Dinosaur Sanctuary, Vol. 3

ディノサン [Dinosan] #3

by Itaru Kinoshita, Shin-ichi Fujiwara (Contributor), John Neal (Translator)

THE NEWBIE LOOKS FOR HER DINO HOME.

Suma Suzume, the newest keeper at struggling Enoshima Dinoland, has reached the end of her three-month orientation period. It’s time for a new challenge: working alongside each of the department heads to find her permanent place on the staff! First on the list is Igarashi Keisuke, and Suzume will learn what makes him tick as they care for the park’s pachycephalosaurs and stegosaurs.

Genres: Manga, Dinosaurs, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Comics, Young Adult, Slice Of Life

204 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 2022

Reviews

[Steph]

this volume includes a brief flashback chapter on marine reptiles, and i want more! they're so beautiful and freaky!

suzume is the sanctuary's new social media manager, and she plans to make use of the same thing that makes this series so strong - the fact that each dino is a unique individual, rather than a monolithic representation of a species.

here we meet a grieving pachycephalosaurus named hachibei and a sun-basking stegosaurus named momiji. i loved learning about stego plates and the way their thermal conduction helps with regulating body temperature.

but i'm alarmed by the introduction of dinosaur meat served for human consumption. must we go there? can't we imagine a better world wherein we won't stoop to eating fellow animals?

[Matt Glaviano]

I have no idea how to rate these. It'd be like rating a feather floating on the breeze.

What does it say about this series that three members of my family read this volume in a day? We fought over it - petty, pathos wringing, guilt trip inducing fought over who got to read it first (I was last).

Why? What are we getting out of this?

Some speculation:
1. They're dumb. Mindless flyover entertainment. Perfectly absorbing to the point of being instantly forgettable. A chef's kiss to the weekend special - you pop it in your mouth and it practically chews itself.
2. Characters. Just kidding.
3. DINOSAURS. The strength of the series is the dino art. It might all be factually inaccurate 20 years from now, but in the NOW it's gorgeously rendered and worth staring at.
4. Personal bonus points for the zoo/park setting. Right up my tiny, niche alley. Mad props to this volume for the detachable park map, rendered in near perfect actual park map detail. When I stand before St. Peter recounting my myriad sins in this life, at least half should be given a pass simply because I did NOT tear out this map and hang it in my locker. Only because I'm a grown ass person who doesn't have a locker. Still - my self control is admirable.

I look at the cover and think it's a picture of a boy band that includes a Spinosaurus.

Possible names for the band:
Crush-Tacious
Spynzz 2 Men
Bar3Onyx

Yeah, I got nothing. If you have better human/dinosaur hybrid boy band names, let me know.

[I']

I just love these ones.

I am a simple human, you give me cute dinosaurs and scientific explanations and I am in. Very much. This is one that I am recommending to all ages as it is very cool and informative. I am enjoying how they are not only giving character evolution to the human characters but also the Dinos so you can enjoy fully the experience.

[Rod Brown]

This slice-of-life look behind the scenes of a Jurassic Park-type zoo -- but without all the fatalities -- is very educational, but it can also be a bit dull. This time the main character works with a new dinokeeper who cares for the park's Pachycephalosaurus. The big plot developments are revealing how the dinosaur keeps bumping its nose at night and how the dinokeeper left his previous job . And then we have a side story about a couple of school girls having a little falling out over their love of dinosaurs.

A nicely-executed snooze-fest.

I'm not going to seek out the next volume, but I'm not ready to avoid it either if it turns up in the library catalog.

[Blake the Book Eater]

I feel like this manga is just the coziest thing. Taking care of dinos and learning about them is so wholesome. And I love that the characters are earnest and not cynical at all. It reminds me of when I was younger and I loved visiting zoos and aquariums to learn about the animals.

[James DeSantis]

As always, super enjoyable. I liked the one story about childhood friends going one more time together to see dinos before one moves. Learning about dinos too, ones I know about but never researched much, and the way they act, eat, and sleep is all great. Art is really good to boot. Very enjoyable manga so far.

[Anke Struik]

Dammit, why is this so cute and wholesome

[Rachel Holtzclaw]

can't imagine a world where i don't rate one of these 5 stars

[Sharon]

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

I'm crying about dinosaurs 🥲🥲🥲

[Halcyon]

Do you like slice of life stories? Do you like dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals? Did you enjoy Jurassic Park, but wanted to see what it would be like if everything was fine and no dinosaurs killed people? Do you like dinosaur media in which dinosaurs are actually depicted as genuine animals with their own awesome traits and personalities, and not just randomly wandering about and killing stuff? (Shout out to the many dumb 'documentairies' that seemed obsessed with making dinosaurs duke it out with each other instead of showing how they lived. I did not care for the fighting one bit as a kid.)

Do you enjoy gorgegous, lush art filled with details? Do you enjoy it when paleo media at least tries to be as updated as possible on how we currently think extinct animals looked and possibly behaved?
Do you enjoy dinosaurs that are way too adorable? A triceratops that loafs like a cat? And old, adorable senior Tyrannsaurus? Do you like learning some facts sprinkled inbetween a manga's pages?

Do you miss those halcyon days you would spend hours tinkering with prehistoric animals in Zoo Tycoon 1 and 2? Or when you try to run an ethic dino zoo in those newer Jurassic Park zoo builders?

In short, if you anwser many questions with a hard, resounding YES then you might really like this manga :D!

It's a nice slice of life filled story. In this volume the human characters get some more screentime, another one's backstory shows that marine reptiles are also kept and you get to learn about the awesome shellfish and crab eating mosasauroid Globidens. Also loved the facts that some herbivores were given the spotlight! Also the little bonus manga with Daisy and her mate being jealous?? Precious!

[Kat]

4/5

Volume 3 of Dinosaur Sanctuary and Suzume has made it out of her probationary period and is now learning as part of a team. We meet a pachycephalosaur who keeps being startled and hurting himself, the restructuring of the Dinoland's enclosure and a friendship based around a spinosaurus.

- Same cosy but scientific premise. We also get to know the keeper's background a little more and the world building keeps on improving.

- I love the artwork of the dinosaurs. They're so well done and filled with personality and charm.

- The snippets at the end of the chapters are, as always, very informative. I like how they explore how research comes about and is published, helping to enlighten readers to that process.

As wonderful as always. Cannot wait for volume 4.

[Loveland]

I wish michael crichton could have read this

[Kaitlynne]

This is such a cute little dinosaur series. I keep waiting for it to take a dramatic turn a la Jurassic Park... suuuuurely it won't 🤣

[Ashley (Red-Haired Ash Reads)]

Series: Dinosaur Sanctuary #3
Rating:3 stars - I liked it

In this volume, Suzume has reached the end of her three month orientation and is now working with the department heads to try to find her permanent place among the staff. Her first assignment is taking over the zoo's social media to try to bring in more visitors, which we don’t really get any update on yet, so hopefully we will see what happens with that in the next volume.

This volume mainly focuses on a pachycephalosaurus named Hachibei who keeps getting hurt and moving dinosaurs to different enclosures. Hachibei’s story was a bit of a sad one because he had recently lost his mate and just kept hurting himself and they couldn’t figure out why. Suzume ends up helping Igarashi figure out what is going on, which was both a physical issue and an issue with his enclosure. It was a cute little story and I like learning more about another dinosaur and getting to know Igarashi.

The zookeepers are also moving around dinosaurs to different enclosures in this, which is interesting because they are huge animals that can be dangerous. They are moving Daikichi the triceratops out of his enclosure because he was getting too aggressive with another male who had one over a female and moving in Momiji the stegosaurus. We don’t get to see them in the new enclosures, but I assume that will be revealed in the next volume.

This ends with giving us a flashback of Igarashi Keisuke and why he left Blue World (basically a Sea World but dinosaurs of the ocean) and came to Enoshima Dinoland. Like I said, I like that we are getting more backstory on the other characters and it isn’t all focused on Suzume and the dinosaurs. I can’t wait to read the next one.

[Matti Karjalainen]

Itaru Kinoshitan "Dinosaur Sanctuary 3" (Seven Seas, 2023) on sympaattinen, hienosti piirretty ja opettavainenkin sarjakuva, mutta näin satunnaisen lukijan mielestä siinä voisi toki tapahtua vähän enemmän niin mielenkiinto pysyisi paremmin yllä. Sinänsä kyllä virkistävää, ettei otuksia kuvata dinofiktiolle tyypilliseen tapaan hirviöinä, joiden ainoa tehtävä on ainoastaan aiheuttaa kaaosta ja syödä ihmisiä!

[Borja]

Tercera entrega de esta versión cozy, corazón calentito, de Parque Jurásico. La historia no va a ninguna parte, apenas pasan cosas, pero el dibujo (especialmente los dinosaurios) me tiene ganado de momento. Ya veremos hasta cuando.

[Morgan]

I don't know why I didn't think there were more people that worked for the park, but I'm glad we're getting to see more of the other departments and learn about them. Igarashi might be my favorite department head, but I have a soft spot for aquariums so he got me there.

[Autumn]

I love how fun and informative this series is. I love how we learn about different characters & different Dinosaurs in each volume

[kristyn ˏˋ°•*⁀➷]

hachibei being jealous when daisy is having her spa day 😭

[Jack]

Mosasaurs!!!! Ichthyosaurs!!!!! Pachycephalosaurus!!!!! SPINOSAURUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anna]

Fun read and quick read. The dinosaurs are really interesting and well thought out. Its really cool how much they can guess and assume about dinosaurs and how they live/lived. I'm enjoying it.

[cey's not reading]

love seeing new characters and dinos brought in each time

[zoe]

3.75 stars.

[KJ]

Koselig serie 😊

[edy]

the two pachycephalosaurus made me tear up a little

[Adam Kiewel]

These are very light reads, the problem being that theres really nothing driving the story forward. still, they're fun reads and they really bring the story to life. im tempted to give them all 5 stars, simply because it's something I really haven't seen before

[Jonah]

While the beginning of this series introduces dinosaurs in a way I find stupid the rest of the series treating the existing dinosaurs as zoo animals really highlights the actual real life care of zookeepers.

[Edee Lee]

4.5 ⭐️

I am really loving this manga! It’s cozy, it’s slice of life, it’s absolutely loaded with thoughtful details! This volume also has 2 sections of colored pages — one a map of the park(!) and the other the beginning of an impactful chapter!

I’m not even a dinosaur stan, but I adore how each has their own personality and backstory — and having cared for horses my whole life, I feel the authenticity of caring for large animals. My only wish is for a bit more of the plot to focus on the staff and their interpersonal relationships — I know so much about each dinosaur and I feel like I don’t know the staff as well, even though we do get some progress with Suzume and the vet in this volume.

[Shaunna MacDonald]

Disappointed to put 3 stars for this volume. I felt too disconnected between the chapters with not enough Dinoland story building. I’m all for a good back story but I felt there were too many for one volume and so early in the story development.

[Gabby]

Themes:
Dinosaurs
Science
“Jurassic Park”
Cosy
Zookeeper
Slice of Life

Another great instalment in the series. I love that we’re learning more about side characters and there was a lot more science in this one too! Excited to continue on. I consider this one of my new fav manga series.