late to say that I think these things are fairly mutually exclusive. The manga that helped me learn the most was Dragonball. The art is cute and goofy, and a lot of the action is silly rather than dark, but the character development and story are actually a lot better than people give it credit for, and it's way, way, way easier to read than anything else I've seen aside from Doraemon.

I don't see a big difference in style between manga that are nominally aimed at junior high students and those that are nominally for high school students. The latter have less furigana than the former, but the level of violence and serious themes differs more from author to author than between those groupings as a whole. The only rule of thumb I've seen is that if it's actually intended for a mature audience, it won't have any furigana at all. (The vast majority of titles that are familiar to an English-speaking audience are intended for junior high and/or high school students. The stuff for adults is rarely translated, so we don't hear the titles much.)

If all you've had is two semesters of college Japanese, you'll find most of the dark, adult series extremely frustrating to read, and you won't learn much from them. Look for series published by Shounen Jump or Shounen Sunday--they'll have furigana.

My one recommendation is YuYu Hakusho. I think the Japanese will still be a bit hard, but it will be a lot more readable than Hellsing and the like. If you want something more historical and less supernatural, you could also try Rurouni Kenshin.

7moonstormer
Abr 2, 2009, 3:09 am

I may not be the best person to ask as I am only just just JUST beginning to learn Japanese and not ready to start looking for manga to read in the original. However, considering that your reading interests are pretty close to mine, I would highly recommend Deathnote and MW - they are both thoroughly enjoyable, dark and psychological. Hope that helps.

8mene
Editado: Jun 5, 2009, 11:51 am

Maybe one of these titles?

I'm currently reading "Ayashi no Ceres" by Watase Yuu. It's interesting! But so far I've only read up till #4.
I also like works by Kakinouchi Narumi, especially Vampire Miyu. I don't know if you like stories about vampires, though it's not "standard Western vampire".
Takahashi Rumiko's "Mermaid Forest" (Ningyo no mori) and related stories (all starting with "Mermaid...") are fantasy too, but with a bit of horror. My favourite series by her is "Inuyasha", though that is more history/demons than fantasy/SF.
"Planet Ladder" was also fun to read, though the art differs a lot in quality (one panel is drawn very well, the next one doesn't look too good). The cover art is the prettiest. It reminded me a bit of "Fushigi Yuugi" though, a series I've just started reading and is fantasy too (also by Watase Yuu).

9faro-faro
Mar 11, 2012, 12:40 pm

Read Monster, Death Note, Musashi, Another, After School Nightmare, 7 Seeds