Being a wildlife and nature lover as far as I can , I have to say that this manga has been the most fun and enjoyable playground I ever had the pleasure to immerse myself. And I can also assure those reading that you don't need to be a complete nature and wildlife nuts to thoroughly enjoy this wonderful work as well.
Although I don't many other series in this medium that tried the "raised by wolves/nature" trope present in classics such as Tarzan and the Jungle Book, Doubutsu No Kuni's execution of it is up to par. The main plot and its premises are very simple, yet as stated it is the overall execution and how well all the details and questions were handled that made all the ride both extremely enjoyable and compelling. During the story, some hard questions and issues that add interesting layers of complexity are raised, to be eventually dealt with and be satisfactorily resolved.
Needless to say, the art is fantastic overall and breathtaking at times. It has some of the most packed and fabulous double page spreads you could ever wish to find. Being the author from the well known Konjiki no Gash series, Raiku-sensei's art-style is very enjoyable and gives a life of its own to all the animals and characters drawn. Some animals and characters are very stylized, being drawn with peculiar clothes and sometimes taking anthropomorphic stances and features, which adds to the uniqueness and identity of some individuals.
Fights may look simplistic at the start but as the series progresses, and specially in the later volumes, power ups that feel fitting to the series universe and its developments will appear. Also adhering to the shonen genre where it belongs, things do scale impressively towards the end.
This is a story where I found myself quite often reading it with a big smile on my face, but sometimes it would also make me feel teary eyed due to some of the developments. It's certainly a work with its spectrum of emotions to be felt. It's a great story and even if the message the author tries to deliver may look inherently childish, we can't deny how sympathizing it is at its root.
Doubutsu no Kuni is a series that deserves all the praise it has gotten, and plenty more.
