Manga pressies?

[maggiethecat]

Just been emailed by sil in Florida (where we'll be for xmas) that her children (19, 17, 15) like Japanese anime - I take it that she means things like Manga?

I have noticed Manga stuff but because mine are so young I don't know much about it but imagine there must be loads of merchandise.

What Manga stuff do you think older kids might be into?

Anime is Japanese animation, while manga is Japanese comics. They could be into literally anything. There is absolutely tonnes of merchanidise, but anime/manga spans such a wide range of genres that it's like saying they're into books or films. You might be best off getting them amazon vouchers so they can choose themselves.

Although (and check they don't have it) my personal recommendation would be to get them planetes (anime). Its a hard sci-fi series about space debris collectors and very good indeed.

Sooooo, anime would be film, video and Manga would comics and then there would be the related merchandise spin offs eg Peppa Pig, Gruffalo - toys, clothes etc?

Vouchers looking attractive! Do you know if amazon vouchers bought here are accepted in US?

You might be best checking with amazon to see if you can buy vouchers from amazon.co.uk or if you need amazon.com vouchers. It can't be that unusual to want to buy vouchers as presents from friends or family abroad.

Yes, anime is films and television programmes, while manga is comics. Popular anime/manga often have absolutely tonnes of other merchandise (just about anything you can think of: toys, clothes, ornaments, replica swords, dressing up clothes in adult sizes, etc, etc).

The difficulty in choosing is that you have no idea what they like (or what they already have). If your SIL can tell you some of the series they're in to, I could suggest other stuff they might like (and you could check with SIL if they already have it).

Amazon.co.uk voucher are only valid on the uk site; you'd need an amazon.com account to buy vouchers for the US site.

You can get international delivery on stuff from amazon.co.uk, including DVDs and books to the USA (but not videogames). So your nieces/nephews would still be able to order stuff, delivery would just take longer and cost more.

Or you could ask SIL to buy them amazon.com gift certificates and give her the money.

I am getting the picture! I will check about the series. I was wondering if there is regional related stuff so for eg would things be very common here but not in the US so it might be something different for them if I took them something?

Thanks re: amazon.

The thing with Manga is, there are very specific ones, with very specific "stuff" and it has to be The Right One (my pfb is heavily into Manga and Naruto and I had it up to here with the things, it's a bit of a nightmare to buy on spec or impulse. In the end I got him to give me specific details, links, and all the relevant info when he wanted something)

It's generally easier to get anime/manga stuff in the US than here. You can also order stuff of amazon.co.jp, but it will be in Japanese (and may take longer to arrive than you'd like in time for Christmas). It would also cost you as much again (or more) in shipping. However, if they're big fans/learning Japanese they may really love something imported from Japan.

As it's all so complicated, I'd buy vouchers (and I know a lot about manga).

I will defer to your wisdom both!

My DS is really into Manga, so just to quickly add- i've found books in 'The Works' of all places, 'how to draw Manga' and a very interesting book about the creator of Manga are currently available, and at a good price too!