Author: Kaneshiro Muneyuki, Nishida Kensuke
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, Horror, Mature, Mystery, Seinen, Supernatural
Chapters: 24
Status: Ongoing
Introduction
Well, my first thought when reading Jagaaaaaan was,
“Well, this is a huge mess.”
And whew! Having read up to the latest chapter of the manga, I can absolutely say that this ride was definitely a wild one.
Storyline Premise
Are you into gore and past 18 years of age? Look no further as Jagaaaaaan will provide for your twisted needs. The manga revolves around a police officer named Shintarou Jagasaki who is convinced that he will lead a boring, average life. Faking smiles day and night to please his peers, he was probably miserable.
During one of his cop duties on a fine day, he encounters a human-turned beast and he soon discovers that he can shoot with his right hand like Master Buppanatsu, the mascot of his city that he admires. He is then met with a foul-mouthed owl who then explains how these human-turned beasts will continue to appear and that Shintarou is supposed kill every last one of them.
I find that there are a lot of similarities, concept-wise, between this manga and Mahou Shoujo Site with a few key differences which I will not state because of spoilers but those of you who have read both manga will know what I’m talking about. This manga also contains nudity and sexual encounters so please bear this in mind before diving head first into these unknown waters.
Jagaaaaaan has taken a concept and has executed it in its own unique way with twists in the plot that will hit you when you least expect it to. It taps deep into how dangerous overwhelming emotions can potentially be if not handled or controlled properly. In this case, overwhelming positive and negative emotions can turn seemingly normal, harmless people into frenzied, mass-murdering spawns of hell.
Characterisation
So far Shintarou seems to be the one and only main character so far but the plot seems to be introducing more potential ‘mains’. For this article though, we’ll just be talking about Jagasaki and that ridiculous owl.
Shintarou Jagasaki
Shintarou is exactly what he looks like. Your average neighbourhood cop who is dissatisfied living just a simple life with a stable income and a girlfriend. Probably the most realistic manga character I’ve seen in this year. This character concept certainly isn’t new but I dare say it’s fairly uncommon for a Japan-based fictional character to feel this way.
If there was any single term I could use to describe Shintarou, I’d say he’s a people pleaser. He seems to constantly put others before him and in turn, feels absolutely miserable doing so and it also gets him into lots of trouble. Exhibit A:
In the very next chapter, he is given the nickname Jagaaaaaan by the god forsaken owl we’re talking about next.
Sanshirou Dokuyamada
Like owls? If you do, you’ll probably love this one. As foul mouthed as a 50 year old drunkard uncle can get and the cutest owl you’ll probably ever see is Sanshirou Dokuyamada, the great and terrible roving owl! Or you know, you could call him Doku-chan, no biggie.
Art
This may just be the best aspect of this manga, if everything else wasn’t already super good. The art is incredibly detailed and beautiful, I could stare at it all day. It’s no cutesy, big-eyed character manga but it has a unique twist that I can’t put my finger on. The eyes are no doubt creepy but they show the emotions of characters very clearly, even without the help of the other facial features.
Conclusion
This is no doubt a manga I would binge once it completes. It looks incredibly promising for a horror manga first published in 2017. I would recommend this to anyone who doesn’t mind the nudity so if you’re one of those people, I highly urge you to give this manga a shot. You won’t regret it!
If you’ve already read the manga, what are your thoughts on it? Like it? Hate it? Let us know in the comments.
Til’ then, shoot ’em up!
