The “Anime! Anime!” editorial team, always hungry for anime and manga, presents a series introducing must-read manga that haven’t yet been adapted into anime: Recommended Manga Notebook. This time, we pick up Dan Dohn.
The series is a Bakumatsu-era historical comedy currently serialized in Kodansha’s Morning. It is the latest work by Taizou, the creator of Hakozume: The Counterattack of the Police Box Girls, which was adapted into both anime and drama. The story is set in Satsuma and revolves around Kawaji Shounoshin (Toshiyoshi), known as the “father of Japanese police.”
※The following text contains spoilers. Please be cautious when reading.
The Satsuma Clan’s ‘Vibe’ Gets Addictive? A Whirlwind Bakumatsu History
When people think of historical manga, they often think of the Warring States period. Figures like Oda Nobunaga, Miyamoto Musashi, and the Shinsengumi captivate readers with battles involving nations and lives. Kawaji in this manga is also a Satsuma samurai born into a “barely” samurai family. That “barely” position is key. Among the Satsuma clansmen he works with—Saigou Kichinosuke (Takamori), Ookubo Ichizou (Toshimichi), and Komatsu Tatewaki—Kawaji is not especially prominent (some might say the others have too strong a personality). Although he is positioned as the protagonist, he often serves as the narrator in the story.
Kawaji is flung around by the commotions in the Satsuma domain and the shogunate, but his role is to run around as a “behind-the-scenes facilitator” using his keen observational skills and information-gathering ability rather than brute force. This manifests not as straightforward intellectual battle, but in tactics like tailing, gathering testimonies, and buying off enemy info by winning people over—a very troublesome “preparation” style from the enemy’s perspective. For instance, when he buys off Ii Naosuke’s spy as a double agent, the spy says, “Your heart is made of cow dung.” Kawaji himself admits he has “a talent for understanding what people dislike.” His meticulous nature means he observes what others eat and their behavior, casually remembering it, leading colleagues to find him “creepy” and “clingy.”
The Sakurada-gomon Incident, the Teradaya Incident, the Namamugi Incident… Various upheavals of the Bakumatsu era are depicted, including battles where comrades lose their lives even if the result is a “win.” However, the scenario is presented in a way that readers can accept events as inevitable, with sacrifices occurring naturally, from either perspective. This manga does not depict heated, emotional battles; instead, it focuses on how conflicts arose and were resolved in the Edo period when there was no “police.”
This explanation might make the story sound overly complicated, but like Hakozume, the comedic touch is still strong. Satsuma’s lively warriors—the “Ikikei Dondon” (go-getter) spirit—are depicted with small gags unique to Satsuma men and the author’s signature humorous style. Regarding the protagonist Kawaji, the author has mentioned in the collected volumes that he came to like him through the “Kawaji no Kintama Incident” and the “Dai-ben Toudeki Incident” and plans to include them as future episodes. Given the title, these are certainly bizarre episodes, and it’s curious why such stories still survive to this day.
For those who are not good with historical stories, this is a manga you can recommend by saying, “Don’t worry! The gags are funny.” For those who have grown tired of historical stories, a work featuring Kawaji Toshiyoshi is rare, offering a different perspective from orthodox historical manga. The energetic title Dan Dohn invites readers to feel the wind of Satsuma and the tumultuous Bakumatsu era.
Dan Dohn (1) (Morning Comics)
¥792
(Price and stock status as of article publication)
Dan Dohn (10) (Morning Comics)
¥792
(Price and stock status as of article publication)
― Suisaito Momo
