Sep 23, 2023
Dinosan, or Dinosaur Sanctuary, is a fairly new manga that I think should be getting some more attention.
Based on the premise, Dinosaur Sanctuary essentially sounds like a sunnier version of Jurassic Park and one of its later sequels, Jurassic World. While the manga mentions that the dinosaurs here have, in part, been brought back through breeding and genetic work, Dinosaur Sanctuary isn't ripping off the Jurassic Park franchise. Rather than being a cautionary tale about the dangers of genetic engineering and trying (and failing) to control nature, Dinosaur Sanctuary focuses more on the day-to-day life of caring for animals in captivity in a fairly episodic
...
manner.
Our protagonist, Suma Suzume, and her fellow zookeepers find themselves dealing the struggles of keeping their failing dinosaur zoo in good shape and making a profit while also making sure the dinosaurs themselves are well-cared for. The struggles our characters face are very similar to what real-life zookeepers must face when working at zoos and theme parks such as SeaWorld. While these real-life topics can be rather grim, Dinosaur Sanctuary never becomes outright pessimistic, keeping up a fairly optimistic tone that makes this manga fun to read.
Another great aspect of Dinosaur Sanctuary is its adherence to real-life science. The dinosaurs featured are pretty accurately portrayed; lining up well with our current paleontologic information. And mangaka Itaru Kinoshita does a great job with their designs, making them seem life-like and eye-catching. The series even has a research consultant who provides interludes giving brief yet thorough descriptions regarding the reasons why the dinosaurs are portrayed the way they are. Of course, some creative licenses and speculation seem present. For example, T-Rex is portrayed as being fully feathered, despite the concept still being a heavily debated one amongst paleontologists. And for another example, Troodon is shown to be a legitimate genus, whereas in reality, the genus is dubious at best and supposed examples of its fossils seem to actually belong to other, related genus within the Troodontidae family (though, this latter detail is acknowledged in the interludes). These more dubious details don't hamper the story by any means, though.
Dinosaur Sanctuary is a series I can see not only appealing to fans of dinosaur-related media, but to paleontologists and zookeepers as well given its fairly accurate portrayal of the dinosaurs and of the day-to-day life of zookeeping. Here's hoping that Dinosaur Sanctuary gains wider recognition (and perhaps an anime adaptation).
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all