Dragon and Chameleon Volume 2 Review
Toward the end of last year, Square Enix Manga released the first volume of Dragon and Chameleon by Ryo Ishiyama. The manga got off to a promising start as it introduced us to an interesting cast of characters, coupled with a compelling storyline. Does it continue to deliver in Volume 2? Let’s find out!
This volume opens with the start of a new arc, which sees the protagonist Garyo attend a ‘Serialization Boot Camp’ hosted by the editorial department of Shonen Wonder. With six rookie mangaka attending, the competition is fierce but the winner will have a weekly serialisation granted and a guaranteed anime adaptation. However, if you come in last place, you’ll be placed on the magazine’s blacklist and never be able to publish a series in Shonen Wonder.
For Garyo this is a fantastic opportunity, but also high risk. Rookie mangaka Miyama (who Garyo swapped bodies with back at the start of Volume 1), has Doragon Land running in Shonen Wonder. If Garyo wants to compete in the same magazine he can’t afford to come in last place here.
Still, this is an opportunity too good to pass on so Garyo goes through with taking part in the boot camp alongside five other hopefuls. These include 31-year-old Genji Oiwa, who feels out of place due to his age compared to the much younger other contestants and rising Shonen Wonder star, Tamon Sakaki. The editorial department has nicknamed Sakaki “the tiger cub” and has him pegged for carrying the torch of the magazine once Doragon Land finishes, which is certainly high expectations for a rookie!
The boot camp takes place over four day; on each day the group will be given different challenges to complete which showcase different elements of being a mangaka. For example, on the first day, the group has to watch a film and then adapt it into a 19-page story. The trick here is that they don’t have to depict the whole thing, they just need to pick a scene they liked which makes sense out of context of the bigger picture.
On day two, they’re ordered to create just four pages of a story. Day three is about creating as many interesting characters as they can and drawing in readers by showing their relationship to the protagonist and making them want to read more. And then finally, the last task is to take their existing one-shots and draw what would be the first serialised chapter, but they only have a day in which to accomplish this and the page requirement is 50 pages! But there are also double points up for grabs, so whoever claims first place could turn their fate around in one swoop…
Unlike Volume 1 of Dragon and Chameleon, I left Volume 2 with mixed feelings. The idea of the boot camp is excellent, but creator Ryo Ishiyama condenses it down to just the eight chapters contained here. That means there’s not enough time to showcase days 2 and 3 of the trials, nor do we fully get to know all the characters. There’s no sign of Miyama until the very end of the volume either, which takes away from the drama built up in the first release (although understandable, given the change in setting).
In many ways, it just feels like a waste to introduce such an interesting concept and so many characters to then only explore effectively half. As far as the new characters go, only Genji and Sakaki stand out which makes me wonder if they’re the only two who will be recurring, going forward. Sakaki is very obviously being positioned as a rival for Garyo, but I’m not sure what Genji’s role will be. His story as someone who has struggled to gain a serialised series after much longer than his peers is interesting, so even if we don’t see him again, I feel satisfied with what we have seen – which I can’t say for the others.
I think this storyline would have been better spread across two volumes to avoid feeling rushed and this does make me worry about future arcs, but it’s still early days, so there’s no reason to be too concerned yet. And apart from the pacing, this volume still includes all the things that made Volume 1 so exciting. The overall story remains interesting and the art grips you just as tightly as before. It’s because Volume 1 was such a strong debut and the rest of the work is so compelling that any flaws stand out so obviously this time around.
As mentioned earlier, Dragon and Chameleon Volume 2 comes to the West thanks to Square Enix Manga and continues to be translated by Kevin Yuan with lettering by Phil Christie. As with the first volume, this one reads well and includes a page of translation notes that cover manga-specific terms and also how Sakaki’s nickname is connected to the kanji of his given name. There is also a colour page at the beginning, which is always a welcome extra!
Volume 3 of the series is currently scheduled for a release in May with #4 following in August, so we’re still on a fairly fast schedule, all things considered. And of course, if you want to read ahead, this is available on MANGA UP!
Overall, Dragon and Chameleon Volume 2 is a solid follow-up to the series debut despite some issues. Certainly, I remain eager to see more of this story and the twists and turns that await Garyo as he navigates the complexities of the manga industry.
A free preview can be read on the Square Enix website
Our review copy from Square Enix Manga was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).
©2023 Ryo Ishiyama / SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD
