The Case Where My Life's Textbooks Were All Manga | Elementary School Edition
A while ago, there was a trend on X where people would pick 9 works that influenced them and put them into a single image. I wanted to do it, but by the time I tried, it was already over...
But well, I probably couldn't narrow it down to 9 anyway.
I talked about reading the other day, so I'd like to finally talk about manga. I'm sure it will be a massive amount before I even start writing, so let's label this the Elementary School Edition for now.
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First of all, I love manga. I have absolutely no idea how many books I've read so far.
Do you remember how many loaves of bread you've eaten in your life?
For me, reading manga is the same as breathing.
Lately, I've become strictly a digital reader. I mainly use a site called Comic Seymour, and I also use Zebrack and Kindle.
I don't know the exact number because there's no feature to count them, but just on Seymour, it's 626 works multiplied by the number of volumes for each. Even if it averages 10 volumes, it easily exceeds 5,000 books.
I will likely walk with manga for the rest of my life. Even when I become an old man and get senile, I'll still read manga.
Manga is the textbook of life. I learned everything important from manga.
My motto is
"Better to do a hypocritical good than no good at all"
(Fullmetal Alchemist)
.
I feel like I can get along with people who have similar tastes, so if you see this and think we could get along, please reach out.
Now, let's go for a walk in my brain.
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Elementary School Edition
If anything, I think I started reading in kindergarten. I don't remember the first manga I bought anymore. I think it was probably Dragon Ball.
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Jump Series
First, from Jump works.
I had been buying Jump every week since I was in the upper grades of elementary school. That continues even now.
So, I read all the famous works like ONE PIECE, NARUTO, BLEACH, HUNTER×HUNTER, Gintama, Toriko, Haikyu!!, Jujutsu Kaisen, and JoJo Parts 5 & 6 in Jump. There isn't a single Jump work from 1999 to 2024 that I haven't read. Recently, I haven't even been reading everything in the magazine even though I buy it, but I still buy it like a curse.
The ones I bought and owned the comics for were
Dragon Ball
YuYu Hakusho
Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai
Hoshin Engi
Wild Half
, I think. At least those are the ones I remember.
I just really loved Hoshin Engi...! I recently found out that the author is writing the continuation in a doujinshi, so I bought it via mail order.
Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai was also newly animated a while ago, and I watched it all. I had already let go of the manga, but I bought it again digitally.
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Magazine Series
I was completely a Jump fan, so I didn't read Magazine that much.
The Kindaichi Case Files
, maybe, when I was in elementary school.
This was completely due to the TV drama. I also really loved the theme song, "Kiss kara Hajimaru Mystery" by KinKi Kids. It wasn't a single; it was on the album before "Garasu no Shonen," right?
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Sunday Series
Sunday was just when Conan started, and since I liked The Kindaichi Case Files, I felt like I'd try buying Conan too.
I dropped out around volume 50, but what's happening now... I read up to volume 50, but aren't the characters that become topics lately people who never appeared at all by then? It's a number of volumes that requires quite a bit of resolve to read...
Also,
Flame of Recca
I didn't own this, but I borrowed it from a friend and read it. It was super interesting.
My parents owned Touch, so it was at home and I read the whole thing. I suppose that's what they mean by a masterpiece that never fades despite the old historical background.
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Champion Series
I hardly read it at the time.
Baki, maybe. I borrowed this from a friend and read it too.
All the boys around me liked Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku, but it didn't really hit home for me.
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Gangan/G Fantasy Series
When I was in elementary and junior high school, I liked the Gangan series as much as Jump. It was a monthly magazine, and I bought Gangan every month too. There were various magazines like Gag King, but I have the impression that there were many consolidations and discontinuations.
In particular, I owned all of
Magical Circle Guru Guru
Nangoku Shonen Papuwa-kun
TWIN SIGNAL
Hanjuku Ninpōchō
Satomi☆Hakkenden
Goiken Muyō!
Dragon Quest: Emblem of Roto
The comic adaptation of Dragon Quest VI
The comic adaptation of Star Ocean: The Second Story
.
Also, I can't forget
Dragon Quest 4-Koma Manga Theater
and
Star Ocean 4-Koma Manga Theater
, I owned those too~.
There were others I didn't have the comics for, but I also liked
Mamotte Shugogetten!
Totsugeki! Papparatai
Hamelin no Violin Hiki
Jungle wa Itsumo Hare nochi Guu
Arc the Lad II
Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning
Walser Through
. I want to read them, but there are many that haven't been digitized...
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Girls' Manga Series
I wasn't reading that much yet when I was in elementary school, but I got into
Mikan Enikki
from the anime and loved it. The ending song still makes me cry even when I listen to it now, so I want you to listen to it.
Also,
Sailor Moon
, I guess. I like the manga more than the anime.
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Extra Edition
When I was in elementary school, my father bought me the Osamu Tezuka Complete Works. Because it would be educational. And Phoenix too.
From there, I read quite a lot of Osamu Tezuka's works. I could borrow them from the library and such, too.
Triton of the Sea, Black Jack, Buddha, Kimba the White Lion, Astro Boy; I think I read the famous ones.
In particular, I think Buddha helped with history studies, and Phoenix, even though I was in elementary school, was philosophical and made me think about things like what the world is or what I am. I was a chuunibyou before I became a second-year junior high student...
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Phew. It got long after all...
Junior high edition, high school edition, university edition, modern edition...
I could write forever.
It's interesting because memories come back when I try to remember properly, so I might write again.
It makes me feel emotional while writing...! It also makes me remember erotic feelings...!
When I was in elementary school, my father was still working, and since I was the type to read books often, I was able to get manga bought for me. Thanks to that, I developed a reading habit, and even just with manga, I think I learned kanji, vocabulary, society, friendship, effort, and victory, and my world expanded beyond just what was in front of me.
It's not like yesterday's article, but a parenting life hack.
If you want your child to study, make them read manga!
I'm thinking quite seriously about how to provide them to my own child...!