I purchased Manga Studio Debut 3 for my nine-year-old son last Christmas. The product is an affordable software package that purports to be “the Standard in Manga & Comic Illustration.”

If you are unfamiliar with manga, it is a Japanese form of comic book that is read from back to front. Over the years, manga have been increasingly popular in the United States among adults, as well as teens and pre-teens. A few top manga series are Naruto, Bleach, One Piece,and Vampire Knight–just to name a few.

Manga Studio Debut is the more basic version of Manga Studio EX 4 (Win/Mac), and it’s not a product specifically designed for children–but I sometimes purchase items regardless of the stated age, especially when it comes to software. And I decided that since my son loved manga, he would have that much extra desire to learn the program, even if the software wasn’t designed for his age range–desire and the will to learn is an amazing thing.

From my point of view, it’s fairly simple to use. I’m accustomed to using Adobe Photoshop and InDesign, which are both professional graphics programs. Manga Studio Debut is basically a layout program (like InDesign) that allows you to select the size and shape of the comic book blocks/windows that you place and arrange art and speech bubbles into. The actual art you place into the comic blocks will need to be designed before importing them into the program, either by drawing them by hand and scanning them or by developing art with programs such as Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 (Win/Mac), Adobe Photoshop CS5, or Adobe Illustrator CS5, first.

The Bottom Line

Manga Studio Debut 4 (Win/Mac) is a very affordable piece of software that will provide an opportunity to learn new skills for those previously unaccustomed to working in the digital medium, as well as an opportunity for artistic expression. This software, which operates with both Windows and Macintosh computers,  would be a great gift for anyone interested in comic books, manga, anime, writing, and art in general.