Friday, December 20, 2013

Retro Manga Review - Cowa!

Manga Name : Cowa!
Author: Toriyama, Akira (Story & Art) 
Serialization: Shounen Jump (Weekly)
Genres: Shounen
Volumes: 1 
Chapters:14
Status: Finished 
Published: 1997 to 1998
Is there anyone even remotely interested in Anime & Manga who doesn't know "Akira Toriyama"? Despite all its shortcomings, flaws and cliches "Dragonball" is undoubtedly one of the most influential manga/anime ever? But does all of these people know that Toriyama also wrote quite a few other mangas? "Cowa!" is one of these others and one of the best of these. This is definitely a kids manga, it does not have any complicated plot, no over the top action elements and no fan service that shounen now a days are famous for. This is just a cute adventure story with some simple funny moments and typical yet quite likeable characters. And its only 1 volume (14 chapters) of material, so a must read for any Toriyama or even shounen fan.


The story is a very simple one which starts with a few chapters of main character Paifu and his friends doing various mischief around his village Cape Bat which then takes a new direction with the village having outbreak of a terminal disease monster flu. Then Paifu along with his friend Jose, rival Apone and the loner and grumpy human ex-sumo wrestler Maruyama embarks on a journey to retrieve the cure of the disease from a mountain witch in a far away land. Along their journey they see new cities and towns, meets new people and have a lot of fun.

The characters are quite typical for kids' mangas such as our naughty yet good in heart Paifu, his friend funny little Jose Rodriguez who farts when he is nervous, the serious & very strong Maruyama & typical rival Apone who opposes Paifu and tries to do better at almost everything. While they may not seem anything special at first glance as a while they really shine quite brilliantly in their roles and provides fun to reader in a simple yet elegant and enjoyable way.

While this manga may not be ground breaking or even original it really does what it tries very smoothly, Toriyama's writing is as typical of his style as ever and also as enjoyable and fun too. This manga may be takes close to 1 hour to finish so why are you waiting still, just go ahead and read it and decide for yourself. I myself have thoroughly enjoyed it, and will certainly check out other stuff from this straight forward yet somehow brilliant writer.

Overall Score -
                           8 out of 10. 


If you want more info and other reviews of this Manga check out its MAL page -
http://myanimelist.net/manga/2556/Cowa! 

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