Doubutsu no Kuni

"Doubutsu no Kuni" is a manga series by Raiku Makoto, the same creator as of "Konjiki no Gash!!" (known in America as "Zatch Bell"). It shares similarities, such as random comedy, spazzy and silly characters, and emotional and moving drama.



The story centers on a baby who was abandoned at birth and sent to another world, filled with animals. There, a tanuki finds the baby and, despite hardly having enough food for herself for the winter, takes him in and accepts the role as his mother. The theme in the story is a foreign idea to the current era; in an unforgiving world where the strong kill and the weak are killed, the weak simply want to cherish the happiness that they have when they're alive.

Each chapter is very moving and, despite its comedy and funny characters, often has situations that involve themes of life and death. The first chapter is very good, so I recommend reading it to see if the series would interest you.

Two volumes worth of chapters are up to read so far~

lol does it have a love story in it?

Well, for one of the future volume covers, I did see a human girl, so possibly.

are there more characters? other than animals?

The baby's mother appears briefly at the beginning, but other than that, not that I know of.

lol, really? the main character is the only human there?

that's so weird... O_O;;;

okay.. might try it one day just to satisfy my curiosities.... >>

Yup, though, the tanuki characters, who most of the cast comprises of, are kinda human-like.

Update! They've now scanlated the first two volumes! There may be more to come~