Review: GON

 This series might be one of the most challenging old-school manga to review, but who am I to back down from a challenge?

GON, by Masashi Tanaka.  First published in 1991 and first published in North America in 2007.

             

PLOT:

Gon is a tiny little tyrannosaur with a big attitude.  He has somehow survived the Mesozoic, and now finds himself facing off against some of the biggest, toughest predators in the modern animal world.

STORY:

If the brevity of the plot summary didn't give it away, Gon is a difficult manga to review because story-wise it doesn't function like most manga.  There is no dialogue.  There is no internal monologue.  There is no backstory, no explanation at all as to how and why Gon exists or how he finds himself in such wildly diverse ecosystems.  All you are given as the reader are these little windows into Gon's various encounters with different animals, as if you're watching the silliest nature documentary you've ever seen.

Yet that is also part of the genius of Gon.  That lack of words means it must rely entirely on the art to express itself.  In that sense, it's one of the most universal manga you will ever find, one that crosses just about every age and cultural barrier you can imagine.  The animals featured within are common species who by and large behave like their real-world counterparts.  The comedy comes from inserting this comically small but curiously strong little dinosaur into these tranquil natural tableaus and seeing just how far his stubbornness and endless appetite will take him.  He is an absurd creature and his very presence makes the natural world around him more absurd.

ART:

Fortunately, Tanaka's artwork is more than up to the challenge of telling silly stories entirely through visuals.  His art is dense with detail, be it the grand vistas of the backgrounds or the texture of the fur and feathers of the creatures that Gon encounters.  Thus, Tanaka gets a lot of visual comedy out of inserting this ridiculous, goony little dinosaur into those settings, with his cartoonishly big eyes and head and his tiny, downright chibi-proportioned body.  Yet he too is lovingly detailed, down to the scales on his hide and the gleam of his many sharp little teeth.  He may not speak and his default look may be a fierce glower, but Gon has a wonderfully expressive face.  Indeed, all the animals featured here do, as they will do the wildest takes at times in response to the chaos Gon manifests around him.  It's always played as a visual punchline, so it's not too much of a distraction or detraction from Tanaka's overall style.

RATING:

Like the title character himself, Gon is a wonderful little marvel.  Its blend of exquisite art and skillful visual comedy makes it just as unique now as it was in the 1990s.  It's not what most people would expect from manga, but it might possibly be the easiest manga to recommend to anyone that you could ever find.

This manga is published by Kodansha Comics and formerly by CMX.  This series is complete in Japan with 7 volumes available.  All 7 volumes have been published by both publishers and are currently out of print.