Discovering Manga

Do you remember your first manga?  First anime?  That wonderful moment when you discovered something wonderful in this foreign media?

I can recall mine quite clearly.

T'was many moons ago!  (We're talking late 90's)  T'was a time when I went to the local library every Tuesday evening with my family.  I was one of those children who always seemed to have their head in a book and I eventually went through what felt like the bulk of the children's books available.  Invariably, as I began to exhaust the kids books and of course get older, I started venturing into other sections.

Lo and behold - a comic section.  A single, spinning display unit.  Mostly consisting of Batman, Sandman, and assorted "male target audience" comics. Nothing much aimed at young girls at the time, but I gave it a spin anyway.

Then, as the collection of dark spines spun round, a little face on the spine of a red book caught my eye.

This little image on the spine caught my eye

Intrigued, by both the colour and style, I picked it up.

Labeled number 1 in a series, I looked at the art on the cover and fell in love.  

Magic Knight Rayearth!

The title alone grabbed me.  Magic Knights?  Those are young girls!  Well, that was just awesome to see.  I think I was also enjoying Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small at the time (young girl goes to train as a knight), so it fitted right in with my preference for reading about strong girls who weren't simply the damsel to be rescued.  Another firm favourite at the time was Dragonsbane, about a princess who refused to act like a fairytale princess and runs away to be a dragon's princess.

So you can tell that Rayearth was clearly hitting the right notes for my young teen self and I eagerly took it home, marveling at such lovely artwork.

I finished it within an evening or two and just couldn't wait for my next visit (a whole week away, how torturous) to find the second book, which just enthralled me more.  More beautiful art, a sword and sorcery adventure - I wanted more!

There was only one more book in the series to go!

Sadly, the library failed me.  It never acquired the third book.  

For years I remained in the dark of the ending.  Left on a cliffhanger.

For. Years.  

*cue some weepy violin music*

B-but how does it end?

At some point I did purchase a copy of the first book, only for it to sit alone on my bookshelf.  I never found the rest of them, even when internet shops came onto the scene, I either didn't think to search for them often enough, or else they simply weren't available.

Some years go by, as they do, and my interest in manga and anime picked up again as the media became more popular and available.  Yet Rayearth didn't cross my mind.

Until last year.  

Whilst visiting America I went into (a great many) Barnes and Nobel to ogle at all the manga ... so much manga ... so jealous ...

And there it was.

An omnibus edition of all three books!  And the sequels in an omnibus too!!

They were whipped off the shelf pretty darn sharpish.

At long last.  I could find out what happened!

Interest re-kindled, I couldn't wait to read it all again.

So really it's only fitting that the first book review I post should be on my 'first' manga.

The one that started it all ...

Come back soon for the update!