REVIEW: The Fox & the Little Tanuki Volume 2 by Mi Tagawa
After 300 years, the gods that imprisoned Senzou the Fox Spirit for his arrogance finally set him free. There is only one condition – he can’t have any of his supernatural abilities back until he successfully helps a tanuki cub named Manpachi become one of their magical assistants.
Unfortunately for Senzou, there’s no cheating when it comes to completing his task! The magic beads around his neck make sure he can’t wander too far from his charge or shirk his duties, and so… Senzou the once-great Fox Spirit must now figure out how to be an actually-great babysitter to a mischievous little tanuki or risk being stuck without his powers forever!
This is Volume 2 of the series.
Review
Earlier this spring, I read Vol 1 in this series about a curmudgeonly black fox spirit who must mind and train an absolutely adorable little tanuki in order to get his powers back. The curmudgeon character is popular right in fiction now and Senzou is as cantankerous as you can get. The only thing keeping him on his assigned job is the necklace placed on him which lights him up like a shock collar whenever he tries to leave. Manpatchi the tanuki is a pawful to look after and as Vol 1 ended (on a definite cliffhanger), he looked to be getting himself into another mess. I was interested in reading Vol 2 as the first one ended so abruptly.
The book is read from front to back but the panels are arranged to read from right to left. There is a sample page at the end of the book (to warn seasoned manga readers) with directions and example panels (for manga newbies) to explain this. The action in Vol 2 picks up where the first volume stopped.
Once again I love the artwork for these volumes. But I was totally lost in long sections of the story as to what the heck was going on. For me, in this volume it was much more difficult at times to figure out who was speaking. And even though I still want to pluck the little tanuki up and snuggle him, the “feel” of the story seemed much darker. The ending isn’t quite as abrupt but I’m not sure I will continue reading this series. C
~Jayne
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