Manga for an intelligent nine-year-old?

[strayanimus]

My little brother took a reading aptitude test at school and scored the same as an average eleventh grader, so why hold off until he's older? He'd probably like manga. So I want to get him started on something that isn't too cutesy (to preserve his 'manliness', he won't read anything that looks like it's meant for girls), too gory, or too dumb. Any ideas?

[EveofAbyss]

ID_eNTITY is a good one. Pretty fun and clean, but not strictly towards a young audience.

And of course there is Fullmetal Alchemist. Definitely not for kids strictly, but not terribly adult either. Intelligent, slightly bloody at times, but nothing awful (as far as I have seen).

[strayanimus]

Thanks! I hadn't heard of ID_eNTITY, but it looks like something he might like.

[EveofAbyss]

Yeah, I'm currently reading through it and if he has any knowledge or experience with MMORPG's (Online Games), he should get a kick out of it. There are quite a few "game nerd" references spread in there, haha.

[strayanimus]

Some more about Matthew:

He frequents Neopets and other regions of the internet, mostly browser games.
He loves magic, Harry Potter, etc.
He is a ladies man in his fourth grade class. XD No harem manga, though, Mom would not be pleased.
His favorite sport is soccer, he plays on the elementary school 'team'.
He likes Star Wars, but not so much other science fiction.
For whatever reason, he loves old black-and-white television shows.

[EveofAbyss]

Wow, he sounds like a pretty awesome little kid. Reminds me of me or my fiance, always having habits and interests much older than us.

I'll keep thinking, if anything else comes to mind I will let you know.

[LtCommanderRichie]

I think I have something- some awesome magic-ish weapons, lots of action, some drama, alternate end to the 18th century, a giant robot or two, and as a nine-year-old he may enjoy a girl in a short skirt.

I speak of course, of D.Gray-Man. I'm biased, though.

[Negima]

If he likes soccer I do know there's a soccer manga out there.  I think it's called "Whistle."  I haven't read it but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Eyeshield 21 is another sports manga he might like (it's (american) football manga).  It has some silliness with a mix of some seriousness.  It does start off a little too goofy in the beginning but then calms down as the series continues.

Hikaru no Go... maybe.  Might be worth a look for him at least.

I want to recommend Nodame Cantabile but I'm not fully sure of this.  If he likes classical music, give it a try.  There is some "grown up" material but it's just cigarettes and mentions of alcohol.  It was also published by a shoujo-manga company in Japan but it doesn't look like most shoujo.

[KogaRyu]

hrmm Shaman King might be one to look into. You could also pick up an issue of Shonen Jump and see if he likes any of the stuff they have.

[strayanimus]

Thank you for all of the suggestions! I'll look into all of them. And I think I have the first few volumes of Shaman King somewhere, I'll look for those.

[Seluecos]

Oooh, Shaman King is great! I started that when I was younger lol, I loved it ^_^

[AnimeMatrix]

Does your brother like basketball? He might like Slam Dunk (its a high school about a guy to joins the basketball team to impress a girl, then discovers he has actual talent for the game). It was (and still is) one of the most popular manga in Japan and I really like it because it teaches some good values (and I'm girl that doesn't really like watching sports, much less basketball).

http://www.viz.com/products/products.php?series_id=456

Or another interesting series by the same author that is aimed at an older audience is "Real." It's about wheelchair basketball (admittedly, I haven't read "Real" yet, but it looks really good and I'm saving up money).

http://www.viz.com/products/products.php?series_id=863

Does he like dogs? Cause' Inubaka might also be a good series. Maybe flip through it at a bookstore to see if he might find it a little "cutesy." The main character is a girl but I'm not so sure if it would be categorized as a shojo manga.

http://www.viz.com/products/products.php?series_id=655

Another very interesting manga that once again I haven't read but have flipped through and really want to read is "Into The Light." It's about a mother raising an autistic child and I just thought that was so cool! (I don't know if he knows any mentally handicapped people, but it might teach him about diversity).

http://yenpress.us/

Hmmm, I realized that these are all slice-of-life manga. I'm not quite sure how "appropriate" it might be, but I really like the X manga. It's probably considered a shojo manga (it does feature some very pretty boys. It's by Clamp after all), but there might be enough of a fantasy/action element to hold his attention.

http://www.viz.com/products/products.php?series_id=200

And though not quite manga, he might like Neil Gaiman's young adult books. Neil Gaiman is an AMAZING fantasy author.

http://www.neilgaiman.com/

[Seluecos]

I have to agree, I love Neil Gaiman ^_^

[strayanimus]

That's right, I forgot! He loves dogs, they're his favorite animals. And I didn't know Neil Gaiman did young adult books other than Coraline, I'll look into that. Thank you so much! 8D

[lychee-twist]

"Hikaru No Go" might be interesting. Perhaps a little boring, I guess. "Chii's Sweet Home" is adorable, but it's about the misadventures of a cat rather than a dog. I love Chii, though. Oh my god, she's so cute.

Onemanga.com is probably the best place to look since it has a wide variety of manga and it's free

[EveofAbyss]

There's always Azumanga Daioh, heh. It's a cast of girls, but definitely not girly. Very fun and funny.