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Reviewed by James Hanrahan As I was picking up another book I really wanted, I spotted this one nearby and figured I would give it a shot. It was released in early 2008, but I never really looked at it before. This is a manga by Yu Yagami based on a series of comedy novels by Taro Achi, also illustrated by Yagami. Oh, how the heck to explain this? I'll just dive in, shall I? It's the story of Suzuo Sakurazaki. Suzuo is a young man, kind-hearted and slow on the uptake, just returned to the city and out of work. He is recruited by a tween-age girl named Tanpopo who is actually an alien who works for the Imbecile Toy Company to test a new space weapon that he thinks is a toy. In reality, it's a transformation belt that causes a power suit to materialize around him that makes him look like a cross between Kamen Rider and Ultraman… wearing a large diaper. To test this power suit, he must battle assorted powered-up bad guys, and also compete with a girl in a much more scanty power suit who's been recruited by a rival power suit developer. The villains are to test Suzuo to get time off their space prison sentences. His enemies are: --an old mad scientist whose chest plate and shoulder pads look like old Sega controllers (and his sexy robot assistant), --an evil little girl who can make monstrous golems (and her talking, cussing bunny rabbit partner), --and a space dominatrix who has a soft spot for cute animals. Naturally, they all move into the same apartment house and become neighbors. Then all the females kind of crush on Suzuo! The mad scientist even acts sort of paternally toward him. This has all been arranged by the Galaxy Federation Police (which is headed by a giant anthropomorphic space mole) to test them. Next volume they go into space together, wheee. The book is a ham-fisted parody that pokes fun at superheroes and secret identities (the heroes and villains can't recognize each other) and tokusatsu action shows like Kamen Rider. They mix this with the cliché of wacky neighbors all living in the same house (a la Maison Ikkoku, Here Is Greenwood, Macaroni Horenso) and just a little bit of the harem style manga (all the girls like Suzuo even though two of them are way underage). Re-reading what I just wrote, well, it sounds kinda wacky and fun. I like my over-wordy description much more than I liked the manga. Heck, I like a good screwball comedy! No, really, I even wanted to like this because I love crazy old over-the-top tokusatsu shows. The thing that I have a problem with is that this manga is so NOT clever about this and NOT subtle at all. If you prefer to be hit with honking rubber chickens than a knowing wink in your comedy, then this just may be the book for you. I give it a D for "Don't." I will say this: It might possibly be better in another medium. I don't know how the novel reads and I know this was also adapted into an anime, so perhaps those translate better. Comment on this review of Dokkoida?! v1 on the Manga Life Forums. |
22 July 2008
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