A Beginner's Guide To Manga!

[00:00] - Hi, my name is Tazmyn May

[00:02] from the channel TeaBooksAndTazmyn,

[00:03] and welcome back to Penguin Platform.

[00:05] I have recently been

[00:08] And as I didn't know where

[00:11] into such a vast, vast style of art,

[00:14] I thought I would do a little introduction

[00:17] for you based off of my

[00:20] as to where to start, which

[00:24] and give you a few little baby reviews

[00:26] about which ones I have loved so far

[00:29] and some that are on my TBR.

[00:31] There are three sort of categories.

[00:32] There are going to be

[00:34] the lighter fantasy ones,

[00:37] and then the dark, sort

[00:40] All the timestamps are gonna be down below

[00:42] and I'm also gonna put

[00:44] and other ones on my

[00:47] will not have enough time to talk through

[00:48] in this video today.

[00:49] So make sure that you

[00:51] for even more books so you

[00:53] The first genre that I

[00:56] is the fantasy books.

[00:58] The first manga that I want

[01:00] is one of my all time favorite

[01:04] regardless of any genre, any art form,

[01:07] any way of consuming it.

[01:08] This is just one of my favorites

[01:09] and the manga is far better

[01:12] And that is "The Promised Neverland."

[01:14] I read the first two volumes so far

[01:16] and I've watched the first

[01:19] but people that have watched

[01:21] that the second season

[01:23] and that you should just

[01:25] so that's what I'm doing.

[01:26] I couldn't find the first few

[01:29] which is why I've got them on Kindle.

[01:31] And I'm not mad about that

[01:33] at 3:00 AM in the bath,

[01:34] I can just download

[01:36] It's working really, really well for me,

[01:38] not for my bank balance.

[01:40] Volume one of "The Promise Neverland"

[01:42] follows predominantly

[01:45] within the next six

[01:47] and they, and all of their

[01:50] have been brought up in an orphanage

[01:52] in a sort of care home,

[01:53] and they just have the

[01:54] of their lives.

[01:55] One by one,

[01:56] they start to get fostered

[01:58] varying ages, but no one stays

[02:02] And one day two of our main three discover

[02:05] that there is a dark, dark secret,

[02:08] and they are not happy about it.

[02:12] I watched the first season of the anime

[02:14] before I read the books,

[02:17] fucking, shitting, god,

[02:20] I did not see it coming.

[02:22] It's so lovely and fluffy and nice.

[02:25] And everyone love, no.

[02:27] Oh, I mean, I guess

[02:31] for all of these because

[02:35] that goes on in these books.

[02:36] They don't know anything

[02:38] and suddenly it all comes shattering down.

[02:40] And one of the things that I

[02:43] is that the children are written so well.

[02:46] Somebody that I hate about

[02:48] is that a lot of the time,

[02:50] it very much feels like adults writing

[02:52] what they think teenagers

[02:53] and young people should think about.

[02:55] Like, oh, it's the end of the world.

[02:56] Let me find my makeups

[02:59] for the end of the world selfies.

[03:01] I know, and that's genuinely

[03:04] but this is excellent.

[03:05] There are so many different reactions

[03:07] from these different characters

[03:10] They're not all stable,

[03:12] but they all work and they work together

[03:16] and they use their intelligence

[03:18] and they try to outsmart

[03:22] I can almost imagine like

[03:24] and being like,

[03:25] that's ridiculous, children

[03:27] children would just cry,

[03:28] but children are capable of

[03:31] of adults believe them capable of.

[03:33] And I feel like this story

[03:37] I'm so excited to keep on reading

[03:39] and then I'll probably go

[03:42] watch series two and be depressed

[03:43] at how badly it was adapted.

[03:46] The next manga that I

[03:48] very different from that one.

[03:49] It's more of a, I'd say

[03:53] and that is "Cardcaptor Sakura."

[03:55] So I've heard about this

[03:57] The version, again that I got on Kindle,

[03:59] is a kind of collectors bind up of,

[04:01] I think the first three volumes.

[04:03] Since then, that has been

[04:06] "Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card."

[04:08] I don't know when that

[04:10] but I'm just so glad that there is so much

[04:13] that I can devourer.

[04:15] Sakura is, I think, either eight or 10,

[04:18] like she is a kid.

[04:19] And she discovered one day a massive

[04:21] old tome in her father's attic.

[04:24] And it used to keep sort of

[04:28] in which they contained spirits,

[04:31] some of them good, some of them evil,

[04:32] but they were escaped.

[04:35] And Sakura is one of the only people

[04:37] who can help capture them.

[04:39] She's the card captor, Sakura.

[04:41] Now this is the second

[04:44] I would say, specific genre

[04:47] young girls saving the

[04:50] that's never quite

[04:52] in the first place.

[04:53] And this one does it so much

[04:56] And the other one is "Tokyo Mew Mew,"

[04:57] which is my entire childhood.

[04:59] If anyone's coming from my channel,

[05:00] you know how much I love "Tokyo Mew Mew."

[05:03] But "Cardcaptor Sakura" is

[05:06] The characters are so

[05:08] The family relationships are existent.

[05:11] Whereas in "Tokyo Mew Mew"

[05:15] Oh, another fight.

[05:16] Oh, a crush.

[05:19] Oh, another fight.

[05:20] Whereas this actually makes sense.

[05:21] There are arcs.

[05:22] There are things going on at school

[05:24] that impact her in her card capturing.

[05:27] Of course, it's a bit ridiculous

[05:29] when she has to get changed

[05:32] for when she's gonna capture cards,

[05:33] but even then in the translation,

[05:35] it's done sort of tongue in

[05:38] obviously I've gotta

[05:41] It feels a lot more self-aware.

[05:43] I love Sakura.

[05:44] I love her dad.

[05:45] I love her brother.

[05:46] She doesn't have a mom.

[05:48] Her mom, I think she died when

[05:50] And that sort of grief,

[05:52] the emptiness of not

[05:55] or not remembering them very well

[05:56] is also very, very well-written, mm.

[05:58] Content warning for the fact

[06:03] and her dad, I believe, was her professor,

[06:06] and they got married, I think

[06:09] So that is not cool.

[06:11] I like to think that we over

[06:14] all know that it's not okay

[06:15] for teachers to seduce their students.

[06:17] That is actually capable of

[06:21] and times, so we don't like that.

[06:23] I like everything else though.

[06:25] The next contemporary fantasy

[06:28] is actually my current read.

[06:30] I've only read the first that much of it.

[06:33] And that is "Fruits Basket."

[06:34] Again, I've got the collector's

[06:37] Like I mentioned, I'm only in

[06:40] but I am really, really enjoying it.

[06:42] It follows our main character, Tohru,

[06:44] who after many, many family tragedies,

[06:48] is now living in a tent.

[06:49] Something that I think

[06:51] that a lot of Western people

[06:53] is that in at least East Asia,

[06:56] there isn't such thing as child services.

[06:59] So in things like this,

[07:03] they're homeless.

[07:03] If they can't be taken

[07:06] they just live on the street.

[07:06] Like in England, you'd be like,

[07:08] yo, I think this 15 year

[07:11] and the police would come

[07:13] But in these situations, they can't.

[07:15] So luckily for Tohru, her

[07:18] on the land belonging to the Sohru Clan,

[07:22] and she goes to school

[07:24] I was gonna say the thing that

[07:27] but it's in the literal bub,

[07:28] so that's fine, I can say it.

[07:30] The Sohru Clan can turn into the animals

[07:34] of the lunar zodiac.

[07:36] In this, they call it the Chinese Zodiac,

[07:38] which is just generally

[07:41] for a long, long time.

[07:42] But to be more inclusive of, of course,

[07:44] all East Asian cultures or Asian cultures

[07:47] that celebrate the lunar calendar.

[07:49] We now call it the lunar

[07:52] But so, the ones that she

[07:55] into a rat, a dog and a cat,

[08:01] And I'm assuming there are

[08:03] Like there's a dragon and a tiger.

[08:05] I was born in the year of the tiger.

[08:06] I'm very, very eager to

[08:08] I just don't have a clue how on earth

[08:10] this is going to progress.

[08:11] If it's going to go down the route

[08:13] of her being sort of sucked

[08:16] and she then maybe has magical powers

[08:18] and she has to help them

[08:20] with the animals

[08:21] or if maybe the entire thing is set

[08:23] in their sort of high school situation,

[08:24] and they happen to have

[08:27] but it all still is about

[08:30] and the high school drama

[08:32] I don't know, and I'm so excited.

[08:35] This is a very, very

[08:37] I've been recommended

[08:39] for like the last seven years now.

[08:42] Marina, thank you.

[08:44] I'm now going to start with

[08:46] and I'm very happy to say

[08:47] that there are quite a

[08:50] The first one I'm going to recommend

[08:51] is a "A White Rose in Bloom,"

[08:53] which I believe only has a

[08:56] into English.

[08:57] So if like me, you're massively

[09:00] that have 30 plus volumes in,

[09:02] this'll be a good one to jump on now

[09:04] because you can read as

[09:06] This follows two young

[09:10] who are the only two students

[09:12] that have to stay during

[09:14] and they gradually start

[09:17] One of them is of course,

[09:20] and was all like, no, don't talk to me.

[09:23] Go away.

[09:24] And the other one is like me, and is like,

[09:25] hi, I wanna know everything.

[09:27] This left on a massive

[09:29] actually all volumes of manga

[09:32] because I need the rest of

[09:36] But I'm very, very excited for this.

[09:38] And actually there are quite

[09:39] a lot of queer mangas available,

[09:41] which I wasn't expecting as homophobia

[09:44] is still quite big in

[09:47] So I will leave a big list down below

[09:49] because I've made a list for

[09:51] The next one that I'm going to recommend

[09:52] is one that I actually haven't yet read,

[09:54] so can I recommend it?

[09:55] I'm not sure.

[09:56] One of my best internet friends, Holly,

[09:57] AKA Spoopy Hall, bought this for me.

[10:00] And it is, "I Hear the

[10:03] Now this is a male, male romance.

[10:05] This is one of Spoop's

[10:08] And she got it for me because she knew

[10:09] that I'm big into queer stuff

[10:11] and I was just getting into manga.

[10:12] As that was one very, very

[10:15] to me from a friend,

[10:16] I thought I would recommend it to you now

[10:18] who are also my friends.

[10:19] This next one is one

[10:21] but I'm very, very eager to,

[10:22] and this was the collector's

[10:25] which on the back is

[10:28] It says that the main

[10:30] from herself 10 years in the future.

[10:32] And at first, she's like,

[10:34] but things that the letter

[10:37] And the letter tells her

[10:38] to watch over a new transfer student.

[10:39] Their destinies become intertwined.

[10:41] And apparently it's, heart-wrenching.

[10:43] Like when I had this in

[10:45] that I was gonna buy in for

[10:47] someone else saw that

[10:49] and they were like, you

[10:52] And I was like, yep, I've heard that.

[10:54] So I'm gonna stock up and

[10:57] This collector's bind up

[11:00] in the series.

[11:01] It's like a American sitcom.

[11:03] They all have 24 episodes in the series

[11:06] and they're all quite short

[11:09] and you just devour them and

[11:11] and then you find out

[11:12] and suddenly you're sad

[11:16] That's what these were

[11:17] Now the final few are

[11:20] if I can entirely say I recommend myself

[11:22] because I have watched the

[11:26] and I really, really enjoyed them.

[11:28] And then in some instances

[11:31] because I wanted to read the manga.

[11:33] So I'm recommending them based on the fact

[11:35] that they're incredibly famous

[11:39] But on the whole, what I've

[11:42] the manga of course, are better.

[11:45] The book is always better.

[11:46] I'm going to start with the one

[11:47] that I have not heard about on BookTube.

[11:50] The others, I think

[11:52] of their existence.

[11:53] The one that I love, but I

[11:55] is "Soul Eater."

[11:57] Now this is so funny and

[12:01] If you know anything

[12:03] I would recommend this

[12:04] and it has a sort of

[12:07] but it's darker.

[12:08] And I believe it's a bit more explicit.

[12:10] I remember there being boobies.

[12:13] So soul eaters are essentially sites

[12:16] who have to collect the souls

[12:20] And I believe we start off this series

[12:22] by having a few young soul eaters

[12:24] who need to collect something

[12:26] in order to progress to

[12:29] I remember the characters

[12:32] There are soul eaters.

[12:33] There are witches, as you

[12:35] Of course she's a witch.

[12:36] There are many other

[12:40] It's so high-key adventure

[12:44] of characters.

[12:44] They all have very, very

[12:47] And of course, who doesn't

[12:49] Ticking all of the boxes.

[12:51] The next one I'm going to recommend

[12:52] is one that I actually know

[12:55] I know that my lovely friend,

[12:57] is currently reading the series.

[12:59] And that is "Tokyo Ghoul."

[13:01] Now, once again,

[13:02] this is a massive series

[13:04] And I'm so excited to be

[13:06] but this is in a world

[13:09] which are essentially,

[13:10] I believe vampire, zombie,

[13:13] And they're not friends,

[13:15] until one day main

[13:18] becoming half human, half ghoul.

[13:20] And then he has to try and

[13:23] and goes on adventures and has

[13:26] versus human society

[13:27] and he has to learn how

[13:30] I believe it's very gory though.

[13:32] It's like horror.

[13:33] Comparing it to a horror film,

[13:35] I believe this is kind of,

[13:37] (Tazmyn gagging)

[13:38] yeah, that's like "Saw" film level.

[13:44] I just saw something that

[13:46] The penultimate one that

[13:48] in this video is, of course, "Death Note."

[13:51] Now this was the first manga

[13:56] This is another story

[13:58] who are young are highly intelligent

[14:00] and it feels believable.

[14:02] It feels genuinely like a teenager

[14:04] is figuring out this new world

[14:05] that they've been thrust into.

[14:06] So Light, our main character,

[14:07] suddenly one day it discovers

[14:11] and he discovers that if you

[14:14] And if you specify how

[14:17] that is how they will die.

[14:18] This notebook was accidentally

[14:20] a shinigami God.

[14:22] And they sort of build a rapport.

[14:24] I wouldn't call them friends.

[14:26] They become best friends,

[14:28] sort of like a zero fellow

[14:31] or they know they shouldn't be friends,

[14:33] but they ended up really,

[14:35] Oh, I know what else I can say.

[14:37] Don't watch the whitewashed

[14:39] that Netflix made.

[14:41] Read the manga and watch the anime.

[14:43] Don't watch the one with white people in.

[14:45] And the final one I'm gonna

[14:48] is, of course, "Attack on Titan."

[14:50] Oh my god, I love this so much.

[14:55] So this first series, which is

[14:58] follows what remains of humanity

[15:00] when these things called Titans,

[15:01] that you can see a person

[15:03] and they're not very friendly.

[15:04] In fact, they like to eat us humans.

[15:06] And we don't know where they came from

[15:07] or at least at this point,

[15:09] we don't know where that came from.

[15:10] There is a prequel series

[15:14] "Before The Rise."

[15:15] Before something.

[15:16] I have the book cover here.

[15:18] And that is a prequel

[15:20] This is absolutely fantastic.

[15:23] It's like an apocalyptic story.

[15:25] It looks at people who have

[15:28] And how on earth can they

[15:32] How on earth after they've seen

[15:36] can they still want to live?

[15:39] You follow characters who

[15:42] oh, "Before The Fall."

[15:43] I think it was called "Before The Fall."

[15:45] Our main characters were

[15:49] and it follows them

[15:51] and heartbreak of losing your family,

[15:52] losing your loved ones.

[15:53] And they joined the, essentially, an army

[15:55] to try and find a way to kill the Titans.

[15:59] And bro, brosky, bro-gan.

[16:01] So many plot twists.

[16:04] So good, so good.

[16:06] Like it's famous for a reason.

[16:08] This is famous for a god damn reason.

[16:10] It's so good.

[16:11] It's so good.

[16:12] I mean all of them that I

[16:14] are so good.

[16:16] And that's it.

[16:17] That's all of them.

[16:18] Remember, I've got loads,

[16:19] more recommendations down below.

[16:21] And by recommendations,

[16:22] I mean, books that I

[16:24] I can't recommend them myself

[16:25] because I haven't yet read them.

[16:26] Thank you so much for watching.

[16:28] If you have any

[16:29] please leave them down below.

[16:31] See you soon.

[16:32] Take care.

[16:33] (lips smacking)

[16:34] Goodbye.