わにとかげぎす

WANITOKAGEGISU

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
4
RELEASE
May 14, 2007
CHAPTERS
44

DESCRIPTION

A night-shift guard with pretty much no social life, working in a mall, who often works out at the top of the mall with only his panties on. One night he finds a wishing star and wishes for friends. For good and bad, his current life style is about to change by the people he meets.

CHAPTERS

REVIEWS

RyoNarushima
91/100
Be careful of what you wish for in the dark
Tomioka is a night security guard, where he has achieved ultimate solitude. Before, this was the dream. But after 7 years, Tomioka can’t help but feel lonely. So he wishes upon a shooting star for a friend.

"...There was no drama in my own life... No way there could be... since I spent all my precious time sideways, sleeping it away... If I wrote an autobiography, it'd be so thin... The user manual for a microwave would probably be longer... Honestly, the 32 years that I've lived probably wouldn't even measure up to a week in Yabuki Joe's life..."

A different representation of the hermit. Stable job, doesn’t blame his isolation on the outside world, and he doesn’t have delusions of grandeur. Instead, he is hyperaware of his lived decisions, and how he has lived an unconscious life!

The premise is familiar, but in the first chapter, the story defines itself by stretching its range from a comedy to a true thriller. This structure allows Tomioka to face truly dark obstacles past just "lonely guy has to have a hard conversation." It allows for the truths of his tragedy to be uncovered through comedy.

Welcome to the N.H.K. tackles similar existential questions through Satou's parallel life path, I find Tomioka and crew much more relatable. The story adds something reminiscent of Oyasumi Punpun, spending time on internal reflection while forcing Tomioka into decisive, high tension moments where he has to prove himself. Never falling into the right place at the right time.

Tomioka’s wish is heard! As opportunities begin to appear in front of him, he chooses to take a crack at them. But friends are difficult, they always need something… absolute chaos begins to follow his years of stagnation. The rock begins tumbling.

"The name of the series, “Wanitokagegisu”, is the Japanese name for “Stomiiformes”, which is an order of deep-sea ray-finned fish of very diverse morphology.”

As Tomioka rises from the depths of the ocean, the first people he meets are entrenched in the Japanese underworld, people who want to steal his cushy job, twisted foils of his own character, and...
…..a girlfriend?

He struggles with feeling as if he is unworthy of the people around him. He also leaches out a coldness and cruelty that he can be unaware of. But he asks himself the important questions often and commits himself to chasing a dream.

The manga is cut with comedy that makes it enjoyable to read, although it does start to get stale. The caricature art style fits the story well, but it makes it so that some of the jokes fall flat later after you get used to it. The character development is also a bit abrupt and unsatisfactory.

But it's a tradeoff, as the manga is ambitious and attempting to provide a package of situations ranging from just okay to intense to hysterically funny or profound.

I enjoyed it. Packed with lol moments, opportunities for self reflection and a captivating concise read to return to. Minoru Furuya has other highly acclaimed manga to follow up with and there is a TV drama adaptation of the same name.

"I-I'mma start runnin' every day startin' right now. I'm gonna drop twenty kilos... get my hands on the body I deserve!! I ain't gonna put up with this any longer, boss! I wanna be popular, wanna be so popular it hurts!!!"

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