A couple of months back, we reviewed a manga called Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. It’s a manga that depicts a dystopian future, but in a rather chill and wholesome way. At the time, we thought that it was a nice change of pace from the usual hectic and depressing nature of this genre. It was a novelty, so to speak.

Little did we know that we would soon come across another manga with a similar premise as Yokohama, which is called Touring After The Apocalypse. So we reviewed that as well, not knowing that a new trend had apparently just begun. Because now, we’re about to review another similar chill post-apocalyptic manga. It’s called Doomsday With My Dog. So let’s see how this one fares against its predecessors.

Discussion Time

As the name suggests, this manga is about a teenage girl who is traveling around the ruined Japan with her beloved Shiba dog named Haru. The name of the girl is never disclosed, so we only know her as Haru’s master. However, since the animals in this story can talk like regular human beings, not knowing Haru’s master’s name actually proves that the center of the story itself is Haru, the Shiba Inu.

Anyway, the story mainly consists of both of them walking around whenever and wherever they felt like it, and talking about all kinds of things. Furthermore, Haru also likes to spew philosophical statements and arguments towards his master, such as whether or not somebody can change for the better or the futile pursuit of happiness. Needless to say, his master always ends up pinching his fluffy cheek whenever Haru goes into these overly logical and annoying rants.

Throughout their journey, they never meet another human being. However, there are a lot of dogs (some of them are Shiba Inus like Haru), supernatural beings (Such as the goddess of a river, a fox spirit, a kappa, etc), and there’s even an old alien couple who decided to come to earth and become farmers. So yes, you can expect to see tons of bizarre things in this manga that could make you scratch your head and smile.

1. A Wholesome And Liberating Story

As you can see from the brief summary above, there are a lot of strange things happening in Doomsday With My Dog. Talking animals, aliens, kappas, mermaids, and tons of other strange beings live in this world. And the reason behind those weird characters is never explained in the story. Haru and her master simply accept and interact with all of those characters as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.

So why is that? Well, the answer is simply because that is what the author intends it to be. In a wholesome note at the end of the volume, the author explains that this manga is a melting pot of everything that he considers to be funny and interesting. Because of that, leaving things unexplained is actually a lot more interesting than trying to justify every little decision behind every event and character.

What’s more, it is also quite liberating in a way, both for the author and the reader. Because with this approach, the author can throw any kind of wacky situation involving any kind of strange characters whenever he feels like it. Thanks to that, the readers get to enjoy tons of funny and unexpected interaction between Haru, his master, and other interesting characters that they meet throughout their wholesome journey.

2. Bite-Size Entertainment

This manga is a 4-koma, which means any particular story is told in just four vertical panels. Sort of like a comic strip in newspapers. This means you’ll get a snappy version of any particular event or conversation. And while each panel is obviously told in a sequential manner, a new set of 4-koma is rarely a continuation of the previous set, which means that each set is basically its own interesting little story.

This means you can basically read this manga from any set of 4-koma, and you’ll be able to immediately jump into the story. You can also stop anywhere you like, and won’t feel the need to return to the story right away. After all, there’s no such thing as a cliffhanger here. So in a way, this manga is a collection of bite-size entertainment that you can enjoy whenever you want. Got ten minutes to kill? Just read a couple pages of Doomsday With My Dog, and you’re good to go.

To be fair though, this kind of storytelling is not exclusive to this manga. Every 4-koma has the advantage of being a bite-sized bit of entertainment. However, what makes Doomsday With My Dog stand out from the rest is the density. Almost every set of 4-koma in this manga can provide you with interesting tidbits of information (such as the meaning of the Suspension Bridge Effect), hilarious situations (meeting a polite gorilla who speaks French), and cute illustrations (Haru’s close-up face), all at the same time.

1. Lack of Story Development

We’ve talked about the advantages of Doomsday With My Dog being a 4-koma, so now it’s time to talk about one of its biggest weaknesses: a lack of story development. There’s no mention of any sort of motivation or goal behind the characters’ decisions. As such, there’s also no character development to speak of.

Once you know some of the tropes that the characters have shown, then you can pretty much guess what they would do in any situation. For instance, we can open any random page of this manga and expect to see Haru spewing some random philosophical concept and his master will pinch his fluffy cheek because of it. So in a way, the story is rather predictable and formulaic.

Final Thoughts

Doomsday With My Dog is a wholesome manga about a girl and her Shiba dog who travel around the doomed Japan. There are a lot of unanswered questions and bizarre turns of events in this manga, but that is actually part of its charm. After all, its main goal is to make you smile with the comedy and melt your heart with the cuteness of Haru the Shiba Inu. If that sounds like something that you would enjoy, then don’t hesitate to give this manga a try.

Have you read Doomsday With My Dog? If you have, what do you think about it? Let us know in the comment section below.

Writer

Author: Harry

Harry is a manga addict first and freelance writer second. While he hasn’t read every manga under the sun, he has read an unhealthy amount of Shounen and Seinen manga. When he’s not writing in Honey’s Anime, you can find him in his personal blog: MangaDigest.com.

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