Drama

Unico

出典 : Amazon.co.jp

The beautiful but jealous goddess “Venus” was unhappy with the fact that her human daughter Psyche was more lovely and popular than she was. Psyche has a unicorn child, Unico, who possesses magical powers, and one day Venus, believing that her beauty is due to Unico’s power, persuades her vassals to kidnap Unico. She is transported away to a distant time by Zephyrus, the spirit of the West Wind, and travels to various places, using her power to “create miracles by being loved”.
This is a fantasy manga by manga master Osamu Tezuka. The work was serialized in a girls’ manga magazine, and is characterized by its lovable character modeling, including the main character Unico, but the slightly sad storyline, “Every time you are sent away by Zephyrus, the love, friendship, and memories you gained in that place are blown away”, is also a highlight.

BEASTARS

出典 : Amazon.co.jp

At Cherryton School, carnivores and herbivores live together in the school. One day, a male alpaca named Tem is brutally murdered by a carnivore. The culprit is never found, and the discord between carnivores and herbivores begins to grow, and “Legosi”, a grey wolf who was once Tem’s best friend, begins to come under suspicion.
Legosi, who is unsure of his own way of life as a carnivore, is the center of this coming-of-age ensemble drama of the animals at Cherryton School. It depicts the seemingly peaceful world where carnivores and herbivores work hand in hand, while touching on the “inside”, such as conflict between species, discrimination, instinct, friendship and love. Although the characters are all anthropomorphic animals, there are many aspects of the story that are linked to the problems of real human society, and it is a story worth reading.

エッセイ

 Silver Spoon

出典 : Amazon.co.jp

The story takes place in Hokkaido, Japan, and the main character is Yugo Hachiken, a student of Dairy Science at Daiezo Agricultural High School (commonly known as Ezono). He chose Ezono because he didn’t have to face up to his estranged family, but when he actually enrolls in the school, he finds that life at the agricultural high school is not acceptable. Surrounded by his classmates who are going straight for their dreams, Yugo struggles to grow and develop at his high school, even if he sometimes suffers.
This is a coming-of-age comedy by Arakawa Hiroshi, known for “FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST”. Rather than focusing on animals, the work realistically depicts the whole of “agriculture and livestock” and the unique sensibilities and lifestyles of the people involved in it. The story of livestock is carefully and amusingly told from the viewpoints of both those who “eat” animals and those who “raise and send” them off, so if you read this work, you may gain a new perspective on “food”. Incidentally, Mr. Arakawa also drew a manga essay on the same theme, “Peasant Aristocrat,” based on his own experiences, and I would recommend it to those who are interested in dairy farming and agriculture through this work.

Sanzoku Diary

出典 : Amazon.co.jp

Manga artist Okamoto Kentaro, who lives as a part-time hunter, draws this hunting essay manga based on his own experiences. Okamoto was born and raised in a village in Okayama, and through interaction with an old man, a hunter who lived in the neighborhood when he was a child, he came to yearn for a hunter, and when he returned home from Tokyo, he obtained a hunting license. After returning home from Tokyo, he obtained a hunting license and started hunting, dismantling and cooking various animals living in the mountains with his own hands. This work, which carefully and unobtrusively portrays this process, is a profound work that will make you rethink the relationship between nature, animals, and human beings by catching a glimpse of the process of “food” that we usually do without thinking, such as “hunting for food,” “processing as food,” and “eating for survival.
In addition to a wealth of animal and hunting stories, this book also includes many survival techniques and trivia about nature, so it is recommended for people who are interested in the outdoors.

Battle

Silver Fang -The Shooting Star, Silver-

出典 : Amazon.co.jp

Silver, an Akita dog, was born as a bear dog (a matagi dog) in the snowy mountains of Tohoku. In the mountains, people were being attacked by a huge and vicious bear, the Red Beetle, and Gin’s father’s dog, Riki, was killed in a confrontation with the Red Beetle. Silver and his owner and partner, Daisuke, train hard to defeat Aka-Kabuto, and go on a journey to gather their friends.
This is the first in the “GINKAMI DENSETSU” series, which has been going on for over 30 years. The loyalty and humanity (or rather, the love of dogs) between dogs, the friendships that are fostered and their growth, are as passionate as the human drama, and the passionate “dog drama” is highly regarded. It has been made into an anime and stage show, and has become popular in Japan and abroad.

 Killing Bites

出典 : Amazon.co.jp

A dull college student ‘Nomoto Yuya’ is tricked by an acquaintance into getting involved in a plot to kidnap a high school girl. They kidnapped Hitomi Uzaki, but Hitomi, who has a mysterious power, turned the tables on them and took the surviving Yuya to an unpopular dumping ground. There, a betting tournament called “Killing Bites” was being held between “beastmen” who “have the intelligence of humans and the physical abilities of animals” and Yuya was forced to participate as an investor of Hitomi. It was a story about humans who became able to be turned into beasts through genetic enhancement technology.
This is a story about humans who are able to be turned into animals through genetic enhancement technology and fight as “beast fighters”. It is characterized by flashy battles and a dark style, but the abilities of the animals that are the source of the beastification are explained in detail, so this work is recommended to people who like “fighting animal manga”.

Summary

This is our selection of 20 recommended animal manga. Even if we say “animal manga”, there are a variety of works that are soothing in their cuteness, or that will cheer you up when you read them. If there is a work in this summary that you are interested in, please check it out.