The Fox & the Little Tanuki

nathandouglasdavis Jan 25, 2021

6

These animals are cute. Big eyes, rounded snouts. The core dynamic is of Senzou bristling and snarling and generally acting mean, while slowly growing more emotionally attached to the loving and cuddly Manpachi. Obviously, it's a story of Senzou learning to let go of feir resentment and anger and live in peace with the other bakemono. Manpachi's gooey innocence is only made palatable because we've also seen some melancholy from fem. Koyuki isn't a very interesting character, though I did appreciate feir flirtacious interactions with Mikumo in the side comics at the end of volume 2. Tachibana and Mikumo are both alright, but they're not the best characters or anything. There is a human character, Itsuchi, who I assume will play a role as the story continues. I appreciate the investigation the wolf squad is currently undertaking and I think expanding the story beyond just Senzou and Manpachi is the right direction to take. But as for the main two, they have been crossing over from the underworld to the mundane world (i.e. our world) and helping out some gods with whatever problems they're facing, receiving magical pearls as rewards. The gods are guardian spirits of specific things and I believe are based on shinto mythology. Manpachi's powers of transformation and nature control have also been budding. [Reviewed at chapter 13]