Reading Manga

I started reading manga just recently (truth is, I can't really remember the exact date or even month). I was just trying to read something out of ordinary. Then I turn to love this comic format stories day after day after day and I find it very entertaining, eye candy, cute cartoons and funny lovable characters. My first few reads were girly type mangas with all those cuteness, and bubblyness, with hilarious comedy, with touch of romance and a little bit of drama and charming characters (kiyaah!). Well it depends on the genre, and speaking of genre! I never thought that manga has different genres too?!! What?! I thought it's all the same....

So I asked Google (yes, asked and not searched! ^_^) to define each genre, and here what I've got -


1. Harem- Usually a boy surrounded by lots of pretty girls who may or may not have a romantic interest in him. There is also a reverse harem where a female is surrounded by males (like Ouran).
2. Bishonen- Beautiful boy. A handsome male character.
3. Yaoi - Generally a pretty graphic story involving two males in a relationship (often includes sex)
4. Josei- Generally aimed at older women.
5. Mecha - Robots and the like.
6. Shounen- it means boy. Generally action type things which boys would stereotypically enjoy.
7. Seinen- Generally aimed at older males.
8. Shoujo- For girls, usually. Romance and all those fluffy things between a boy and a girl. (I see...So this type of manga is what I've been reading all this time...)
9. Slap stick- Comedy, can be pretty far fetched and/or stupid situations seen to be funny.
10. Shoujo ai- Girls love. A relationship between two girls, usually pretty low key with things like hand holding or kissing (hardcore things would be called Yuri)
11. Moe- It's hard to explain so have a quote from wikipedia 'is a Japanese slang word originally referring to a strong interest in particular types of character in video games or anime and manga. For example  meganekko-moe, "glasses-girl moe", describes a person who is attracted to fictional characters with eyeglasses.'
12. Henshin- It means transformation, so I assume characters transforming themselves?
13. Incest- Relationship between family members.
14. Male harem- See harem. Also called a reverse harem.
15. Ecchi -  involves adult scenes or with sexy stories (whatta hell is sexy stories??!) and with over the top sexy characters.
16. Magical Girl - well fantasy story with, what else?, magical girl like Sailormoon and the likes.
17. Hentai - X rated. Period.


And exploring the world of manga, I've learned these term - Otaku- A term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, usually anime, manga or video games. Can be an insult or a way someone refers to themselves and Lolicon- Attraction to young girls. 

Also I've learned a new reading style!! Some found it too hard to learn. Manga shoukd be read from left to right. It’s just the panels and “chat bubbles” being read from right to left.

And while I was there reading shoujo and getting crazy over its characters' exaggerated, rainbow color hair, cutesy drawing and cliche romantic plots (but never cease to make me spazz and kiyaaah~~~  @_@). I've run through the manga's depth and got lost in the world of adult mangas (you know those x rated mangas with all those stuff , like sweaty girls and kinky boys) that has no story at all. I am pretty  aware of its existence but I never thought to that extent that it has detailed drawings and such. That made my eyes wider than a saucer and my heart beat faster than usual(huh?!).  So I drop it, close it, and look else where to wholesome ones! Yay!

 But wait a minute ! Why I am acting like a curious kid caught doing 'something'??!

 Anyway, I'm trying shounen this time, I started Fairytail, nice one, if you like magic and mages. A friend told me to try Bleach or Naruto or One Piece. Well maybe one of these days..I hope  these long time running manga series will keep me entertain and never get me lost in some absurd world. 

What about you? What have you been reading? or have you read a manga before? What's your favorite manga? Did I miss to list some genres?