Shounen Doubutsu no Kuni by Raiku Makoto

Akiyama · Feb 11, 2011

Doubutsu no Kuni by Raiku Makoto
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Serialized: Bessatsu Shonen Magazine
Summary and Preview:
One day a tanuki named Monoko stumbles across a baby abandoned by it's mother. Having no family of her own, she raises the baby to the best of her ability even though they originate from different species. Hardships and enemies face the tanukis but that doesn't stop Monoko protecting the baby at all costs. Many trials await this baby as it grows and communicates with the animal world.
Releases from Hi wa Mata Noboru

kewl0210 · Feb 13, 2011

I'm working on Editing this but the thing is I keep getting caught up in other projects and end up trying to catch up on those. I'm planning on catching up with this once I finish catching up with Gintama. It takes a while for me to scan the whole volumes, get someone to clean them, translate everything, and typset them myself. The only help I get is with cleaning and checking/editing.

However, it's a very good series and has a lot of interesting stuff in it. Raiku takes realistic habits of actual animals an applies them to his fictional world. As the story goes on it kinda changes to be more conflict oriented.

Akiyama · Feb 17, 2011

I loved volume 1 so much! It grabs you in with tons of emotion in the first chapter and all the tanukis are crazy. With different personalities and feelings toward each other it's a great read. Kurokagi is my favorite character, not only is he a bad ass but he wears clothes to match. He's awesome.

MattC302 · Jul 12, 2012

I just read the first four volumes of this series. It's published in American by Kodansha USA under the title 'Animal Land'. I have to say, found this series thoroughly enjoyable. I can't wait for volume 5 to come out next month. Truly one of my new favorites.

---------- Post added July 12, 2012 at 10:16 AM ---------- Previous post was June 22, 2012 at 08:18 PM ----------

I just finished volume 5. It exceeded my already high expectations and made me even more interested in this series. It's a shame, I never see this series on the NYTBSL or even on the Oricon comic list. It doesn't seem popular on either side of the ocean. I personally think it's a real gem of a shonen manga. Wish more people would read it. Sucks that there isn't a current Edited Manga of this series. I English print release is like 3 volumes ahead of the halted scans.

TXC · Jul 13, 2012

MattC302 said:
I just read the first four volumes of this series. It's published in American by Kodansha USA under the title 'Animal Land'. I have to say, found this series thoroughly enjoyable. I can't wait for volume 5 to come out next month. Truly one of my new favorites.

---------- Post added July 12, 2012 at 10:16 AM ---------- Previous post was June 22, 2012 at 08:18 PM ----------

I just finished volume 5. It exceeded my already high expectations and made me even more interested in this series. It's a shame, I never see this series on the NYTBSL or even on the Oricon comic list. It doesn't seem popular on either side of the ocean. I personally think it's a real gem of a shonen manga. Wish more people would read it. Sucks that there isn't a current Edited Manga of this series. I English print release is like 3 volumes ahead of the halted scans.

I've seen it in both places. 10 in NYTBSL and +20k at oricon. Not that good though.

MattC302 · Jul 18, 2012

TXC said:
I've seen it in both places. 10 in NYTBSL and +20k at oricon. Not that good though.

Ah, yes, with a little digging, I see that it made both lists. And volume 9 just made an appearance on the Oricon list this week with improved sales from volume 8(not by much though). Here's hoping volume 10 does even better.

k-dom · Sep 15, 2012

Unexpectedly volume 2 has been scanlated by Hi wa mata noburu. That's a good news especially if they can continue.

MattC302 · Sep 16, 2012

That's great. It was the events at the end of volume 2 that really got me hooked. I hope more people will start reading this now. And I really can't wait until volume 6 comes out in America in November.

Doraku · Sep 18, 2012

Finished reading the second volume. I agree with Matt, the last chapter of the second volume is simply where the dramatic and twist parts of the story condensed into an epic one storyline. So, for those who already read Doubutsu no Kuni beyond volume two, I have some questions:

1. Is that true that there will be any human beside the female one and Tarouza? 2. Will we get the flashback story of the female human character?

thatguy3331 · Sep 21, 2012

Doraku said:
Finished reading the second volume. I agree with Matt, the last chapter of the second volume is simply where the dramatic and twist parts of the story condensed into an epic one storyline. So, for those who already read Doubutsu no Kuni beyond volume two, I have some questions:

1. Is that true that there will be any human beside the female one and Tarouza? 2. Will we get the flashback story of the female human character?

As for your first question, there are signs of another one or two, but its far ahead of the volumes I already have. As for your second question, no, no we don't, though in my personal opinion how she was introduced was good enough to merit waiting, if we get one, though I wouldn't be suprised if her past was similar to toroza's.

I have volumes 2-5 (I read volume one online so I haven't bought it yet) and like with HxH I'm merely reading this cause I loved the authors last series *bonus points for being my first manga series* and I have to agree I'm enjoying this alot, not to the extent of gash for me, however its definetly taking a good course in its story telling and I love the idea of focusing everything around communication and speech. Plus it has nice spades of dark humor that make me loose my shit, artstyle aside I definetly knew this was Raiku's work.
in volume 2

Those wolves man, those wolves...and my heart at the end of that section... I also really liked how Zeke became friends withToroza almost like Gash and Umagon in gash bell. Plus the way the elephant made shit real to toroza really makes it all the more interesting as to how he'll reach his goal.

in volume 3

It was really fun to see how toroza handled himself with is large pack of herbavore animals, not only did they avoid the standard of toroza suddenly becoming unhumanly strong, but simply like that of an 8 year old, but they also managed to empress me more with the traps and crops he had set up. Makoto just loves his tsunderes dosn't he? not that I'm complaining. and damn that side story with kurokagi... DAMN YOU RAIKU, YOU HAD YOUR WAY WITH MY HEART WITH THE WOLVES AND NOW THIS!!

in volume 4

The only downsde to reading this thing in book form is that when we get an AWESOME two page spread the bent back binding can kind of make it look ridiculous. Those who've seen the volume know what I mean. That aside this volume made me love the manga more and I laughed at how easily the lions got hooked on cheese, not to mention most party sequence was hilarious. that new character though...

in volume 5

...Is a beast...seriously he had my attention last volume with how he delt with those wolves but here is just...damn, he's like some odd mixture of Killua if he were evil and brago...GENIUS! What really got my attention that volume were the hyenas and the cows. I swear right when I thought the begining of these volumes were good enough, I get slapped in the face by whats at the end! Ponygon appearance FTW.

MattC302 · Nov 16, 2012

I read volume 6 today and it was awesome:

It seems like the Animal Land is like the future of Earth or something where humans killed each other off. Very intriguing.

I don't know what to make of those alien like creatures that fight for Giller. They came out of nowhere, but with the rest of the revelations and the direction this series is taking, it's not too shocking.

Even though we just met her, I really like Riemu. Yeah, she is a tad creepy with those faces, but I felt sympathy for her and she had great characterization in the short amount of time she was present. I hope to see more of her next volume.

I can't wait for volume 7, but it doesn't come out until April 2013...

thatguy3331 · Jan 3, 2013

After much time of suffering from being a broke chump, Xmas rolled around, I got B&N gift card and I finally got my copy of volume 6,

needless to say it was infact awesome however I have to say I have two minor issues:

-Seeing Puripo's book owner be refrenced as an ape, I don't know why but while I never had an issue with this back in Zatch Bell looking here it really rubs me the wrong way...its nothing I'll loose hair over but still, its minor nitpick...

-Is that mind control Toroza is doing?! I don't know but some how this bugs me as well, I'm sure once we get an explination or hint as to what it truly is I won't be so bugged by it, but since the theme here is to communicaition, it sort of bothers me to just have mind control be tossed in there like this. Well it wasn't like Toroza did it without asking (XD...augh....) but still it just bugs me, AUGH!! and I have to wait til april to figure out what the deal is!!

Aside from those nitpicks I really liked this volume, I sometimes wind up on Raiku's blog so I knew sooner or later we would run into some sort of lab where I assume they make chimera's or something, yet it was at the back of my mind so Animal Land suddenly being this post apoctolyptic world really took me by surprise and it was quite an interesting way to do it. I also like Riemu, I just thought she was hilarousl cute at first but then she had those faces and I went "OMG YANDERE! RUN TOROZA, RUN!!" but she should be amusing and her backstory works quite well for her too to help make her more fleshed out.

I swear beforehand though when Toroza and co. first found their way to that underground lab...hospital...place... it had some pretty juicy scenery porn, seeing the design of the place and the upper side of it showing those craters looked awesome, not to mention the first shot of the ocean.

I took joy in the fact that etra Zatch Bell gaiden was in this chapter and the special issues for it being outright mentioned after Raiku transfered over to Kondansha. I probably shouldn't hold my breath for a US release of those (welp time to start converting to yen and learn Japanese!) but it was a nice piece of nastolgia from the series that got me into anime and manga in the first place.

I suppose the smart thing to do would be to pre order vol. 7, but theres another manga I'm debating over getting...damn, thats what I get for having just enough dough left over for one...

MattC302 · Jan 4, 2013

thatguy3331 said:
After much time of suffering from being a broke chump, Xmas rolled around, I got B&N gift card and I finally got my copy of volume 6,

needless to say it was infact awesome however I have to say I have two minor issues:

-Seeing Puripo's book owner be refrenced as an ape, I don't know why but while I never had an issue with this back in Zatch Bell looking here it really rubs me the wrong way...its nothing I'll loose hair over but still, its minor nitpick...

-Is that mind control Toroza is doing?! I don't know but some how this bugs me as well, I'm sure once we get an explination or hint as to what it truly is I won't be so bugged by it, but since the theme here is to communicaition, it sort of bothers me to just have mind control be tossed in there like this. Well it wasn't like Toroza did it without asking (XD...augh....) but still it just bugs me, AUGH!! and I have to wait til april to figure out what the deal is!!

Aside from those nitpicks I really liked this volume, I sometimes wind up on Raiku's blog so I knew sooner or later we would run into some sort of lab where I assume they make chimera's or something, yet it was at the back of my mind so Animal Land suddenly being this post apoctolyptic world really took me by surprise and it was quite an interesting way to do it. I also like Riemu, I just thought she was hilarousl cute at first but then she had those faces and I went "OMG YANDERE! RUN TOROZA, RUN!!" but she should be amusing and her backstory works quite well for her too to help make her more fleshed out.

I swear beforehand though when Toroza and co. first found their way to that underground lab...hospital...place... it had some pretty juicy scenery porn, seeing the design of the place and the upper side of it showing those craters looked awesome, not to mention the first shot of the ocean.

I took joy in the fact that etra Zatch Bell gaiden was in this chapter and the special issues for it being outright mentioned after Raiku transfered over to Kondansha. I probably shouldn't hold my breath for a US release of those (welp time to start converting to yen and learn Japanese!) but it was a nice piece of nastolgia from the series that got me into anime and manga in the first place.

I suppose the smart thing to do would be to pre order vol. 7, but theres another manga I'm debating over getting...damn, thats what I get for having just enough dough left over for one...

About your two issues:

-Are you saying that you think a black character being portrayed as a gorilla is racist? It could be seen that way, but it is also possible that that wasn't his intention at all and that it is just an unfortunate coincidence.

-As for Toroza controlling his animal comrades; I didn't see it as mind control. To me it felt more like he was so in sync with his friends, that he was able to operate on the same wavelength as them and control their movements. Yeah, controlling is controlling, but to me, this is just an evolution from him coordinating their attacks with hand signals.

What's the other manga you are considering? If I only had enough money for one more manga book out of the 9 ongoing series I regularly purchase, Animal Land would be a top contender. Partially because there are no current scans of it like the other popular series I read, but also because it really is a good read.

kewl0210 · Jan 11, 2013

I'm working on catching up with this. The problem, and has been for the last two years, is lack of cleaners. But I have a couple people working on it now, so it should all get done. Also, I've been scanning and archiving all the color pages from Bessatsu Shounen Magazine. So it'll have that.

MattC302 · Jan 11, 2013

kewl0210 said:
I'm working on catching up with this. The problem, and has been for the last two years, is lack of cleaners. But I have a couple people working on it now, so it should all get done. Also, I've been scanning and archiving all the color pages from Bessatsu Shounen Magazine. So it'll have that.

Thanks for your hard work. I hope your efforts can help bring notice to this overlooked series and create more fans.

kewl0210 · Feb 5, 2013

I'm up to translating volume 7 now. I've got people working on typesetting and cleaning. Mostly typesetting is the bottleneck right now (just in case anyone wants to help out). Once I get done with volume 10 I'll try to help out with other jobs. For now, we've got a decent pace so I'm trying to get through all these quickly.

And then volume 11 comes out in March. I'm also reading through all the issues in Bessatsu. If we do catch up and I get people willing to do it, we could try to do this in monthly issues as it's released.

MattC302 · Feb 5, 2013

AHHHH!!! I'm so torn. I'm super glad that this awesome series is going to get some more attention, but it is going to be painfully tempting to read the scans since you will likely pass the official Kodansha USA release quickly once you get going. Volume 7 comes out in April here in the states IIRC. I really can't wait to read it.

thatguy3331 · May 14, 2013

Well I'm not sure about everyone else but recently I finally got my hands on Volume 7:

Seriously this series so far seems to be incapable of NOT getting better after each volume, this was a great one!

I'm still fairly skeptical about Taroza's new power but it was very cool seeing the gorillas take out the chimeras. One thing that helped Aleve my worries a bit is that Toroza doesn't seem to be mind controlling them exactly and it shows a bit more signs of linked thoughts. I'm also glad that there is visible strain, now knowing how the books and spells worked in gash bell, him getting strain should have been a lot more obvious, but with this sort of power I was really hoping it would show up.

Alright seriously Makoto, I read the ENTIRE series of 'Bokurano' without shedding a damn tear, on that EXACT SAME DAY mind you, and yet I'm getting ready to soak my pages in tears over a bunch of gorillas! Why is it that you're so damn good at making me break down into a blubbering moron? HOW?! :crying

the games chapter being the very next one is a bit off putting but it did serve a great roll for Reima's character progression, nice character interaction courtesy of Capari, and all around it just funny as hell. We even got a Vulcan for this series: the Vulstars! I just love how this time instead of just one character liking it, EVERYBODY wants them. I also love how while everyone is struggling to get through the obstacle course as though it they're a bunch of nerds in Dodgeball, Taroza's just looking on going 'this is AWESOME!'

Jyu's fight with Giller's chimera's was just great. It really is nice seeing two known threats within the series shown to be opposing one another, and this fight somewhat reminds me of Brago's first fight with clear note, although that was just the scene when Jyu went in to try and bite Giller, Jyu got off MUCH better than Brago did... Either way this fight was just badass plain and simple, and while he and Taroza have a common enemy I'm a lot more curious about where his character may be going next...

Then we get the bombshell chapter...this just leaves so many questions and speculation that I don't even know where to begin! the kids being from different time periods, the gaia spinal, the zelida disease, the 'animal greater than the planet'...there's going to be a lot to come in the future of the series. There's no doubt in my mind that Raiku will live up to most of them (the zelida disease brings in a whole different issue altogether if you know what I mean, and before you start looking at me funny keep reading) but wondering how he'll do so will be a different story, much like with Taroza and Quo's goals which I think most of us knew in the back of our heads was pretty much impossible.

Monoko being pregnant was both funny (THERE IS NO DADDY!) and brought about a touching birth scene, but I'm also left with a sense of foreboding. In the scene with the snow, Monoko pretty much nonchalantly mentions that the elder tanuki had passed away. Now Its not like the elder was that relevant, but it does make me think back abit into the beginning of the series when Monoko's parents were eaten and with her giving birth it somewhat makes me wonder if that is at all a death flag for some point later in the series.

Now as for why I brought that up at all, let me be blunt: we all KNOW there will be a time skip sometime next volume. Its obvious if you just look at volume 8's cover art and see how grown up Taroza looks. I've known about that for a while now which is what made this volume so important for me to get besides other reasons. should we be in a different time period starting first thing next volume this was a good place to end off this time period since there's a clear sense of character progression/establishment and that there are so many things that are to come. It makes me wonder about how long this series as a whole will be but either way I'm looking forward to the next volume!