Sarazanmai: The Official Manga Anthology

by Ikunirapper (Creator), Kunihiko Ikuhara

A collection of over a dozen short stories for the hit anime by Kunihiko Ikuhara ( Sailor Moon, Revolutionary Girl Utena, PENGUINDRUM )! And don’t miss the Sarazanmai light novels and the manga spin-off, Reo and Mabu !

The manga anthology based on Sarazanmai finally makes its appearance! Beginning with character designer Miggy’s cover illustration, this collection features a luxurious array of manga and illustrations from creators such as Kyouhei Azumi, Sakuya Amano, Aya Isino, Akira Caskabe, Chinatsu Kurahana, Mataaki Kureno, Chiho Saito, Misaki Saitoh, Chidori Sakuraba, Isuzu Shibata, Samata Techno, Asumiko Nakamura, pako, Shoko Hidaka, Akari Funato, Lily Hoshino, Miggy, Akiko Morishima, Kotetsuko Yamamoto, and Riyo!

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, LGBT, Graphic Novels

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 30, 2020

About the author

Pen name used by Kunihiko Ikuhara for Sarazanmai works.

Please also see イクニラッパー.

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute but unnecessary anthology. My favorite bit was the story where Enta gets trapped in Prince Keppi's asshole.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthologies are tough because, by definition, they're going to be an assortment of stories that differ pretty widely in quality. They're also harder for me to read quickly, because I like to look up the different artists and put some context with their work. There are a few names I recognize from other manga, but a lot of these were new to me. (With anthologies, I always mark down which authors' work to check out after.)

There were a couple of duds, but most of these little comics were enjoyable - a nice mixture of funny and angsty, and fairly in line with canon. My favorite was probably the laugh-out-loud "Four Panel Sarazanmai" by Chidori Sakuraba, whom I was disappointed to see didn't have their manga officially published in English. I also really liked Misaki Saitoh's ridiculous "Mabu's Art Class," Akira Caskabe's "Connecting <3 Desires Rickshaw," and Miggy's "That Which Fades/That Which Does Not Fade."

The full color art pages at the beginning of the volume are also well worth the cover price. This is definitely something you'd only pick up if you're already a fan of the series, since absolutely nothing will make sense without that context, but it's really great to see different artists' take on such a weird and interesting story.

[Bee (BacchusVines) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a huge anthology fan, especially with comics/manga. But I loved the Sarazanmai anime and had to get this anthology.

Each creator brought some more joy, humor, and pain in their own ways. I really enjoyed the stories:

Antenna Sugar - Samata Techno
Spring Ties - Kyohei Azumi
Crossing that River - Miggy

Basically, I loved all the stories with the three friends. And the stories with Reo and Mabu were hilarious and heartfelt. Now I wanna re-watch the anime T_T

[Spudpuppy · Rating 3 out of 5]

ACAB excludes reo and mabu!!!!

Also I gasped at the graphic butthole moment lmaooo

(Also my third eye is open to enta/toi now)

[Joseph Mancini · Rating 2 out of 5]

Focuses too much on the cop duo and not the main cast. Wish we got more of them.

[Ryofire · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really wonderful anthology of art and comics, and even some post-anime stories. There's more about Reo and Mabu's backstories, how the boys spent time together after Toi came back, and lots of silly hijinks. A wonderful book.