Manga are Japanese comics. I know, if you've never read manga, you are probably thinking about the same thing as when I told you to check out Japanese cartoons. Same situation. Comics are not just for children (in fact, some are most definitely not for children). Plus, same thing as anime, it is easy to place yourself inside the story because the images in manga are drawings. Therefore, a lot of the reader's imagination is required to fill in the lines.

So, give manga a go! There's a reason it's the top selling published material in the world's second largest economy.