Big monsters and manga are a goated combo that has solely gotten stronger as a staple in popular culture. A lot of that is thanks partly to collection like Kaiju No. 8, which set the bar excessive with its adult-cast twist, serving as an iconoclast to the well-trodden teenage somethings who’ve solely been allowed to play starring roles in shonen collection.
However one other collection hewing near its successful components, deserving simply as a lot reward as its star begins to rise, is Rai Rai Rai, an underappreciated Viz Media manga wealthy with gag-comedy allure and a deceptively provocative narrative hidden beneath the attraction of its cute lady donning an excellent cuter kaiju design.
Rai Rai Rai (which interprets to “Lightning Lightning Lightning”), written by Yoshiaki, is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi motion comedy collection. In 2052, the world is on the upswing after an alien invasion half a century prior. Now, organizations are tasked with cleansing up the remaining alien monsters referred to as varmints.
The collection follows our crybaby hero, Sumire Ichigaya, an 18-year-old lady who, after getting kidnapped by aliens, has the facility to rework right into a kaiju. At this level, you don’t need to squint too onerous to suppose that its premise is just about a gender-bent model of Kaiju No. 8, solely buying and selling homegrown kaiju for area kaiju. And effectively, yeah. That’s definitely a lot of its onboarding, however because the collection evolves, Rai Rai Rai branches itself out from being a twin collection to Kaiju No. 8 in fascinating methods value getting in on the bottom flooring now earlier than it actually takes off or will get cancelled (KNOCKS ON WOOD).
This isn’t a spoiler for the collection’ twist, however what Rai Rai Rai does greater than be the type of “Kaiju No.8 manga is over, right here’s one thing related” suggestion that may come readers’ manner is that, regardless of feeling just like the median of a number of manga’s core premises, it nonetheless manages to dig its toes in and maintain sturdy as a collection value studying for its personal deserves. These inspirations embody early Dragon Ball‘s comedic timing, Ranma 1/2 and Kaiju No. 8‘s aesthetics, and a touch of Gunbuster and Chainsaw Man‘s rule of cool to spherical it out.
For one, Rai Rai Rai harkens again to the softer, rounder character designs of seminal manga collection. Sumire’s ponytail look is peak Ramna 1/2—a method newer manga like Gokurakugai and Dandadan have correctly folded into their DNA, as a result of creator Rumiko Takahashi is value mimicking. But the collection doesn’t simply take pleasure in allure; it layers an edge that’s harking back to, in fact, Kaiju No. 8, but in addition Chainsaw Man.
That edge exhibits most clearly within the militaristic varmint-killing group Sumire is coerced into becoming a member of, Raiden, the place operatives are outfitted in modern plug fits that increase one’s fight prowess—at all times a plus in any sci-fi collection. However clumsy Sumire, Rai Rai Rai‘s crybaby hero—born to whimsy, pressured to lock in—anchors the story by persevering as its loveable goofball harboring her personal tragedy.
Regardless of Rai Rai Rai‘s deceptively cute veneer, the collection digs into heavy themes. Key amongst them being the bodily abuse Sumire suffered by the hands of her mom, her dad and mom’ crushing debt, and the exploitative jobs she takes to assist them crawl out of it.
She’s a Denji-like determine, throwing herself into hurt’s manner for pay to the purpose that Raiden doesn’t need to trouble hiding that they’re utilizing her as some grand secret. You’d suppose all of this could coalesce in her kaiju transformation to appear like one thing that crawled out of Q Hayashida’s Dai Dark drafts. As an alternative, we have now a cute subversion: Sumire’s kaiju type is extra like an overstuffed plushy (or a Labubu). Witnessing her wrestle to repress a Godzilla-style atomic breath, solely to rally as an emblem residents can embrace moderately than worry (peep her Gunbuster pose), feels nearer to Superman-levels of hope-maxing than the sharp-edged poster boys of shonen manga often parade.
Extra crucially, regardless of being solely roughly 40 chapters deep, Rai Rai Rai strikes an enthralling stability between gag‑manga comedy and its battle‑shonen‑meets‑horror aesthetic. In the identical manner that Magilumiere Co. LTD. riffs on My Hero Academia and Sailor Moon to show women can lead these collection with out wanting like Sizzling Matter knockoffs, Rai Rai Rai pushes the oddly successful combo of a cute lady in a cute kaiju go well with combating for her life as one thing that doesn’t really feel spinoff however recent. It’s mile‑a‑minute bodily comedy that is aware of what makes kaiju media cool and leans closely into that, with gnarly battles, unsettling kaiju designs, and a pointy critique of rah-rah militaristic obedience, making its whimsy really feel not simply charming however subversive and important.
The manga trade is cutthroat, with numerous promising collection cancelled earlier than they ever take off. Particularly when ladies are at their facilities, too usually their survival is dependent upon phrase‑of‑mouth to champion them lengthy sufficient to achieve their full potential—as we’ve seen with titles like Love Bullet.
Hopefully, Rai Rai Rai sparks that very same groundswell, as a result of I need to see Yoshiaki maintain cooking. It simply launched a Metal Gear Rising-coded muscle grandma as a wild new rival character, and it’d be a disgrace if this collection ended up as one other “what may’ve been” manga.
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