5 Clean Manga I Own

So, I am alive everybody.  (^V^ ;)

A couple months ago, I got an email notification from a reader (you know who you are ;) asking if I was going to post again.  Reading that email reminded me why I started this blog in the first place, and motivated me to finish this post I knew I had half-finished in my drafts.  I'm kind of busy this summer so who knows when I'll post again.  I can't believe I am that person that drops off of the face of the earth, but I don't see myself changing any time soon.  :]

Since I like to talk about movies in these notes, I'll say I'm super excited for the new Superman movie coming out this summer!  I'll have to review it if I make another post this summer.

I tried to link the publisher's sites for people interested in buying the manga I recommend, but most of them would be available for free at your public library or for a discounted price at Walmart.

#1 Snow White with the Red Hair

We’re starting out strong with Snow White with the Red Hair!  This was one of the shows that first got me hooked on anime, and the manga was so nostalgic to read because the anime almost perfectly replicates it.  Both mediums capture the cozy, fairytale vibe of this story so well!  I haven’t actually finished this series–is it even complete, yet?--so I can only speak for as far as I got, which was a little into the second season. If I had to translate that to manga, that would probably be around fifty chapters in?  I know I haven't read as far as I got into the anime yet.

The plot of this manga is that the main character is summoned to be the king’s concubine because of her unique red hair, but since she doesn’t want to partake in that occupation, she flees to a neighboring kingdom.  The premise is a bit dark and suggestive, so I rated the anime in a different post as lower pg-13.  There was also occasional mild swearing in the anime, though I’m not sure if that’s present in the manga.  I'll have to update this when I get further in.  (^^ ;)  Over all, the story is a sweet exploration of adjusting to a new culture and making new friends.  As someone that’s lived in many cultures, I really connected to that part of the story.  It’s a shoujo (genre meant for a young female audience--I find they're normally like cozy romances) manga, so of course I also squealed over the romance plotline.

#2 Spy X Family

So, I love Spy X Family.  It’s the only manga series that I own almost all of the books for (that have been released so far).  This is definitely a pg-13 story, because it has violence and minimal swearing in it.  However, I love to recommend it to people because it has a light-hearted tone that puts it on the lower pg-13, kids-who-aren’t-thirteen-could-still-probably-watch-this side of the spectrum.  The manga explores themes of family and sacrifice, and has very little suggestive content.  The main issue I would consider is the action.

The plot of Spy X Family is that a spy has to create a fake family for his mission, and he ends up accidentally recruiting a telepath and an assassin for this task.  This means all the members of the family are keeping secrets from each other, and there is a lot of violence as the spy and assassin fight bad guys.  As someone who loves action, I love this manga, because it’s not too gory and manages to balance comedy really well with high stakes.

As stated above, I love action, and Bleach gives me what I want.  I’ve made a dent in Bleach, but I am nowhere near the end of this series, so I can only speak for the first few books.  I only own the first one, so I can’t recall exactly how far into the series I’ve read–probably about fifty chapters.  Bleach has supernatural elements as it focuses on characters who kill ghosty monsters to protect humans. Not all parents would approve of that.  Mine certainly wouldn’t if I was younger, haha.  Anyway, that means there’s some violence and I would say a decent amount more gore than Spy X Family.  Bleach could be solidly put on the upper pg-13 end of the spectrum.  There is some pg-13 swearing in it, but there’s not particularly any suggestive content that I can remember, which is part of why I like Bleach so much.

The big selling point of Bleach that I would tout is that it has interesting characters and good character development.  I kept reading to learn more about the characters and figure out what the heck is going to happen next, because it has an unpredictable plot if I’ve ever seen one.  If I had to compare Bleach to another manga, I would choose Demon Slayer.  They share a lot of similarities as far as fighting creatures of Japanese myth and trying to protect family, along with fun action and complex characters.  As far as I got into Bleach, I would say it’s more family friendly than Demon Slayer as far as gore, but it was taking on a darker tone where I stopped reading, so I’d have to pick the series up again to know for sure.  I probably will have to now, because I’ve reminded myself how much I liked this series.

Now this is a story that I can confidently rank as upper pg.  Witch Hat Atelier is a great story for kids who like fantasy.  It’s got really beautiful art and cute characters that’ll give you the warm fuzzies.  I own the first two books, though I have only read the first book so far.  I brought the book with me on a trip with my sports team and one of the middle schoolers was interested in reading it while I did homework.  She loved it and still begs me occasionally to buy the next book (which I finally did a few weeks ago!).

This story has a very interesting magic system that will get kids thinking.  The plot is a little dark as the main character, a preteen girl, starts learning about magic after losing her mother to a magic accident; the accident was partly the main character’s fault, and causes the main character a lot of guilt.  There is a chance her mother could be saved, though, if the right magic can be found, so it’s not too dark.  To make this the most simple without spoiling it too much, just picture the plot as Harry Potter, and Harry has just arrived at Hogwarts, after accidentally almost killing his mom.  A lot of the kids the main character interacts with are cold or outright hostile at first, because she is new and she almost killed her mom, but they do warm up to her over time.  I reread the manga to remember the reason I haven't recommended it yet, and there are a few panels (p.85, 173) with nude bodies as part of illustrations of legends.  Those with children or younger siblings be warned.

I really debated about recommending Toilet-bound Hanako-kun.  For one thing, the title already sounds bizarre and not necessarily family friendly.  The upsides of the series are that there is no swearing and mostly no suggestive content.  I was going to recommend this as potentially upper pg, but I think I have to stick it at lower pg-13 after getting to the end of the first book.  The main drawbacks as far as cleanliness are that Hanako, the main male character, is “lewd,” always acting overly flirty and lurking in the girls’ bathroom.  I wasn’t really put off by his “lewdness,” though, because I think it’s mostly a facade and provides comic relief (unlike, say, Mineta from MHA, who is not pretending to be lewd and is acting creepy any time he gets screen time).

The series’ tone circulates around creepy paranormal imagery so it includes images like the Star of David and ghostly monsters.  Reading it, I felt like it’s almost an introduction to horror for preteens who are interested in the genre but can’t watch the R-rated movies yet. Anyway, at the end of the book, though, SPOILER WARNING, something is revealed about Hanako which convinced me to slap the lower pg-13 rating on the book instead of keeping it ambiguously pg.  Hanako is accused of being a murderer, and he admits to it, though I still think there’s room to speculate as to the circumstances of how this came to be (was it an accident? etc.).  Either way, murderer main characters warrant the pg-13 rating, I’d say.

What I love about this book is how it handles love and crushes.  The beginning of the book explores the main character, Nene Yashiro, pursuing her crush with Hanako’s help.  The way Nene grows from the experience is really touching and applicable to the real world in a lot of ways, which is part of how I decided to buy the book.  Guys, I only buy manga when I love it so much that I want it on my shelf and to be supporting the author as much as possible.

So, I’m also recommending Way of the Househusband to make up for Toilet-bound Hanako-kun and Bleach which both have their reasons for being not quite as clean as I would want for this post.  Guys, I don’t own a lot of manga, okay?  The only book I own that I’m not recommending on this post is a volume of Demon Slayer, which I love but can’t really recommend at this point.  So think of the three of these somewhat clean books as combining to create two super clean options.

Anyway, Way of the Househusband  is great because it offers a lot of comedy and action like Spy X Family, but it’s a slice-of-life story that doesn’t become too over the top in gore or suggestive content.  There is no suggestive content.  And there’s really no gore, either, just some fistfights on occasion (or maybe some threatening moments with a bat).  This story centers around a prominent member of a gang getting married and becoming a househusband so his wife can pursue her dream job.  The language in this book is quite strong to imitate how gangsters speak, and there are often moments of misunderstanding where, for example, the househusband is asking shoppers where he can find the “white stuff” (flour) and they think he’s talking about dr*gs, because he still looks like he’s in a gang.  So, the language can be pretty explicit, but there’s never anything suggestive as far as women, and there’s no gore, which is why this is one of those stories that’s difficult to categorize.

You made it to the end of the post!  Ten claps for you.  Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap.  So, what did you think?

My next post might be about Webtoons, because that seems like a post that a lot of people appreciated the last time I did it.  It also seems like a fitting tribute to the reader who convinced me to get back to this.  I know I disappear from the face of the earth a lot of the time, so I just want to say while I'm here, that you guys are all so kind and make this community even more wholesome than I could have hoped for!  See ya!