The Halloween Spectacular post this time is two short manga by the legendary Akira Toriyama, and if you don't recognize the name perhaps you'll know his most famous work, a little manga called DRAGON BALL!! *explosion* Ring a bell? I plan on reviewing it some time, but for now these two manga will have to do. Sorry if I fan girl too much and make the whole thing incomprehensible.
Cowa! by Akira Toriyama
Genre: Shonen
Length: One Volume - 14 Chapters
The art of Cowa is more stylized than Dragon Ball, its more chibi, especially at first, but it has Akira Toriyama written all over it. I think the art is best called 'spooky cute' because though the characters, for the most part, are monsters they're children so they are also very big-headed and round bellied. The Halloween-town feel of Paifu’s home is fun to look at, and beyond that the people’s cities are typical, slightly futuristic landscapes.
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| Art and Story (c) Akira Toriyama and Bird Studio |
Paifu is a half vampire, half were-koala from the rural town of Cape Bat where humans and monsters live near one another in peace. Paifu spends his time sleeping during the day, going to school in the evening and playing all night. But something strange is happening around town, monsters of all types are falling sick with the Monster Flu and if they don't get the medicine in thirty days they'll all die. All the strong adults have already gotten ill, so it’s up to Paifu and his friends to travel to the mountain and get the cure from the witch before they, too, catch this dreaded disease.
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| (c) ditto, color by me |
Cowa has a lot of charm and generally the characters aren’t too similar to any Dragon Ball ones, perhaps because this was the manga he drew directly after Dragon Ball ended. The themes aren’t too Toriyama clichéd, either. The fight scenes are not intense or prolific; it’s more of younger kids’ story but they are still there. Cowa does take a couple of chapters of character intros to get to the eventual plot, though, so at first its just gags about how silly Paifu is. Of course, that typical silly humor is what makes Akira Toriyama's work great and this manga is ripe with it. I always feel that with Toriyama’s works, it’s the jokes that draw you in and the characters that keep you attatched and Cowa is no exception. Despite the length, the story feels long because you get a complete whole out of all the bits and pieces that make up the average fifteen pages length chapters. Its fun for all ages! Though, if you don't like Toriyama's work I suppose you wouldn't like this either, but if that is the case I have to wonder what's wrong with you.
5/5 Recommended dose of cute monster children
Kajika by Akira Toriyama
Genre: Shonen
Length: One Volume - 12 Chapters
The art here is just what you expect, unlike Cowa it’s very similar to Dragon Ball, probably because it deals with humans more than Cowa did. Clothes are generally baggy, and this story takes place in sandy desert so the backgrounds, though there, are pretty boring.
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| Art and Story (c) Akira Toriyama and Bird Studio |
Kajika is a young man who was cursed for killing a fox and kicked out of his home village. Desperately wanting to break his curse he has to save 1,000 creatures’ lives before he can become human once more. Five years later with only ten creatures left on his toll and making his way to a near by town he saves a young woman protecting a tiny egg around her neck and gets roped into saving the egg, i.e., the last dragon in existence. Anticipating a large reward and finally breaking his curse Kajika takes possession of the egg and begins his journey of saving the unborn dragon from a man who wants to kill it and drink its blood to become strong.
Kajika is for an older audience than Cowa, so it has more action and more violence in it. It has more of the typical fights you expect from the author of Dragon Ball, and it has a lot of themes in common with DB, too. I don't think it's as good as Cowa, though, it’s a little less coherent and the world isn't as detailed. It doesn’t help that Kajika doesn't have much personality beyond his heritage; at least Paifu is a child so he gets away with being so simple. Its still very enjoyable, especially to Bird Studio fans. In fact, despite the main character’s plainness the story its self is not typical, though many themes and character tropes are familiar, it doesn’t at all feel like you've read it before, it even has some twists in its predictable boy manga plot. It’s worth a read but it probably won't be your favorite Toriyama manga. For this type, I think its better off to read Sand Land instead.
4.5/5 Recommended but maybe you should read some other Akira Toriyama first.
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