Dr. Slump (Vol. 15) – by Akira Toriyama

Volume: #15 of #18 | 188 pages | Viz

Rating: ***** (So much fun, such a cute manga. It’s too bad there are only three volumes left!)

Summary: Midori and Senbei’s bouncing baby boy has finally been born… only to get run over eleven pages later by an alien spaceship. These aliens, however, are nice enough to save Turbomaru’s life by performing surgery and then giving him an O.B. shock. This brings Turbo back to life alright… with some side effects. He can now talk, fly, make things float, and is super intelligent. But, he still has difficulty pronouncing words, like a baby–and he either crawls or floats to get around, but doesn’t yet walk.

Anyway, it takes the whole next chapter for the family to realize what’s going on (except for the talking bit). And since Midori’s got a bonus from work, they all get dressed up and go to a restaurant to celebrate, where they have such a good time that the restaurant doesn’t want them to ever come again.

Later, Senbei tries to help out the ghost of a young woman with a little help from Turbo, and finally, the rest of the book is a long, long –but hilarious– baseball game. It’s Penguin Village High against Metropolis Island’s District American High (and some of the names of the members of the latter team are a riot, like the manager Tish U. Paper and the centerfield, Fry D’Chicken).

On Penguin High’s team are Arale, Obotchaman, Tsun Tsuru-Rin, Tsun Tsuku-Tsun and the Gatchans. Guess who wins?

Favorite chapter: “Terrifying Tag”, in which Arale, Obotchaman and the Gatchans experience Turbo’s superpowers firsthand in –you guessed it– a crazy game of tag.

Favorite panel: Panel #24 on page #35. It’s really just frustrated Midori’s hand, and the cup she is trying to make float in the air with her “powers” (unaware yet that it’s Turbo doing these things.) The cup going “nuh-uh” and it’s incredibly cute stubborn expression had me squealing silently. Dr. Slump’s gotta be one of the cutest manga in existence! Ah, but Turbo smashed the little cup against the ceiling when his mama couldn’t do it. Poor little cup.

Favorite quote: “This does warrant a ho-yo-yo indeed!” Obotchaman, after he hears Turbo suddenly speak.

What I liked best: Turbomaru, and the cameo of Toriyama’s own Turbo (his dog) on panels #1 and #2 of page #24. Such short legs!! So cute~~!

What I didn’t like: Heck, it’s Dr. Slump, I loved it all from cover to cover!

Verdict: Excellent, solid artwork, deliriously funny as always. If you haven’t read Dr. Slump yet, you are seriously missing out, so read it! And if you have, you don’t need me to tell you to get this book.

See this book on LibraryThing.

-Marina

Guru Guru Pon-Chan (Volumes 4-9) – by Satomi Ikezawa

Volumes #4-9 of #9 | Del Rey

Rating: ***** (A nice series ruined by a senseless ending. Blagh.)

Some thoughts: I know that this is supposed to be a review of volumes #4 to #9, but I can’t help focusing on this manga’s ending. (Warning, SPOILERS ahead!)

There were so many better ways for this story to end. Mirai could have stayed with Gang’s owner, and Gang could have stayed with Ponta. I suppose that, this being a romantic comedy and all, a beautiful ending in which Ponta actually died, for real, would not have worked out well (Ponta technically dies near the end, even coming dangerously close to being cremated, only to come back to life with little to no explanation.)

A happy ending would have been great, had it been executed properly. Instead, the ending was ridiculous.

If you recall, I said in my review of the first three volumes in this series that I did not see how Ponta and Mirai could ever become a real couple and get married, since Ponta’s human form aged in dog years.

Well, that fact was completely and absolutely ignored. How absurd! It’s either a really stupid mistake (which I doubt) or the mangaka was too lazy to explain this properly. Or the manga got cancelled before she could. I can’t imagine why else would such a vital detail like this one would go ignored for no reason. But, it was. Mirai and Ponta marry, and presumably live happily ever after other than for the fact that Ponta still changes rather spontaneously into her dog form when she is startled, surprised or excited (erm, couldn’t that become, you know… a problem?) ..

So what happened to Ponta’s body having become like a roken (old dog) due to overuse of the guru-guru bone? Was that really cured by her going into a deep sleep (or being temporarily dead, whatever that was)? If it was, that’s a lame excuse.

What happens in 7-10 years, when Ponta becomes an elderly dog (and woman)? Didn’t think about that, huh, Mirai?

What I liked best: While I hated the ending, there were plenty of adorable and hilarious moments to be enjoyed all throughout this quirky series. It was very funny to watch Mirai dealing (or rather, being unable to deal) with Ponta while she was in heat. And, the chapters featuring Ponta as a baby were really cute.

Oh yeah, and kudos to Del Rey for all the extras, including preview pages of upcoming volumes. They also did an excellent job translating this series, leaving honorifics and even expressions like “wan-chan” (something like “doggie”) intact.

The art: Well, same as before. Decent, cute (especially Ponta as a dog) but nothing I haven’t seen before. Gang’s eyes creeped me out.

What I liked the least: The ending. So stupid, rushed, so many things that were not thought out properly. Also, I hated the times when someone would go, “This can’t be happening! This isn’t a manga!” or something to that effect. This exact same “joke” shows up four times. Alright, already. I get it! It wasn’t so bad when Grandpa Koizumi would retort, “But it is a manga.” In fact, that is exactly the excuse given for this lame ending. But guess what, Grandpa: just because it’s a manga it doesn’t mean it can get away with making no sense. You’ve been misinformed!

Verdict: I don’t think a manga with such a careless ending deserves to win the Kodansha Manga Award for shoujo. It was a fairly enjoyable read overall, though. Still, when Ponta and Mirai finally did it, I just couldn’t get it out of my head, no matter how poetic and romantic it was meant to be: Dude, she’s a dog.

See these books on LibraryThing: vol. #4, vol. #5, vol. #6, vol. #7, vol. #8 and vol. #9.

-Marina

Guru Guru Pon-Chan (Volumes 1-3) – by Satomi Ikezawa

Volumes #1-3 of #9 | Del Rey

Rating: ***** (It’s, erm… different. But, in a good way.)

Summary: A havoc-breaking yellow lab puppy named Ponta eats the Guru-Guru bone, which the Koizumi family’s grandfather invented with the hope that it would give any animal who licks it the power to talk. However, Ponta transforms into a little human girl instead. When she rushes out into the street and comes near getting run over by a car, she is saved by a popular, good-looking young man by the name of Mirai Iwaki, with whom she eventually falls in love. Using the Guru-Guru bone, Ponta enrolls in the same school as Mirai and tries to get him to love her, as well.

Some thoughts: Guru Guru Pon-chan is a manga with a premise so weird, that I had serious reservations about buying it despite my curiosity. But, when I had a chance to buy the entire series of nine (9) like-new volumes off someone on Mangatude for 50% off the cover price, I took it. It would prove to be either a great choice or a horrible mistake, I was sure.

My main worry was that something so bizarre as a female dog that turns into a human to be with the human boy she loves, while retaining all of her dog-like instincts and behaviors, was going to make for a creepy, unsettling read unless it was perfectly executed. And Guru Guru Pon-Chan isn’t always perfect, yet Satomi Ikezawa manages to make this a solid, entertaining series despite that fact.

Of course there’s the underlying issue of bestialism here– the subject is definitely heavy of the mind of Mirai Iwaki, the boy Ponta loves. Ponta is a dog after all, no matter how cute a girl she can change into. And her actions don’t let you forget it. She waves her arms wildly around when she’s happy much like a dog would wag a tail, catches frisbees, balls and even fish with her teeth, eats (in the beginning) without using any utensils, is loud, terrified of thunder and lightening, and doesn’t have any self control at all. She’s not just a dog, she’s a badly behaved, obnoxious (but well-meaning) dog. I’ve had a couple of dogs like her in the past, and her behavior is very accurate.

Still, you can’t help but root for her. She is funny, tireless and adorable.

I don’t see, however, how she and Mirai can have a happy ending, no matter how much they love each other. If Ponta’s human body ages in dog years as was already proven in the first volume, then she will live as long as a dog possibly can, and age much faster than Mirai will. I wonder what will happen…

What I liked best: As far as characters go, Ponta herself. Maybe because I was always so impatient with the dogs I had that were just like her, and I see them in her.

The art: It’s alright, nothing special, really. Ponta is cute both in her human form and dog form. The funnier, more gag-like drawings scattered all over the place –this is a comedy after all– are the best part, they really add to the story and make for a bouncy, dynamic pace.

What I liked the least: I felt that Ponta did too much pooping and barfing to my liking in the first chapter. Even if it was as little-girl Ponta, seeing her naked and pooping like a dog was creepy rather than cute. It made me laugh, though. I guess that was the point.

Also, Mirai is so forgettable-looking… I wish that physically he had been drawn a little more interesting.

Verdict: Worth reading, if only for the originality of the story. Personally, I like it enough to keep it on my bookshelf forever (for now– I have only read three volumes.) A word of advice, though– don’t take it too seriously, and don’t think too hard about the human-dating-a-dog issue. This is a comedy above all else, read it like a comedy and you’ll enjoy it.

See these books on LibraryThing: vol. #1, vol. #2, and vol. #3.

-Marina