Looking for recommendations?

[Elycien]

Hi - I lurk here often, but I rarely post. However, I decided that I need some advice. ^_^

I guess I would call myself an anime/manga fan, but I'm a sadly uneducated one. The reason for this is that my parents are (understandably) wary. I'm in love with the Ghibli/Miyazaki films, as well as the anime Fruits Basket. I've seen a couple other titles at my local manga club (sadly disbanded now) and I want to see more.

For me, though, anime is hard to find, so manga it is. My parents are very strict, and I was wondering if you guys could come up with any recommendations?

I've never read the Furuba manga, and I doubt I would be allowed to read/watch anything with content worse than that anime. I was also, for some reason, not allowed to read Tsubasa and Tokyo Mew Mew - I'm still not quite sure why... in fact, about the only manga that I read is Kingdom Hearts, which I bought because I don't have a PS2 and I was tired of being lost in the middle of my friends' KH discussions.

I've heard of a couple series - "Azumanga Daioh" and "Yotsuba&!" - that sound good and, hopefully, don't have anything objectionable.

So yes. Please help me out! ^_^ ((Man, this post was weird and disorganized. Oh well. x3))

-Elcie

Edit: I guess I should say this: My parents are rather lenient when it comes to violence, and semi-lenient about religious content (I read fantasy all the time) but very strict on nudity or sexual content. Nothing beyond Furuba's humorous innuendo/nudity level would probably be acceptable, and skimpy female outfits are a no-no.

Edit 2: Oh yeah. Homosexuality is also out, for obvious reasons. I mean, some silly Ayame-ish joking might be okay, but it's iffy.

[Shao Feng-Li]

Yotsuba& has nothing objectionable in it. ADV gave it their "all ages" rating.

One I highly recomend is Rurouni Kenshin (rating 16+ for violence and very little sexual content) but it's 28 volumes long. Read and meet the nicest ex-assassin.

Baby and Me- Ten year old Takuya and 2 year old Minaru ahve lost their mother and Dad needs to work... How can Takuya take care of his little brother?

Ultra Maniac -About a failing witch studing in the real world.

Marmalade Boy- The story of a girl who'sa parents divorce and switch spuses with another couple... Poor girl.

[meboeck]

As far as Yotsuba&! there is no questionable content. Azumanga Daioh does have a couple things to be wary of. there is a male teacher who always staring at the girls and randomly appearing out of nowhere. He is only minor character, but it could be an issue for your parents. There is also a minor character (high school girl) who could be seen as being attracted to a female classmate. It's pretty rare after the first volume, but it is there.

Full Moon wo Sagashite is a great one to read. Here is the CAA review.

[Arnobius]

Looking at your Miyazaki avatar, I might suggest Hayao Miyazaki's "Nausica of the Valley of the Wind" manga

[Radical Dreamer]

I second Full Moon wo Sagashite, Rurouni Kenshin, and Yotsuba&!. Those 3 are fantastic series, the former two being my top two most favorite series. Also, I would reccommend Magic Knight Rayearth, but there are some scantily-clad girls; however, the scantily-clad ones are the villains. You may want to run that one by your parents, because it's a really good series. Anyways, hope that helped! Be sure to check the Manga Review section at the top of the page to get really in-depth content reviews!

[Hitokiri]

I suggest the both for anime and manga:
Rurouni Kenshin
Someday's Dreamers
Magic Knight Rayearth

Anime wise I suggest:
Trigun (not to much sexual content but it can be iffy at times)
Witch Hunter Robin (it's a very serious series though)
Last Exile

[Kawaiikneko]

I uh... fifth? W/e I also suggest Yostuba&! It's one of the most adorable manga and completely clean to boot.

If at all possible try to get your hands on the Furuba manga. It is amazing! Maybe you can sit down with your parents at the bookstore and page through the first few volumes. They're not any worse than the anime.

I also suggest Jing King of Bandits. The art is great and its such a fun story. You can skip out on Volume 6 though if you're avoiding nudity. It doesn't matter though because the story for that volume is a little weird and you don't miss anything in relation to the other books. *shrug*

Magic Knight Rayearth is also a good one. That was my very first manga! lol

DNAngel is a good one. You might have to page through it to see what you think, but I don't think there's any nudity. Some people claim Daisuke likes another boy, but it's honestly not there... Silly yaoi fangirls fishing for a pairing *shakes head sadly*

Angelic Layer is another clean one. I only have the first two volumes but its very good. I'm just having a hard time finding it...

And there's my favorite: Death Note... though I'm not sure your parents would be okay with it considering they didn't want you to have Tsubasa (I can't imagine where they went with that one... It's a clean manga). Anyhow, DN basically follows the antagonist of the story, Light. He found a notebook that kills people when you write their names in it and decides to use it to kill all the criminals in the world. Obviously the police and such are not okay with this and they hire the detective L to find out who's killing all the criminals. It's a deep story that brings up a ton of deep issues and it's really well executed. As for the content of this series... there's no nudity, but there's lots of violence and its subject matter is for mature minds. (I did a review in the manga review section, but I need to redo it)

Yeah, so I've just been glancing over at my bookshelf and rambling to you. I hope you found this helpful XD;

[Icarus]

Well, my sister meg is enchanted with CCS. Little to no swearing, no nudity (the main characters are about twelve), and fantasy violence.

Aria is good too. There's very little swearing, one submerged bath scene (they're wearing towels), and no violence. It's a very sweet manga following the life of an undine in training on Mars.

Whatever else you read, you must get Yotsuba, if only so you'll understand if someone says "Freeze! Non-stop!"

[WrestlingOtaku]

Here's one for you. Record of Lodoss War, it has almost no swearing, no nudity, and fantasy violence. Just like CCS in that regard I guess. Unfortunately you probably won't be able to buy it in a book store and will have to get it on-line, I'd suggest BarnesandNoble.com. I paid about five bucks, including shipping, in order to get mine there.

[Icarus]

I'm assuming he's not talking about The Lady of Phariss, as the main villain in those two volumes doesn't wear clothes.

[Elycien]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone ^_^ I'll definitely keep an eye out for those titles.

CCS? Oh, I used to love the show when I was younger, but my mom wasn't very pleased with the way clow cards look like tarot cards. Maybe now that I'm older, it'd be better...

I also read the first volume of Yotsuba at the library. Adorable. x3 I hope they carry the other volumes, and now I want to read Azumanga even more. (Unfortunately, I can't seem to find it anywhere, which is really annoying.)

Oh, and what about DNAngel and Amazing Agent Luna? They look pretty interesting - and AAL is from the same publisher as Inverloch, which I love... I'd be interested to see if it's any good. I've heard both are fairly clean.
Edit2: heh, looks like I missed a post and someone already recommended DNAngel. XD; We've got that at the library where I work, so maybe next time I go I'll check that out.

[WrestlingOtaku]

Oops, sorry, forgot that there was more than one Record of Lodoss War. No, I was talking about the Grey Witch, since it's the only one I've read so far. I haven't gotten The Lady of Phariss.

[Pepper Kittie]

I've read the first two volumes of Amazing Agent Luna. I like it so far ^_^ I can't think of anything bad in it thus-far, though it's still being written. The most objectional thing probably is the fact that Luna's not a human but has been created by the government, so she has trouble feeling accepted... and she's going through High School and has to face learning a bunch of new things (and emotions) at once, but it seems very innocent to me and a lot of fun. I recomend it.

I second Angelic Layer, too. There might be 1 doll in there (Shirahime) that's only wearing a bathing suit, but that's it. It's very clean and adorable. I think that's my all-time favorite manga, I've read the whole thing ^_^ I have the same problem as you, Elycien - my parents are strict about what I'm into. But I've found a lot of great mangas that they agree with. Here are some others:

Man of Many Faces: This is a really old CLAMP manga, but as clean and innocent as Angelic Layer. There's reviews of both in the manga section.

More Starlight To Your Heart: Love-story set in old Japan. Goes back farther than Rurouni Kenshin I beleive, probably one of the oldest-set mangas out. Very historical but I haven't noticed anything in it that's bad - no cussing, nudity, bad situations, ect. And it's very sweet. It's about a princess that becomes a servent so that she can spend more time with the man she loves.

Imadoki: This one might take a little talking with your parents if you're interested in it. There's also a review of it here. But I think it's one of the best mangas out there. It deals with a lot of hard themes, but the main character is very upright and tries her best to love those around her and help them through thier troubles. There's cussing here and there, that and the issues it deals with is what gives it the high age rating, but I think it's definitely worth looking into. It's a feel-good story that I'll always love.

I'll back up DN Angel, too - that's a great manga. Yay ^_^

[KBMaster]

Well, most Miyazaki films have a manga to match. I've only read one manga based on on of the films and that was Nausicaa. But, that had some rear nudity and a LOT of blood. It was enough to make me a little queasy and that's never happened when I've read a manga. YICK.
But I second Aria. I've only read the first volume, but it's quite cute.
Shaman King might have too much spiritual, er, badness in it(I'm tired and can't think of good words right now ), but it's got a lot of good morals, little cussing, no nudity that I know of, no sex, and not too much violence. I would talk it over with your parents first though.
Saint Tail is a really cute manga, but you would have to get that on EBay, I think. It has a lot of Catholisism in it,(but not Christianity) I dunno if that's considered offensive by your parents though. CAA has a review for it if you want to check into it.

Off-Topic: I love your avatar! What font is that?

[Icarus]

That reminds me, Shirahime Syo by CLAMP is gorgeous. It's a one shot, with four short stories about snow. Mild violence.

[Starfire1]

i haven't read the entire series, but i'd say pita-ten is pretty clean. and DNAngel. both get a "highly recommened" from me. your parents would love yotsuba&! (or whatever characters are at the end of the name). absolutely NOTHING suggesting, questionable, or anything of the sort. hope i could help.