Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs Book 1
Posted in Manga Reviews on May 19, 2007 by Johannaby Yukiya Sakuragi; adaptation by Ian Reid and John Werry; published by Viz, $9.99 US
It’s a standard manga premise — young girl doesn’t know what to do with her life, stumbles into something she’s good at and starts becoming an adult as a result of the experience — made palatable through the many pictures of very cute dogs.
Suguri is, to be blunt, a cheerful idiot. When a dog pees on her, for example, she laughs and says, “Oh, that always happens.” The story begins when she gets into a car with two older strangers with nefarious intent. Instead of something worse happening, she gets ditched at a rest stop. There, her dog Lupin mates with a champion being taken for breeding. (The strangers aren’t so smart, either, since they pick up a girl accompanied by a large dog.)
To make up for the lost value of the purebred puppies, she agrees to work for the dog’s owner, Teppei. He manages a Tokyo pet shop and has a weakness for strays, including his high school buddy Kentaro, who works with him but really wants to be a musician.
Suguri complains about her parents being overprotective, but she casually reveals that she was kidnapped as a child, so the reader is left thinking that they have good reason, especially given her naivete. Her new boss considers her simple-mindedness a virtue, since it gives her some kind of empathy for the animals. Her abilities extend to making all the dogs in the shop so happy that they all pee when she first arrives. Plus, she always wears a dog collar in honor of the animal that once saved her life.
This is all very silly, but as I said before, the dogs are really cute, especially the puppies. It’s fun to watch them and watch Suguri learn to take care of them. I found it surprisingly enjoyable to learn pet care along with her. Even though she’s silly, she’s good-hearted, and like an irrepressible friend, she really grew on me.
It’s unfortunate that this book is rated for Older Teens (perhaps because of panty shots and poop jokes, or maybe because the whole cycle of a dog’s life is pictured) — this would be a great choice for kids wanting a pet, to learn how to take care of one. (For another manga on the same subject, compare Peach Fuzz).
Similar Posts: Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs Book 9 § Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs Books 5 and 6 § Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs Book 14 § Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs Book 2 § Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs Book 3
05/21/2007 at 8:00 am
[...] fourth volume of Kio Shimoku’s Genshiken and the opening volume of Yukiya Sakuragi’s Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs. (Above: panel from Genshiken Vol. 4; ©2003 Kio Shimoku, English translation ©2006 Kio [...]
05/23/2007 at 10:33 pm
[...] getting hired at the pet shop in Book 1 to take care of the dogs, now Suguri has to learn to sell them. Except for the owner, it’s [...]
02/26/2008 at 11:14 am
hey this book is pretty good
03/06/2008 at 12:28 am
I love this series!
02/20/2009 at 11:46 am
[...] don’t sell. (A sentiment echoed by some of Butcher’s commenters.) However, I do like Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs, and including modern classic Maison Ikkoku is just dumb, although I can see how it would appear [...]
09/23/2009 at 4:24 pm
[...] returns, she discovers that her boss Teppei has taken his purebred black Labrador Noa (which is how Suguri and Teppei met) to be bred. That leads into the meat of the book, which tackles the question of mating. Suguri [...]