Title: Dragon and Chameleon

Volume: 1

Mangaka: Ryo Ishiyama

Translator: Kevin Yuan

US Publisher: SQUARE ENIX

Age Relevance: High School & Up

How Essential Is It?: Essential

Curricular Connections?: Art, Writing, Careers, SEL

Reader’s Advisory Tags: Manga Industry, Shonen, Self-Integrity

Anime: N/A

Content Warnings: Mild fanservice, some cursing

Publisher Synopsis:

Garyo Hanagami is a best-selling manga artist praised as a genius of the craft. Shinobu Miyama is a bitter rookie with a knack for copying other people’s art styles. When an accident causes the two to switch bodies, Miyama is more than happy to take Hanagami’s place, forcing the veteran to rebuild his career from the ground up. Now, the dragon must reclaim his throne from the chameleon who replaced him!

Review:

This title has been nominated for Best New Manga for the American Manga Awards, for which I am a judge. The other judges for this award are Shige (CJ) Suzuki, Katy Castillo (Yatta-Tachi), Lynzee Loveridge (Anime News Network), and Varun Gupta (Manga Mavericks).

Ryo Ishiyama has found a way to make an inside look at the manga industry heart-pounding in this super-engaging take on the body swap trope. When top of his craft mangaka Garyo Hanagami finds himself body swapped with a conniving copycat, he’s forced to start his whole career over from scratch. As he watches Miyama destroy the work he’s built up, Garyo steadily works to show what a true manga master can do.

In a world rife with AI imitations, it’s invigorating to read a manga about self-integrity and artistic development that prioritizes honoring oneself. There are some incredibly valuable core values that young people can really resonate with and benefit from discussing.

Also important is the fact that Ishiyama rises to the inherent challenge that comes from creating a manga about the artistry and power of manga- the art must be good. And the art is indeed very good. Intensely detailed, there’s a verve and motion to each page the infuses the characters with energy. Ishiyama manages to convey the shifts between the characters after the swap through expression and body language, not relying only on dialogue. The visual storytelling is highly compelling.

Overall, this is a highly engaging manga, which promises to be very popular with high school readers. It offers connections to art instruction, and is a great kick off point for SEL discussions with students.

By the way, if you’re a librarian who works with manga on a daily basis, you are qualified to vote in the Awards! Please see the Voter Registration for more information.