14 best manga for beginners to help ease you into the medium

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When I first got into manga, it felt almost taboo or like a style of books I shouldn’t be into because most of my friends only dipped their toes into graphic novels. But that’s definitely not the case, and there are some great picks out there for true beginners.

As I was growing up, I was almost ashamed to read graphic novels in public because I thought people would look down on me for the images and contents. I didn’t think The Walking Dead could stand up to Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series, but it absolutely can, and manga does so even better. But it’s difficult to know where to start with manga, which is why I’ve put together this list of the best books you can pick up as a beginner that’ll help you ease yourself into the genre before you take off the training wheels and start exploring on your own.

Below are the best manga you can read as a beginner. They’re not too overwhelming in their content and don’t require much prior knowledge of the stories told on their pages. In fact, most of the franchises you’ll recognize below started life as manga.

Fruits Basket is a great manga series for beginners that’s a bit of a classic having been originally published in 1998. Protagonist Tohru Honda moves out of her family home after tragedy strikes, but she doesn’t have anywhere to go. So she pitches up a tent and settles in for what she thinks will be a quieter life for the time being. However, she’s soon discovered by the lands owners, the Sohma clan, and it becomes apparent that they’re not all that they seem. You see, when touched by someone of the opposite sex, they transform into animals from the Chinese Zodiac. It’s an odd but ultimately compelling introduction to shojo stories.

Blue Box is a manga for those who want something a bit more modern. You follow Taiki Inomata, a student who adores badminton and wants desperately to become good enough to play on a national level. He falls for Chinatsu Kano, an upperclassman when he sees her practicing with every