Dragon and Chameleon Volume 3 Review

In Volume 2 of Dragon and Chameleon, we saw protagonist Garyo attend a ‘Serialisation Boot Camp’ hosted by the editorial department of Shonen Wonder. There, he met several talented rookies looking to win the chance of a weekly series and a guaranteed anime adaptation! Now the boot camp is over, and Volume 3 is here to pick up the pieces in the aftermath…

Due to Garyo collapsing right at the end of the boot camp, he ultimately failed to place in the rankings and has now found himself banned from working with Shonen Wonder. This ban was previously thought to be lifetime, but the first chapter in Volume 3 clarifies that Garyo is only banned from working with them for a year and a half. However, there is one creator who does have a lifetime ban…

This creator is Orochi Yamadano, who had a popular series in Shonen Wonder but had plans to create their own magazine and steal other popular mangaka from the magazine. Ultimately, her plot to steal other series and creators was stopped by Garyo, who was working as her assistant at the time, but she did still start her own magazine. And Yamadano’s desire to surpass her old magazine hasn’t faded, and even today, she’s always on the lookout for talented rookies to take on.

And it hasn’t taken long for her to hear about Garyo’s antics. As he’s in the body of rookie Shiobu Miyama, she has no idea that he’s her former assistant and decides he’s the perfect individual to add to her collection, particularly now that he’s banned from Shonen Wonder.

However, once she meets Garyo, she sees right through his situation and realises he’s actually the man she mentored all those years ago. Rather than being put off, this just ignites her desire to have him for herself all the more. And Garyo is quickly realising that working together with his old mentor might prove to be the perfect way to further hone his skills and find a way to surpass his old series Doragon Land. But is it really wise to work under the creator who caused such a major scandal in the industry…?

Volume 2 of Dragon and Chameleon felt like it crammed in too much to contain the boot camp to a single volume, but here in Volume 3, we’ve returned to the better pacing of the first instalment. The five chapters included jump around a lot in terms of characters, since they’re not only introducing us to Orochi but also several of the editors for Shonen Wonder, but this feels fairly natural as the plot progresses.

We even find time to check in with Miyama, who, having seen Garyo’s manuscript from the boot camp, is beginning to feel the burning desire to create something of his own and not just follow the plans Garyo had carefully laid out for Doragon Land. Although we saw very little of him in the previous book, this is as much his story as it is Garyo’s, so I’m glad we get to spend more time with him.

It feels like mangaka Ryo Ishiyama has managed to nip several issues in the bud before they had the opportunity to impact the work in the long term, which is reassuring given the uncertainty I was left with after Volume 2. This release feels a lot tighter, even despite the fact that it is setting up and jumping between so much. Still, it feels like major pieces of the story are coming together and that, as ever, makes me eager to see where the story is going to go from here.

Dragon and Chameleon Volume 3 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 previous books, this release reads well and comes with translation notes at the back as well as colour pages to open with and two short bonus stories.

The series is up to 6 volumes currently in Japan. Here in English, Volume 4 is due out in August and #5 in November, so we’re still on a reasonably fast release schedule with this one, which is always nice to see!

Overall, Dragon and Chameleon makes a return to form with its third instalment. With plenty of new characters, new developments and plenty of the thrilling drama we’ve come to know the series for, this one is still absolutely worth keeping up with. It’s a real page turner, almost like a battle shonen despite being about creating manga.

A free preview can be read on the Square Enix Manga website. 

Our review copy from Square Enix Manga was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).

© Ryo Sihiyama / Square Enix CO., LTD