3 1/2 stars. I got this title from YALSA's Great Graphic Novel's 2012 list, and while this was only the first volume, I can't say I was overly impressed. It seems like there is potential here for a good story, but I admit that all these little Tanukis kind of look alike to me. That being said, I'm certainly willing to keep on reading. Frustrating similarities aside, I'm interested to see where this is going.
So this manga looks super cute and full of fluffy animals, right? WRONG. This is a heart and gut-wrenching story about what it means to live and the difference of that and survival. Animals need to kill other animals to survive, the desperation in their voices are unheard because of the different animal languages, and so the heartbreak doesn't bother the predator. The cycle continues as prey tries to muster through the winter to survive and the predators seek out another life for their meal.
Our story follows Tomoko, a tanuki (raccoon dog) as she survives through a particularly lonely winter. Hope strikes her as she discovers a strange baby and she fights for his survival more than her own. The story follows her in this one as she struggles with her new motherhood title and her baby (called Baby most of the book, but later we find out his name is Taroza) as he grows up and learns new things.
The art is just astounding. Incredible detail in every page and really helps tell the story as much as the words do. Very well done plot. Interesting and exciting.
Ive never even seen this book before spotting it at the library last week. I was reluctant to read it since it looked like it was a simple children’s book, but I was wrong. It’s meant for a young audience, but has much more depth than I was expecting from the manga, with comedy, drama, and many heartwarming scenes !! Animal Land is about an orphaned Tanuki who finds an abandoned baby and vows to take care of him. The art and shading was fantastic. The tanukis have silly designs but that adds to the charm.
Book is rated 13+ for violence (fighting between animals with blood) and mild swearing (d-mn is said a handful of times), but it’s still suitable for kids.
Hopefully the rest of this series is just as good as the first book
Pretty good jungle type series, Reminds me of Tarzan;This boy living with lots of animals that wanted all animals to get along not killing each other for food! Really loved the first half but thought the second half wasn’t that good😁✌️🐯🦁🐵🐎🦒❤️
Is it the best manga out there? No, not by a long shot but it is an enjoyable read. I think its funny but at times it is over the top. It's an interesting world filled with relatable characters despite the over the top cheesiness.
Un shonen classique qui a surement comme destinataire un public plus enfantin, ça se voit dans l'humour et les personnages. Il faut pas attendre énormément mais je suis curieux de continuer.
Manga sympa pas sans plus non plus. Certains personnages sont marrants mais je n'ai pas accroché à l'univers ni à l' histoire. A confirmer avec le tome 2
Ok, so I know there is some loathing in connection to this book ^^" Sorry!! But it gets 1.5 stars for drawing style. It's not always pretty...but I think that they are drawn very well! It's detailed and besides a few completely random panels that don't add anything to my existence, I feel like the drawing overall was a win! The baby is so darn cute!!!! <3 <3 And this style of sweating/tears is very expressive so I'm pretty fond of it. It's a bit odd, but well...to each his own, no?
Then another 1.5 stars for story/plot/characters: Besides being totally weird and confusing in some places...the author wanted to do something that'll be like the world coming together. Like, the little monkeys are the Japanese or American, and the big wildcat is another country, y'know? And we can't understand each other. So we need an innocent little baby that's been betrayed from such an early age only to find that love can still exist, and there is still need for it...understand? It's all symbolic!!
I was pretty sleepy while reading this book, so the baby's cuteness alone mighta brought on another star, but for now...Monoko's devotedness to this kid and little "Baby" himself have earned themselves a place on my "read-the-next-volume!!" list. It's getting really long ^^"
So... this is certainly something. Something is nice. It's definitely something different.
So these weird humanoid tanuki things find an abandoned baby. Despite the fact their life sucks and "a few tanuki get eaten every month", they decide to raise this baby. At less than a year old, he becomes their Tarzan hero, able to talk to multiple species of critter (not a spoiler, that's on the back of the book).
The artwork is a bit quirky and odd, but that's kind of what I expect from Makoto Raiku. Though I've never read Zatch Bell!, I've seen the artwork and know it has a distinct flavor to it.
It's a bit weird, but I can see the appeal. It's not my thing, but you might like it.
This one's hard to categorize, which is probably why I enjoyed it. The basic premise is that a woman puts her baby in a basket and drops it into the river. It's found by a group of Kanuki (a kind of fox/racoon animal in Japan) who decide to take care of it. What makes it odd is the weird mix of poop humor (and pretty graphic poop humor at that), cutesy art for the nice animals, scary-realistic art for the dangerous ones and this odd thread of nature being absolutely terrifying. It also has just about the funniest afterward by an author I've ever read.
There's something kind of special here, but this is so all over the place I honestly can't tell you who this book is for. If this came out in the US I'd probably say it's a fun, rude indie comic.
I had really high expectations for this book since the author, Makoto Raiku, wrote my fandom, Zatch Bell. So I have to read this whole series. It dissapointed. I mean it wasn't HORRIBLE like Naruto. It's just that it was too much action, too fast. Like, EVERYTHING was a problem. Yes, I realize that the tanukis live in a land with dangerous animals, but seriously, can nothing be easy? Pepper reminds me of Purio, and they are both stupid. Bella is a creeper, and Monoko should stick with her son and be just fine. I really like Kurokagi. Taroza is so kawaii and of course reminds me of Zatch. But what's up with all the scars, anyway? A weird introduction to a hopefully fruitful series. I mean, not every mangaka produces amazing mangas each time (Yu Watase does). We'll see.
I found the story to be more intersting then I thought it was going to be. The animals and humans (mention more then seen, unless one is counting the baby) seem to be living during a famine. The tanuki eat the fish, in turn they have to watchout for wildcats (my they are big) and other animals waiting to eat them. Monoko finds a baby (I'm thing Moses, here)and takes it in because she wants a family. The litle human baby learns their language and is able to read human (My that's quick, I wonder if the baby can read other human writings with a look). When I read the baby's name "Taroza" I was thinking Tarzan. I would need to read a couple of more to know where this story is going.
J'attendais beaucoup de choses de ce manga... que j'ai finalement trouvé insupportable ! Les animaux ne sont même pas mignons... les ratons laveurs (?) ne ressemblent à rien, et l'histoire qui aurait pu être intéressante n'a au final ni queue ni tête...