Manga Review: Suzunari!

Suzunari! volumes 1 & 2 (complete series)
Shoko Iwami
Yen Press
128 pages (v.1); 128 pages (v.2)

Kaede Takamura's teenage life swerves to the brink of insanity when she comes face to face with her twin...or does she? Suzu is practically the mirror-image of Kaede - except for having cat ears and a tail and being far more well-endowed than Kaede thinks any teenager ought to be. But the Takamuras have no qualms about bringing this strange, happy-go-lucky catgirl into their home. With Suzu completely ignorant of the ways of modern society, it's going to be a very long year for poor Kaede. (Source: Goodreads)

Quick, name a 4-koma manga that has actually been wildly successful! Okay, you thought of Lucky Star, right? Now name another one. Azumanga Daioh? Yep. Name a third. Pause. A little harder, isn't it? It certainly helps that both above titles have anime adaptations and that, in the case of Lucky Star, has turned into an otaku phenomenon verging on a cultural movement.

Now, I'm not gonna lie to you and say that Suzunari! will every qualify as a success like those above. It pretty much ranks along with other 4-koma such as Shoulder-A-Coffin Kuro as titles that manage to push units but will never push the same amount of units as Konata and Chiyo. But Suzunari! has two things going for it that a lot of 4-koma may not: it's extremely cute and very short. Clocking at two volumes in total, it won't hurt your wallet to invest in it, and it won't waste your time reading it.