“Takopi’s Original Sin” Is a Brutal Story About Bullying
Takopi’s Original Sin (Takopii no Genzai) is Tanzai 5‘s first serialized work, with them having previously worked on 3 One-Shots, one of them self-published, and the other two by Shounen Jump+. And I have to say this author started with a bang.
Warning, this manga IS DARK, it features things such as child neglect, trauma, and bullying — both physical and psychological. Note that Shounen Jump+ isn’t really aimed at the same bracket as the “normal” Shounen Jump, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend this to kids.
Spoilers- due to this being a short work with only 16 chapters, I’ll try to keep whatever I talk about confined to the first chapter.
Art
This manga features stylized characters with a nice level of detail and generally complex backgrounds — though both can be made even more stylized in order to convey the mood or feelings of the characters.
Story
The story starts with the titular Takopi (actual name nuu-anu-kf) meeting Shizuka who proceeds to name it due to resembling an octopus (tako in Japanese) and frequently saying “pi”. Takopi is a “happian”, an alien from a “happy” planet who decided to go on a journey to spread happiness, in order to do that it counts with a number of gadgets it can use and try to make others happy — starting with Shizuka, as it never sees her smiling, but what will we learn about her from Takopi’s determination to make her smile?
Takopi has seemingly useless gadgets like a ribbon that can stretch infinitely or a pen that cries like a cat, as well as rings that allow you to fly, cameras, and tools that allow Takopi to change its shape — but Shizuka just isn’t interested in any of that, as they “won’t be able to change anything”.
Indeed, it’s clear from the start that Shizuka is the target of bullying with her only source of happiness being Chappy — her dog and loyal companion, given to her by her dad because he disappeared from her life — while her mom works as an escort and not seen at home during the day. With all the bullying and neglect she endures day by day, will the naive but well-intentioned Takopi manage to make her happy?
Thoughts
I can’t say much for obvious reasons, but I’ll say that when you think the manga has found its rhythm and settled for pay to progress its storyline, you’ll find that it will then go in a different direction, and this isn’t a complaint as it’ll be keeping you on your toes.
I did find some things negative: there are a few things that I think should have gotten more of a focus, and there’s a certain event that happens purely off-screen — while I’m fine with it being off-screen, the fact that it seemingly bore no consequences makes it feel inconsequential. But that doesn’t take it down from being a great manga in my mind, and I’ll keep watch of anything the author releases from this point.
As I said before, this isn’t an easy-to-digest stomach, and I’d say it isn’t for the faint of heart. If you’re interested in reading this, however, know that it’s available for free on MANGA Plus.
