Welcome to Gaia! ::

Here are links for two pretty decent character charts in
Hiragana

and Katakana

Hope they help

Hmm....Well it depends on where your at. In modern cities where you see the foreign influence on Japan, a lot of Katakana gets thrown around. And the reverse in rural areas that are more traditional. Of course, most of the youngins learn Katakana first because its easier to write out, so try your hand at that first, then the Hiragana. Then you can read Furigana(the tiny hira- and katakana beside Kanji in most mangas)

Thats probably what they saw first when they started studying Japanese, and it IS important (they're both the Japanese equvilant of the alphabet) So i think they're both needed, just pick the one you have an easier time with, and have fun with it smile

I strongly recommend learning hiragana first. It is the simple phonetic system the Japanese use and it will be used daily especially in grammar/sentence forms. Katakana is for foreign borrowed words or to show foreign names or general emphasis. You will find a lot of it in Manga and maybe at stores but it wont help you have a strong grip on the language.