There’s little not to dig about a grade-school vampire named Paifu who turns into a “were-koala” whenever he sees a cross for more than three seconds. Therefore, there’s little not to dig about COWA!, the SHONEN JUMP manga in which he stars, by DRAGON BALL Z creator Akira Toriyama. Why’s it called COWA!? Don’t know, but manga’s really not a medium for dissecting logic, now, is it?
Paifu’s best friend is José Rodriguez, a ghost who looks more like a combination of a sperm and a Teletubby. They’re your typical school-hating, mischief-making kids, albeit in a town full of monsters, where their classmates include a mummy and a mean, fish-like boy named Arpon.
Paifu and José volunteer to step up when the town’s population falls ill to a (literal) monster flu, so they enlist the help of nearby human Maruyama, a former sumo wrestler who quit the ring after killing a guy. He’ll drive them to get the medicine they need, but not out of the kindness of his own heart; he’ll do it for $10,000. Paifu says no problem, although knowing there is.
But being 10K short is the least of their worries when they encounter everything from redneck truckers in the big city to a sword-slinging monster in the woods on their journey to find the cure for all that ails them, from a witch atop a very tall mountain.
At first, COWA! seems disjointed; the beginning chapter — or “fright,” as each is called — is in color, while the rest is inexplicably in black-and-white, and the adventures appear episodic rather than linear. And there’s an early reliance on toilet humor, as Paifu uses bowel movements as a smoke screen for more devious deeds (“Um, I gotta take a poop! It’ll take a while!” and “I’m busy pooping! M-Mom, can you not talk to me, please?”), while José farts when he’s nervous.
But that disappears as the flu bit takes hold, and the cute COWA! settles comfortably into a fun, funny and funky adventure with light humor and heavy action. It’s fluff, but enjoyably so — a breezy, no-brainer read that’ll delight kids and at least marginally enchant adults as well. It’s also a manga recommended to those not “into” manga. —Rod Lott
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