Benjie

A manga about a young man who starts his new job as a zookeeper at North Safari Sapporo zoo.

Really great series about animals and the zoo. The main character Takatoshi has a lot of baggage from giving up on his dream of playing baseball and he struggles to learn about taking care of animals. It’s a pretty simple set up but Katsumi Tatsuzawa’s art work is excellent. The star animal is an Indian eagle-owl named Benjie and I like how he antagonizes Takatoshi. It’s fun to get Benjie’s inner dialogue as he watches Takatoshi struggle to become a full fledged zookeeper.

This manga is done in collaboration with North Safari Sapporo zoo, which actually exists and is known for it’s potential for danger. It’s also rare to see a manga that’s done in full color and not black and white.

You can check it out in Japanese online here.

~dakazu