I prefer any type of Wacom tablet, they're pretty good and won't break easily.
and as for programs:
paint tool sai;
if you're going to do vector, anime, or painting this is good for both i mainly use it for painting cause it has that blending and it isn't that expensive.
manga studio;
i haven't really used this but what i've seen in speedpaints it's really good, better than sai since it has more functions and other stuff that i haven't seen or used since i don't like using this program.
corel paint studio or something like that corel draw maybe..
great application has that blending and stuff has (i think) photoshop-like brushes which keeps their shapes, is slightly like sai but i would prefer this if u are profesional.
photoshop cs6
i dont like this more work put into everything tbh.