Guru Guru Pon-Chan

Satomi Ikezawa

Tanoshimi

0099504049

Aug 2006

‘A love between dogs and humans can never be’

Caught somewhere between Melvin Burgess’ ‘Lady My Life as a Bitch’ and ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ but enlivened and made highly accessible by the dynamism of the Manga form, with its characteristic, almost hyper-active revelation of drama and emotion, ‘Guru Guru Pon-Chan’ makes for a high-paced and humorous reading experience.
The action of the story begins when Grandpa Koizumi believes he has created a ‘chit-chat’ bone, a device allowing animals to communicate with humans. The bone, however, unexpectedly transforms the canine Ponta into a homo-sapien.
Mayhem ensues as Ponta, who in human form initially struggles to speak her needs and desires, gradually falls in love with Mirai who saves her life after she runs out into the road.
Much of the frenetic, sometimes almost too-fast-paced ‘ humour derives from Ikezawa’s perceptive observations of the behaviour of dogs. Alongside parading naked, vomiting and the inevitable sniffing of excretia, Ponta battles against the prejudice of her classmates and has numerous accidents along the way concerning appropriateness of canine behaviour when translated into the human form.
A fun-filled, highly accessible book that will serve as a great introduction to the Manga form and that will resonate with dog owners.