First Take – Oumagadoki Zoo
If you’ve been following me on twitter, you may have noticed how I’ve recently been tweeting out nonsensical garb about weird scenes that have no apparent link to each other (in between all the random sports gibberish and the occasional ES21 plug). I’ve recently made it a mission of mine to read as many new manga as I can, while I still have some summer holiday time left in me. Since I have such a reliable tracker now, I can literally plow through as many manga as I can, without having to worry about where I last dropped the story.
This has led me to discovering a stack of manga which are relatively new, most of them being new serializations in Jump. In this first take, my favorite of the new Jump bunch will be looked at: Oumagadoki Zoo.
Oumagadoki Zoo「 逢魔ヶ刻動物園 」
Kōhei Horikoshi
Serialized in: Shounen JUMP
Genre: Comedy, Adventure
Currently Scanlated Chapters: 18 (In-progress)
Read ONLINE @ SOMEMANGA | Download Volumes @ MANGATRADERS
Wait for iiitttttttttt...........
While the name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, the manga itself is pretty unique. Previously known as Oumagadoki Doubutsuen and originally appearing in Jump as a oneshot, OZ follows a young female high school student, Aoi Hana, who stumbles on a part-time job in a local zoo. With her love for animals, it seems like the perfect match but little does she know that by night, the zoo inhabitants take on a different form altogether. Led by their egotistic and childish director Shiina, the animals acquire Aoi’s help to make the zoo the most popular park in the world.
Shiina has his own motives for wanting to make the zoo popular, since 13 years ago he had been cursed by a rabbit ghost, resulting in him taking the form of a large rabbit. In order to break the curse, he needed to show love to animals, through the powers of his curse. Due to the curse, he has an excessive amount of magic, which he uses to turn members of the animal kingdom into humanized versions of themselves. With their help along with Aoi Hana, he hopes to achieve his goal and help break the curse in order to become human again.
buahahahahaaahahaaha
OZ is one of the most creative and original manga I’ve read in while. As Jump is now infested with new manga in the stereotypical highschool setting, OZ manages to create it’s own world with something that many would not even consider: a zoo. Written and drawn by a young new mangaka, Kōhei Horikoshi, the story and art itself feels pretty well layered, especially given that it is the mangakas first serialized work.
While it may not be as captivating during the first few chapters to some, I personally found that the mangas art and unique setting was enough to help me follow through with the story. I have to say though, the manga ramps up in quality with the addition of new animals and new enemies not long into its serialization.
The second arc is where things really get interesting, as the manga begins to find it’s niche as a surprisingly captivating battle manga. Looking back at the first few chapters, this development was a surprise to me but the transition was executed so well that it was an absolute blast to follow the animals through their battles. With the amount of possible characters to choose from in the entire animal kingdom, the possibilities for future enemies and new characters are really endless, so I’m certain that it would not stale too early in it’s run.
It also helps that the designs of the humanized animals themselves are pretty creative. You can sense that the mangaka has taken some inspiration from some other animal based animes and movies, since I saw some resemblances with characters from series like Pokemon, Summer Wars and the like. Still, they each have their own brand of personality so they definitely feel one of a kind (a particular favourite of mine is the badass Orca, whose features have been modified to resemble a suit. Also, Shiina reminds me of Hiruma from Eyeshield 21, in that they are both conniving and share that evil huge grin. A huge win right there).
Are you reading it? Are you reading it? Are you reading it?
While this is a relatively new manga, it is starting to gain a certain following, especially from the western half of the world. Not being particularly popular yet in Japan, you can see a lot of people voice their concerns over the possible dropping of the manga given it’s consistently low ratings in the TOC rankings. I have a feeling that it will avoid the drop however, since the story and setting is too unique to have it dropped so soon, especially since it is beginning to develop more.
The editors of Jump themselves seem to agree as well, since OZ always manages to get a lot of coloured spreads and extra pages, a sign that it is given the benefit of the doubt from Jump, even though ratings haven’t been stellar. High sales of the tankobon volumes recently may soon influence it’s popularity, so I have faith that the ratings will steadily increase in due time.
These are the animals. Yes, really.
Even though this is a first take on the manga, I found it good enough to warrant a recommendation to y’all. It’s relatively new, with only 18 translated chapters to this date, so it isn’t one of those monster mangas that will take ages to read. Released scanlations are pretty sporadic at the moment though, which is a bit of a bummer since it’s already behind the Jump releases by quite a bit. Still, it shouldn’t be long before more groups start picking up this series, since I have a feeling that it’s going to explode in 2011. Fingers crossed it manages to get that far, as I really have high hopes for this (vote Japan, vote!).
For those interested in following the TOC rankings themselves, you can visit this Livejournal group. TOC (Table of Contents) rankings are the rankings of a series’ popularity within Jump, which are done through mailed-in votes. For more info on how these rankings work, feel free to read another one of Jump’s hit series, Bakuman.
Dat art. It's awesome. Now go read.
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Hmm, I think this isn't my cup of tea :p
The only manga with animal theme that can attract me is Wild Life :D
It's more of a battle/adventure manga by the looks of it, so it is pretty shounen.
What sort of manga was Wild Life?
Wild Life is about a vet. Check it here http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=171
OZ is totally different, it's more akin to typical battle manga, but the characters are just humanized animals lol.
well, I'll tell you if by any chance, I change my mind and want to read it ^^
There is a oneshot if you're interested. It's similar but major plot points are changed, as well as some of the character designs.
You can check that out and see if you might like it, although I'd say that the manga itself is better.
http://somemangas.com/manga/Oumagadoki_Doubutsuen…
Yep, I think I'll try the oneshot first :)
OMG IT'S A BUNNY!!! DUDE I'M SO READING THIS, LOOKS EPIC!!! Better than ES21 any day lols, I'm just kidding Bass ^^
Lol nothing is better than Es21. True story.
The last pic looked like Leomon.
I rarely like battle shounen… and I don't think this one piques my interest. I quite don't understand the weird motive of having the zoo as the most famous one. Also, that bunny is one scary bunny.
I'm not fond of shounen that has enclosed setting, meaning to say almost all of the events happen there [to mention, Deadman Wonderland and Kekkaishi (during the 1st part)]
Ah, but the thing is this is not in a specific enclosed space. I thought it would be too but the second arc changed that, for the better. Plus, isn't Ao no Exorcist similar in that regard? Being a battle manga in a semi-enclosed setting? :P
That bunny is cool lol, in the oneshot the design was more badass but then I think the editors had it changed since it was too similar to the bunny in Summer Wars.
You should check out the oneshot first. Who knows, you might end up liking it – http://somemangas.com/manga/Oumagadoki_Doubutsuen…
you just said semi ;) lol. Anyway, we'll see I'll read the oneshot during the weekend; I thought it's primarily set in the zoo. I don't really see the semblance between that bunny and King Kazuma :|
In the oneshot he resembles KK. They changed quite a bit.
And I said semi because I didnt read AoE far enough to see if they eventually got out of the school stuff lol
Glad to see you're reading this, Bass. Its one of the few shounen series to keep my interest anymore.
Its a pity about the lack or recent translations. The only translator (Mr. Prince on MH) seems to have gone AWOL, though I've been keeping up with the raws on a Chinese website. Not that it helps much since I can't read it!
I was disappointed how soon the aquarium arc ended, but I'm curious as hell to know what everyone was talking about at the end!
Oh wow, didn't realize you were reading this. I guess it does fit your tastes, what with it having awesome art, a unique setting and a cool main character lol.
I love all the animal designs. The Aquarium guys especially look so sweet. I just wish someone would pick this scanlation up already D:
Really?! I'm surprised I didn't mention it to you. I've been pushing everyone I know to read it.
I like the designs too. Some of them are so fucking off-the-wall I can't tell what the animals were originally. Then there are designs like the transformed giraffe. Very WTF.
I like the aquarium characters. I particularly like Sakamata, the orca. I really hope the mangaka will bring hem back into the series again.
I should mention this before I forget. I've seen posts about this manga's rankings in Jump. They are rather inconsistent, BUT the Aquarium Arc seems to have gotten some good feedback. Since that arc started the manga has had better rankings, which is good.
I hope the mangaka can keep this momentum up. I'd hate to see an unusual and interesting manga like this dropped.
Yea, in the TOC rankings it managed to get out of the bottom 5, but the most recently released one was back in the bottom 5 D:D:D:
Since it reflects ratings from 8 weeks ago, we have no clue where it is in the story, especially since scans are so far behind on the actual Jump releases.
The newest chapter on the Chinese scanlation sites is 25. I've noticed that the Chinese scanlations of WSJ manga tend to keep up with the current Japanese chapter.
Also, on MH there is mention that the next arc will focus on a Circus with someone cursed (by a bear, I think) like Shina and Isana.
Omg furrys run for the hills!! or mountains!!
JKJK looks alright…might read a few chapters usually I avoid humanoid animals…
WHOA THIS LOOKS SO AWESOME. Shiina reminded me of Robbie from Silent Hill… >:) Jump series don't usually perk my interest nowadays but this is pretty cool, although the basic plotline is like Night at the Museum and Porco Rosso put together lol
I'm really creeped out by furries IRL but they're more cartoonified in a badass way here so it's all goooooood
The bunny's name is Shiina and I keep thinking of Shiina from Angel Beats which then stuffs up my train of thought because Shiina, to me, was first a females name so I'm like O___O It can get kinda confusing and mixed up but overall I ignore that confusion and everything else in this manga is TOP NOTCH EPIC! One of the best shounen manga I've read so far ^^
Damn, now i'm addicted and i need more
Here's hoping that the rankings to better so it doesn't get considered for cancellation