Toto! The Wonderful Adventure

OhHaiDer :]


I be stealin internets from the library again
Ohohohoho~
Today I shall review...
Toto! The Wonderful Adventure~


Toto! The Wonderful Adventure


Story & Art: Yuko Osada
Publisher: Del Rey Kodansha
Rating: Teen (13+)
Synopsis: (wikipedia) Kakashi is a young islander whom has always dreamed of leaving his island and exploring the world: A world radically changed because of the world war from 50 years ago.
His father, a famous world traveler leaves him alone at home in their Light House. After a brief period of not seeing his father, Kakashi receives his father's journal which prompts him to travel the world like his father, whom many people say is dead. He’s so determined to leave his little island home behind, that he stows away onboard a marvelous zeppelin. Unknown to him, this zeppelin just happens to be loaded with a treasure and is hijacked by a gang of ruthless criminals known as the Man Chicken Family. There he meets a little scared puppy which harbors magical powers. Kakashi adopts the puppy despite it being unknown to him. After being discovered by the gang that has hijacked the Zeppelin, he befriends their leader. He arrives in the main continent of "Oz", where he begins his travels after the Zeppelin is shot down by the Nassau Imperial Army. After crashing in a field, he and his small puppy meet a teenage girl named Dorothy. She immediately falls in love with the puppy and names him ToTo. They're almost immediately confronted by Imperial troops whom Dorothy is able to dispatch with her unique "Tornado" martial arts moves. The three agree to travel together to Emerald City where Dorothy is heading to visit her parents during her time off from school. Kakashi, ToTo and Dorothy begin to travel together but are confronted by various foes that are questing for the strange dog collar that ToTo is wearing. A Nassau officer in disguise, whom doops the trio into letting down their guard and he, in turn, snatches ToTo. With Kakashi and Dorothy in danger and ToTo feeling threatened, ToTo's full power is openly revealed as he turns into a gigantic magic dragon, which proceeds to defeat the soldiers. The adventures continue as they proceed to Emerald City where Dorothy's parents live. They meet an ex-Imperial Soldier turned performer named Noil. They proceed on down the transcontinental railroad line named "Yellow Brick Road".


Art Review: 3/5


This mangaka's style isn't too bad, there are pretty details and clean art, not my favorite, however. Despite that, not much to complain about.


Story Review: The first pages of the beginning of the manga starts with a heist by the Man Chicken family.... wait did I miss something? The fact it begins so abruptly and oddly just made me laugh a little. A little further on and the dog that Kakashi adopts... turns into a muscled veiny dragon dog thing? I'm still confused here.. This manga is supposed to be one of those "I WILL BE THE BEST IN THE WORLD" shonen mangas, and for this one is fine because it seems rather refreshing this time around. Being a shonen, it'll have the occasional really weird shouting confession they seem to do.. "TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!!!" Um.. Good for you, lad. Good thing they don't do this sort of forward confession thing in shoujo, imagine you're reading a really dramatic manga and you wonder why the main character is being so moody and whiny, and she decides to clue everyone in in a bold fashion by loudly confessing that she has her period. Aren't you fortunate that sort of thing doesn't go on in shoujo? All joking aside, it's clear that this manga is a parody of The Wizard of Oz. For those unfamiliar with the story, The Wizard of Oz is a story about a girl named Dorothy who in a dream is brought to the land of Oz where her house lands on the Wicked Witch of the west (Graphic indeed.) She is then instructed by the Witch of the North (why isn't she wicked? I'd say sexist but that doesn't really make sense) to go visit Emerald city to find her way home. She takes her dog and goes along the Yellow Brick Road and meets the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly lion. Eventually they meet up with the Wicked Witch of the East who already swore her wrath against Dorothy and she throws a bucket of water at her and kills her. They arrive at Emerald city, visit the wizard who makes the ending cheesy as hell by telling them they had those traits in them all along and Dorothy wakes up, to her molesting aunt and uncle staring at her while she has the most trippy dream of the 1940's ever (I keed the Americans, that last bit was made up. Or was it?) This manga has Kakashi, hinted to be the scarecrow when shouting his name at Dorothy, they have a dog named Toto and they're going to Emerald city along the Yellow Brick Road. They don't even try to be subtle with this parody they just made it really obvious. I found this manga pretty interesting, despite me hating mangas that are so uncreative that they have to steal plots from other stories previously made to seem original (*cough cough* Alice 19th *cough cough*)


7/10