oldie but goodie, Sailor Moon

Chobits, Fruits Basket, Card Captors Sakura, Sailor Moon, Detective Conan, Kodomo No Omocha

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Sailor Moon, Sakura Card Captor, Death Note (only if she likes terror plots, is a plus), full metal alchemist, and for you, get Evangelion, so you can get a lil’ more involved :)

Wait, you are loking for manga (japanesse comic book), anime is the animated version of manga, my call, get both :) look for manga books here and for anime dvd on your favorite retailer :)

I wouldn’t suggest Death Note for a 12 year. I’m sure they can read through them just fine, but I wouldn’t suggest Death Note to anyone regardless of their age. I agree with Full Metal and Eva for the older readers.

Keeping her age in mind, I would second Card Captor Sakura and Fruits Basket.

If you choose to offer her an anime DVD, I would definitely recommend any movie directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle…).

For a manga, I would second PnL’s choice, as they are quite appropriate for a 12 year old girl.

Don’t know about books, but I’ll second the vote for Miyazaki, especially “Kiki’s Delivery Service.”

I second Brome’s Answer. All of the Miyazaki filmes are great, yet not so crazy as to be unaccessible

Yup Miyazaki is a good choice for kids. (and adults too!)

thanks & fluther love to everyone for all the great answers & for the clarification on manga vs anime. your recommendations will go a long way toward a great birthday gift for my niece – cheers!

Actually my belated 2 cents Neon Genesis Evangelion has very young teens thrust into very adult situations and actually made me quite uncomfortable, i would not recomend it for a young teen.

I do not really like it but all the anime crazed little girls I know enjoy Fruit Baskets , also there is Sailor Moon a good classic. I am not so good in picking out what is appropriate really. A lot of the ones I read might not be very appropriate for a 12 year old.

I agree almost entirely with these choices, just two things;

A) Fullmetal Alchemist might be a little too much for 12 years old, as there is a hell of alot of gore in it, not to mention the whole origin of “truth” scenes.

B) Neon Genesis Evangelion(manga) is not what you want to be using to introduce yourself to manga. It’s good, but insanely graphic and deep in a very morbid way. You could try Fullmetal Alchemist, or Fullmetal Panic for that matter.

I would also look into One Piece, or the ultimate classic; Dragon Ball. One Piece is supposed to be a lot better in the manga than in the American amine, and Dragon Ball is slightly perverse, but in a much more harmless way than most manga.

For anime I would also suggest Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop. Bebop may be a little over her head plot-wise (it centers around three bounty-hunters), but the artistic styles of both are excellent and the music is awesome. They do involve some violence, but it’s more stylistic than gory. And since you’re liable to get some fighting and violent behavior in any anime, I think they’re good places to start; relatively harmless.

hehe my first was angelic layer ^^ i was in her age too its a really great funny manga i really love it ^^ and animes: i think miyazaki is the best too ^^ and meowomon is right too specially kodomo no omocha is one of my favorites x3 its sooo funny with a really umm…earnest background…hope thats the correct word…i think it was my second i have all books of it ^^ its really great!

I am a 13 year old girl and I personally love the following:
-Vampire Knight, A story similar to the Twilight Saga but more action. (Shojo 15+)
-Naruto: A shounen series about ninjas. XD (Shounen 13+)
-Death Note: A really intense/supernatural plot about ridding the world of crime. It is pretty violent but only really towards the very end. (Shounen 15+)
-Shugo Chara: A gorgeous friendly little romance with a great moral to it. (Shojo 12+)
-Loveless: A shounen-ai murder mystery. (Shojo 15+)
-High School debut: Another cute little highschool romance. (shojo 13+)
-Code Geass: A really awesome supernatural military one. Hard to follow but really interesting when you pick it up. (shounen 13+ for the manga and 16+ for the anime)
-The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya: An excellent series about a girl who can control the universe. Slightly perverse though. (shojo 15+)
-The Wallflower: A funny comedy about a girl who believes she is a creature of darkness and a group of gorgeous boys that have to turn her into a lady. It’s slightly perverted, mild course language and macabre themes. (shojo 13+)
-Chobits: A really sweet little manga based in a world where everybody owns a human computer. It is ecchi so it has some slight references to sex but it’s pretty harmless. (shojo 15+)
-Ouran High School Host Club: One of my fav romantic comedies. It’s about a girl who owes this HS club 800,000 yen and she has to work it off by becoming a member of their club that entertains women. It has sexual themes and that’s it. (shojo 13+)
-Sailor Moon….you should know about this one. XD (shojo 13+)
-Fruits Basket: A great story, it’s about these people who are possessed by the chinese zodiac and every time they are hugged by someone of the opposite sex they transform into their animal. (shojo 13+) Mild sex scenes in this one.

Oh and in case you don’t know:
shojo: Teenage girls manga
Shounen: Teenage boys manga
Ecchi: Is like slightly….sexy…it’s hard to explain but it’s like very VERY mild hentai themes.
Hentai: Pornographic, stay AWAY from it!
Shounen-Ai: Is Boylove. It’s not intense though. It merely means that there are some gay characters and mild gay romance, the story itself is not a homosexual romance. So shounen-ai is usually okay.
Yaoi: Yes…stay away from this it’s pure gay romance, usually really dirty. I’ve accidently stumbled across some myself, and from what I saw not pretty.
Anyway I hope I helped you understand and I hope that you are able to find something for your neice. =P

When I was 12, I was watching Ergo Proxy, InuYasha, & YuYu Hakusho.

And yaoi/yuri/hentai.

I’m still 11 so i don’t know thats she’s gonna like it
but my absolute favorites are gakuen alice and shugo chara these too are manga/anime
nousatsu junkie i highly recommend this one this one is a manga
magical x miracle is a manga but super cute XD
maybe jewel pet tinkle it is a anime but super good
i also recommend kodocha and kaichou wa maid sama both are super nice anime/manga
i hope she likes them XD

I would recomend Sailor Moon, but toward the end has minor nudity.

I highly suggest Kekko Kamen.