The Drops of God (Print Omnibus) Volume 1
Shizuku Kansaki is the son of a very famous wine critic, Yutaka Kansaki, but the two are estranged, due to Shizuku’s upbringing being all about wine culture, sense, taste and more, resulting in Shizuku having no interest in wine at all. However, when Yutaka Kansaki dies, his will makes it clear that his estate and wine collection will not automatically be passed onto his son. In fact, Shizuku must earn his inheritance by competing against another wine critic, Issei Tomine, who Yutaka recently adopted. Both men must correctly identity the wines from their father’s collection, the ’Twelve Apostles’ and the ‘Drops of God’, in order to inherit everything. Can Shizuku find a way to love wine and correctly name all the thirteen bottles his father has deemed heavenly? Or is he fated to inherit nothing?
The Drops of God has been published by Kodansha since 2019, with the series completed in Japan in 2014 at 44 volumes, as well as two sequel series which are now also complete and licensed by Kodansha. The series has been widely acclaimed since its release, and Decanter Magazine called it the ‘arguably the most influential wine publication for the past 20 years.’ This is a big statement to make but not without merit, as the popularity and cultural impact of this manga has had an impact on increased interest in wines, including but not limited to, an uplift in sales of many of the named wines within this manga as recently as 2018. The series was also featured in the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards Hall of Fame, and very recently received an Apple TV+ original series adaptation, which is currently in production of its second season.
This new release does not seem to be a new translation, instead it’s a re-release in omnibus form, a more attractive purchase considering the how long the original run is. Doubly so if you’ve just come off the first season and want to whet your appetite for Season 2. I never read the original manga before, and I have not seen the adaptation either, so my review will be based solely on my first impression of this new omnibus edition.
The series was originally published in Weekly Morning Magazine, which is for seinen manga (aimed at young adult men) but it feels like a shonen manga, due to it’s ‘tournament’ arc structure. Shizuku is on the typical hero’s journey; so far we’ve had the Call to Adventure (the challenge to earn his father’s inheritance), the Refusal of the Call (Shizuku hating wine and not wanting to be part of it), the Supernatural Aid (or in this case it’ll be Miyabi, the sommelier who helps Shizuku learn about wine) and also Crossing the First Threshold (Shizuku deciding to compete for his inheritance). Despite his upbringing, Shizuku is the underdog, as he hated wine growing up and grew distant from his father, and having no other living relative, decided to strike out on his own as a beer salesmen instead. But if you’ve read or watched a lot of battle-themed shonen stories then a lot of the plot beats, such as Shizuku discovering a hidden talent he didn’t know he had, and coming up with a solution to a problem at the last second, will feel familiar here. Also his good looks, humour and charisma, make Shizuku a perfect shonen protagonist – just a bit older and with a different palette.
He also has a rivalry with Issei, who also plays the perfect foil. He is a respected young critic in the wine industry, therefore has the upper hand when it comes to wine tasting. He’s also arrogant, cold and looks down on others, especially Shizuku, thinking he wasted his childhood upbringing and neglected his genius father. The pair face off a few times during the omnibus but it’s clearly only the start of their face-off; the first test comes from having to identify a mysterious wine, purely to keep the estate. We haven’t reached the twelve mystery bottles yet, so there’s a long way to go to see how both of these men take on these challenges and who will win everything in the end.
As this manga is all about wine, there are a lot of real-life wines, vineyards and winemakers mentioned in this series. So if you’re into your wine, or have any interest in it whatsoever, you’ll find this a treat, as the manga does its best to not only describe different processes of wine-making, but also why certain wines tastes the way they do, from not just the year they were produced but also what happens if they’re simply poured into a glass and so on. This however is a double-edged sword, because if you’re not into wine, or find the onslaught of information too much, then you might find the info-dump of each wine brand, maker, year it was made, etc too much for you. Sadly, I did find myself glossing over large chunks of text towards the end of this book. I’m sure the information is all correct and fascinating, but a lot of the time you’re watching people simply talking about wine with images of bottles in the foreground, which doesn’t always capture your interest. There were a few times I absorbed it, such as one diagram showing why younger grapes produce a different taste to older grapes, but a lot of it went over my head. I did, however appreciate the manga trying its best to makes the audience taste the wines alongside the characters, such as double page spreads of them standing in a vineyard on a bright summer’s day with a beautiful woman to enjoy it with. It sounds very dramatic, but having the characters just saying ‘it tastes nice’ wouldn’t have the same impact.
The manga is written and drawn by brother-and-sister team Tadashi Agi and Shu Okimoto; none of their other joint works have been released in English yet, but a few of Tadashi Agi’s works under his other pen names have been, including Sherlock Bones and Psycho Busters. The art is really good and whilst the character designs are deceptively simple, a lot of work has gone into making the various wine bars they go to look very classy, and the wine bottles on display look lifelike. Then there’s the aforementioned spreads when the characters taste the wines, highly realised and gorgeously portrayed. Translation by Kate Robinson is a good read; there are no translation notes but a few asterisks are provided on pages to provide context when needed.
If you’re looking for a more mature shonen series, that hits similar beats but want older characters in the cast, then this seinen series will satisfy you. If you love the TV series, be aware that – just from purely looking at the trailer – nationalities and genders of certain characters have been changed for the TV series, but the main concept seems to remain the same and you should enjoy this version too.
An anime adaptation has been announced for 2026 from Satelight.
Our review copy from Vertical was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).
