Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture by Masayuki Ishikawa

Title: Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture

Mangaka: Masayuki Ishikawa

Age Group: Teens

Series is: Ongoing with 8 volumes

Volume(s) Reviewing: 1

My Rating: 4/5

Bacterias are microscopic organisms. They surround us constantly, from being in the food we eat to the insides of our bodies. No one can see them with a naked eye. No one, except Tadayasu Sawaki.

A new student at an agriculture university, Sawaki is able to see germs that surround him. With his special ability, he gets tangled up in funny situations and meets a couple of odd people here and there. An absolute hit series in Japan, Moyasimon is brought to North America to reveal an adorable and educational world of bacterias and agriculture.

When I first saw the manga, I automatically thought it was in novel-format because of the cover. That was until I realized it was backwards and was indeed a manga. I also question the cover because as you can see, it is mocking the American flag, which I find is cute. Except, isn't this made in Japan?? I assume the cover is so because the publisher is trying to bring the hype from Japan over to America.

There are interesting facts involving the things you could learn in an agriculture university and the different uses of bacteria. I actually didn't know there were universities existed solely for agriculture until I read this manga. You could obtain many scientific information from this series and the mangaka made it fun to read.

I love the drawings Masayuki Ishikawa gave to each group of bacterias. Scenes and characters are sometimes drawn to be humorous. The art style is easy on the eyes and there are very clear transitions in the panels. I found it pretty comical in one scene where Sawaki was hit by a massive wave of bacteria and he was unable to see where he was going while to regular people's eyes, he just seemed weird.

I do recommend Moyasimon for manga readers who want something different from the usual shojo or shonen series out there. This series however takes time to digest because there is a ton of information given in some panels.

Review copy provided by Del Rey.