I've been reading manga in translation since 1997, when I learned that Sailor Moon and Magic Knight Rayearth would be published in English in a new manga anthology from Tokyopop called MixxZine. In August 1997 I had just moved so I sought out a local comicbook to pick it up. I have no idea how I picked that store, but I lucked out. I'd never been in a comicbook store in my life and felt terribly awkward, but the fact that it was also a secondhand bookstore and was run by two women made the atmosphere more welcoming. MixxZine wasn't yet available the first time I went in (the magazine would ship irregularly throughout its run), but as luck would have it, that was the same month that the first issue of Supergirl came out, to my complete and delighted surprise. It was in that same comic store that I saw a poster for the Viz graphic novel release of A, A' (November 1997). I was intrigued by the ad copy which described something fascinating: Japanese women's comics. I didn't know what it was, but I ordered it anyway just because the idea of women's comics piqued my interest so much. I didn't care for it too much at the time: it is fairly mature sci-fi and I was looking for fun pop manga. But it was an exciting new experience which I enjoyed in a different way; it was probably the first mature (non-YA) science fiction I'd read, period, and it opened up a whole new world for me.
My favorite genres are humor, romance, drama. Most of the books I read are shoujo and josei - I really like josei, wish there were more of it here. Like many North American shoujo manga fans, I enjoy certain genres because nothing like it exists in homegrown comics. I'm thrilled at the variety of manga being translated today - so much more great stuff to choose from than when I began reading manga in MixxZine/Tokyopop Magazine, Animerica Extra, Super Manga Blast, and Smile Magazine in the late 90's. However the types of manga being translated have stagnated, and publishers still aren't licensing that much manga that adults in particuarly might like to read, especially series for women. I'd really like to see more funny, sexy josei series brought over.