Kouya ni Kemono Doukokusu

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An underrated manga that could have been amazing despite a few apparent flaws.

Kouya ni Kemono Doukokusu is an exhilarating and suspenseful action, adventure, sci -fi, thriller Seinen that manages to deliver all sorts of emotions through it's short 15 volume run... A biologist and anthropologist Mikado Shuuhei awakes in a mysterious laboratory with no recollection of his past nor how he got there. It is only until he is tended to by a mysterious lady him along with the facility being attacked that he wakens to possessing meta abilities through 'beastification'. However the situation continues to grow hairy soon evolving into a globe trotting adventure ... spanning Japan, the far corners of Asia and the Americas all the while being chased by governments, evil corporations, cyborgs and fellow man-beast hybrids (dokkaku's) in massive web of conspiracy and the occult that may potentially change humanity forever.

Art: The art style is one of the most appealing visual aspects of the manga. Despite being released in the early 2000's the manga adopts a retro 90's aesthetics thanks in no small part to artist Sei Itoh. Not only does it stand out from various other works of the time but also reflects the dark edge and grit that permeates through the story with sharper line works. The art is further enhanced by the immaculate detail and shot composition that evokes the same awe reminiscent of Yusuke Murata. Enabling the manga to deliver fast paced and stylised action with incredibly moving and awe inspiring landscape shots, bone chilling visuals, and action set pieces that are simultaneously cinematic and 'metal' in nature. It also goes all in with the animal motifs in the story stylistically and whenever said iconography is used it creates some powerful thematic moments but elevates the atmosphere in scenes too not only show how the lines between man and beast blur but to emphasise fear ordinary humans.


Characters: Most of the characters are likeable in their own right with each one, especially the dokkaku's having unique designs and power sets of their respective animals. These characters maintaining appearances that stray far from stylised and 'cutesy' looks that instead opt for a design more fear inducing and terrifying. It is also worth noting that the main protagonist Mikado does actually have decent character growth and progression in the story and while he is a standard action protagonist with some notable differences. Firstly they do address the fact that his meta abilities could have been way better if he had been more athletic prior to the experiments and is further explored by his lack of a power up too overcome adversity rather it is quick thinking, luck, circumstance and will power that allows him to overcome his foes, often getting bodied in the process. It is also worth mentioning that the manga includes many ethnic characters most notably Hispanics, people of mixed race and Indigenous peoples of the America's and Papua New Guinea. The manga also has a tonne of Waifu's both human and part animal who may make you question if you are a furry ;)


Story: It is fairly well paced throughout the 93 chapters and manages to striking a great balance of plot progression, heavy exposition (with lots of scientific jargon), exhilarating action set pieces, gags, and a charming cast of fun characters,It also seamlessly weaves various folklore and mythologies from across the world to not only enrich the world and add greater scope but add complexity and nuance commentary on the theme's on display. Unfortunately the manga is hindered by pacing issues which in my opinion started around chapter 30 and is fairly evident by chapter 60 whereby the story starts to feel rushed, especially with character arcs. Allegiances and loyalties change too unexpectedly and quickly certain concepts are not fleshed, events can be unexplained out and interactions and growth for some notable characters is either rushed or non existent. Parts of the story also seem too drag on where we won't see characters reappear for 20 or so chapters only to have the potential melodrama or release of the tension from reunion be completely ignored. Secondly there is also a concurrent side plot relating to the struggles of a mangaka that does tie back to the main story line fairly well feels too unexpected and stands out too much for it's own good as it seems to be a vehicle for Yumemakura-sensei to reference this manga's turbulent journey behind the scenes. Additionally, the ending while arguably heartfelt and emotional felt poorly executed even if it did make sense thematically but was ultimately disappointing making me in particular feel robbed. To add insult to the injury the last two chapters has an improper resolution that potentially undermines lore pre-established lore and overall seems lazily written on the surface where characters presumed dead return, when they lacked growth appropriate or enough relevance in the story for the reader to develop a connection. It is these evident pacing issues by the end and an arguably disappointing ending that made me reevaluate and lower my personal rating from an 8/10 to somewhere between 6.5 - 7.2.

*Personal notes: I do think it may have been something behind the scenes such as drama with the editors and various events that caused chapters releases to be delayed that forced the author to end the story fairly prematurely. As the manga ran for 10 years barely scratching 100 chapters is mildly annoying. I am also aware that seinen's are more mature and won't go the route of a happy ending but even so the conclusion was still bad IMO. I also wanted to give a heads up that since this manga began publishing 20 years ago that certain views and ideas especially depictions of certain ethnic groups arguably being problematic nowadays with some outdated terms that were considered appropriate.*

Themes: The complex story combined with it's scope undoubtedly brings about the exploration of various themes and moral questions to the forefront. Most of these are directed towards the dangers of going too far with science the classic Jurassic Park line of "your scientist's were so preoccupied with what they could do they didn't stop to think if they should..." It also explores the exploitation of said science to ultimately for selfish causes such as greed despite bring chaos into the world. And, tackles the human condition head on using the 'beast' characters to explore thought provoking debates on morals and philosophical concepts to make you ponder the true depth and extent of our humanity. Including a profound question on whether human beings who perform vile and heinous acts are more akin to humans or beasts despite the norms established by society. Many characters notably antagonist's are quoting and alluding to various famous moral and philosophical concepts from classical literature such as the Art of War.

Once the manga shifts settings it explores environmental and anthropological themes such as man's relationship with the wilderness exploitation of natural resources for greed, the need to preserve culture and history, establishing sustainable coexistence between nature, as well as the place of Indigenous people's in this rapidly changing and modernizing world. "Should traditions and history be preserved over a tribes pride and possible dignity to survive? Even if it means servicing a tyrannical, greedy authority that can easily eliminate and exploit them? Is integration, coexistence and peace possible between remote tribes and the governments? Must these tribes or people groups change in the first place or remain isolated? Will survival on literal and metaphorical fronts or merely delay an inevitable extinction? Are some of the deep questions thrown around. As previously mentioned characters who are of 'native' backgrounds are tools to explores these insightful themes and provide nuance. The manga goes as far to communicate the idea that Indigenous peoples are ultimately not a monolith regardless of scale. One individual or even tribe should not have or be treated as defacto authority to determine the livelihood of their communities... They are human beings just like everybody else despite the stark differences in lifestyle and values and will act according to their own interests regardless if it holistically benefits or further cripples their people or other groups. This concept builds upon this concept with various factions within the same tribe having various complex ideological doctrines that clash with one another on securing the continuation of their people.

Conclusion:

Despite some poor issues with pacing and narrative decisions by the latter half and ending chapters of the manga, Kouya ni Kemono Doukokusu manages to balance heavy and aesthetic action set pieces in a retro style that fully encapsulates the complex, culturally rich and suspenseful story line serving to enthrall the reader all the while exploring themes of the line between man and beast and the dangers presented with chasing the peaks of scientific achievement at the costly disregard of human life, the power of nature and what it means to be a human even if we are ultimately beasts.

Personal Rating - 7.1/10

So close to being perfect in my opinion. The plot is interesting and overarching, while remaining tight and tantalisingly just out of grasp. The artwork is some of the cleanest I've ever seen! Humour is interspersed alongside actual worldly knowledge and academic theory, which, while can take you out of the moment when a character suddenly starts theorising academia alongside an enemy, I found informative and enjoyable and part of the fun being that the mangaka and their editor are made characters in the story and interact with the main cast often. Even saving their lives.
But, some characters still felt like they are there ... to fulfil a purpose, and as such are more agents of advancing the plot rather than believable people. Maya (for example) starts off as a badass fem-fatale and undercover spy, but quickly devolves into a "damsel in distress", even going so far as cooking and cleaning for the "bad guys". This is after the male lead has sex with her, of course. Maya then goes from constant captive to being "fridged" in order to motivate our hero, Mikado, into his final form.
Males in this are almost always some variant of the "crouching moron, hidden badass" trope, with the hidden bad-ass usually some alpha male power fantasy, from modern samurai to literally turning men (and like three women) into animals (sort of). So not huge on sex equality, although it does have moments.
Why isn't this a 10? Aside from everything I've mentioned (both good and bad), right at the penultimate moment, there's a time skip to Tokyo from the Jungles of South America. It serves no purpose. The very next thing the protagonists do is grab the "bad guy" and take him back to South America to face Mikado in the fight they would have had before the time skip any way.

The art in this manga is possibly the best I have ever seen, easy 10/10, I must say if I were to ever write a manga I would want this man as the artist. It has a delicious faux-90's quality to it with sharp black and white contrast that I love, it gets so creative with the paneling and the designs of the beastmen/women and the spreads of the Mesoamerican imagery in particular are magnificent. I would recommend this title to most people on the strength of the art alone, it's seriously that good.

So why mixed feelings? Well there's a problem with Kouya. Kind of ... the biggest problem a manga can have.

The story and characters are not very good. Not irredeemable but subpar to say the least.

It's all very fast paced and has a bunch of different organizations and minor characters (a great portion of the dialogue is dedicated to expositing about this) all after our amnesia having MC for different reasons. Basically it's just a vehicle to get the reader from one incredible looking sequence to the next, which is fun for what it is but leaves you not caring at several moments that should be emotional because these characters give you no reason to be attached to them or their relationships. Indeed there is only one character from this series you see posted everywhere and that's Makura. Fittingly this isn't because of the strength of her writing but because she's a sexy well designed monkey waifu.

If you did somehow get yourself emotionally invested despite the lack of reasons to, prepare to have it dampened every time the too frequent meta humor interrupts a serious moment. I wouldn't call this more than an annoyance usually but there's an entire poorly integrated subplot dedicated to meta humor about being a mangaka.

But it didn't have to be like this! The concepts of the story are so cool! I love beastification stuff! I love Mesoamerican mythology and i'm happy to see a manga utilize it! I even love the somewhat cliche points about humanity it tries to make!

But concepts aren't enough, because I know if it had average art i'd probably forget about it the second I finished it and it's all down to the frustrating execution. Still, it does have it's art so even though I just called it a subpar story i'm going to give it a 6/10 and a cautious recommendation just because I love looking at it and it's sexy monkey so much.