The Fox & Little Tanuki, Vol. 1
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 8/2/2020
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 8/2/2020 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
I got this softcover manga at Barnes and Noble, attracted by the adorable critters on the cover. It's about a black fox with mystical powers, who abused his abilities to the point where the Sun Goddess sealed him away for several centuries. When he's released, there are conditions: he has to behave himself, and he has to train a young tanuki who also has mystical powers and needs to be reared to become a valuable assistant to the gods.
Well! Black Fox Senzou is NOT up for this at all, even though the little tanuki is perhaps the most adorable thing ever seen. But Senzou has been bound by the Sun Goddess such that whenever he tries to avoid his new duties he gets zapped, so there we are...
The story includes flashbacks explaining how the various characters got where they are; the fox had some nightmarish scenes with wolves, and the poor little tanuki did not understand why its parents rejected it [normal animals can't deal with the magical ones it seems]. From there the duo - with the assistance, or at least the monitoring, of other mystical critters - takes on the task of helping a fading household god when it seems that its home is beyond saving. Some nice mythological notes and plot twists there, and a satisfactory resolution. (Lighthearted moments include the tanuki experimenting with its powers - turning its own legs into frog-legs after watching frogs hop, for example. And the fox's legs turned frog-like as well, due perhaps to the magical bond between the two. Senzou was not amused, though I was!)
But after that, the little tanuki goes wandering while Senzou naps, and falls into the clutches of a badger, whose intentions seem rather scary... Cue the cliffhanger ending, meaning I need to get the next volume {wry grin}.
[There's a TV Tropes page on the series, with some entertaining tidbits.]
Well! Black Fox Senzou is NOT up for this at all, even though the little tanuki is perhaps the most adorable thing ever seen. But Senzou has been bound by the Sun Goddess such that whenever he tries to avoid his new duties he gets zapped, so there we are...
The story includes flashbacks explaining how the various characters got where they are; the fox had some nightmarish scenes with wolves, and the poor little tanuki did not understand why its parents rejected it [normal animals can't deal with the magical ones it seems]. From there the duo - with the assistance, or at least the monitoring, of other mystical critters - takes on the task of helping a fading household god when it seems that its home is beyond saving. Some nice mythological notes and plot twists there, and a satisfactory resolution. (Lighthearted moments include the tanuki experimenting with its powers - turning its own legs into frog-legs after watching frogs hop, for example. And the fox's legs turned frog-like as well, due perhaps to the magical bond between the two. Senzou was not amused, though I was!)
But after that, the little tanuki goes wandering while Senzou naps, and falls into the clutches of a badger, whose intentions seem rather scary... Cue the cliffhanger ending, meaning I need to get the next volume {wry grin}.
[There's a TV Tropes page on the series, with some entertaining tidbits.]
Journal Entry 2 by GoryDetails at Little Free Library, Fiske St. in Carlisle, Massachusetts USA on Thursday, September 24, 2020
GoryDetails at Little Free Library, Fiske St. in Carlisle, Massachusetts USA on Thursday, September 24, 2020
Released 3 yrs ago (9/24/2020 UTC) at Little Free Library, Fiske St. in Carlisle, Massachusetts USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Guidelines for safely visiting and stocking Little Free Libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the LFL site here.I left this book in the Little Free Library; hope someone enjoys it!
[See other recent releases in MA here.]
*** Released for the 2020 You're Such an Animal challenge. ***
