Guru Guru Pon-chan by Satomi Ikezawa

Guru Guru Pon-chan by Satomi Ikezawa

            Genre: Shojo (16 and up due to sexy dog-ness)

            Length: 9 Volumes – 37 Chapters

            Guru Guru Pon-chan’s art is slick and super cute, though its pretty slap stick so there are lots of wacky things, too, but they are also done well. The girl’s huge eyes show a lot of expressiveness and body poses never struck me as strange. The clothes are good to look at, even when it’s only t-shirts and school uniforms. The dogs especially look good and have really good expressiveness. Pon-chan’s inexplicably styled hair every time she transforms is so cute you’ll be waiting to see what comes next. The one thing that I had a problem with was the grandfather’s face; the way it is drawn always makes me think it’s kind of creepy.

Art and Story (c) Satomi Ikezawa

            Ponta Koizumi is very cute, I mean, how could she not be being a yellow Labrador puppy living with such a doting owner. Every day she gets in trouble due to her playful, excitable, and curious nature; so when her owner makes her a special treat, then makes her wait for it, she just can’t help her self by trying it first. All of her owners’ big words about it being the breakthrough of the century and a milestone between humankind and canine meaning nothing to the hungry puppy after all. Afterwards, unknowingly now a human child, she meets the human she suddenly can’t live with out, Mirai Iwaki, and Pon-chan falls in love, hard. Such a romance cannot be, of course, but when her master perfects the treat when she’s older and sends her off to high school will Pon-chan be able to bridge the gap between human and dog? More importantly, will she be able to find that love of hers once more? Also, many crazy dog-as-a-human things happen.

            This manga is nine volumes long and up to this summer I had only eight volumes for several years (it was Amazon’s fault, the price was much too high) where it cut off at the most infuriating spot, then when I finally found that last volume, and on sale, too, I bought it with out even a second thought and read it right away. Several of my family members were let down by the end because it’s so predictable, but I feel like I wouldn’t have it any other way. Guru Guru Pon-chan is a manga that you know what is going to happen at the end but that part of the story doesn’t matter at all. Its about the relationship Pon-chan and Mirai are trying to form and how complicated being a human really is. It probably feels strange rooting for a dog and a human but the strangeness only filters down when you think about it afterwards, it helps that the mangaka pokes fun at the premise too. I fell in love with this manga after the first chapter and it is just so cute you won’t know what to do with yourself. Poor Mirai, after falling for a dog, isn’t very dignified the rest of the story but he has his love for Pon-chan so you forget his flaws. Just about the only gripe I have with this manga is its basic lack of plotline but with this manga it doesn’t amount to much since you get good relationship building in just about every chapter. You may just find yourself rolling in laughter one chapter and crying the next as Pon-chan figures out love, generally the highs are more common than the lows in this story but that often makes the tragedy seem even more devastating. It’s a whole rounded story. Even though I suppose it could be considered bestiality.

            5/5 Super Recommended for girls who love love stories with lots of humor and boys who love humor stories that also pull on the heartstrings.

With a cover like this how could you not buy it?