Dinosan
Dinosaur Sanctuary

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Dinosan, or Dinosaur Sanctuary, is a fairly new manga that I think should be getting some more attention.

Based on the premise, Dinosaur Sanctuary essentially sounds like a sunnier version of Jurassic Park and one of its later sequels, Jurassic World. While the manga mentions that the dinosaurs here have, in part, been brought back through breeding and genetic work, Dinosaur Sanctuary isn't ripping off the Jurassic Park franchise. Rather than being a cautionary tale about the dangers of genetic engineering and trying (and failing) to control nature, Dinosaur Sanctuary focuses more on the day-to-day life of caring for animals in captivity in a fairly episodic ... manner.

Our protagonist, Suma Suzume, and her fellow zookeepers find themselves dealing the struggles of keeping their failing dinosaur zoo in good shape and making a profit while also making sure the dinosaurs themselves are well-cared for. The struggles our characters face are very similar to what real-life zookeepers must face when working at zoos and theme parks such as SeaWorld. While these real-life topics can be rather grim, Dinosaur Sanctuary never becomes outright pessimistic, keeping up a fairly optimistic tone that makes this manga fun to read.

Another great aspect of Dinosaur Sanctuary is its adherence to real-life science. The dinosaurs featured are pretty accurately portrayed; lining up well with our current paleontologic information. And mangaka Itaru Kinoshita does a great job with their designs, making them seem life-like and eye-catching. The series even has a research consultant who provides interludes giving brief yet thorough descriptions regarding the reasons why the dinosaurs are portrayed the way they are. Of course, some creative licenses and speculation seem present. For example, T-Rex is portrayed as being fully feathered, despite the concept still being a heavily debated one amongst paleontologists. And for another example, Troodon is shown to be a legitimate genus, whereas in reality, the genus is dubious at best and supposed examples of its fossils seem to actually belong to other, related genus within the Troodontidae family (though, this latter detail is acknowledged in the interludes). These more dubious details don't hamper the story by any means, though.

Dinosaur Sanctuary is a series I can see not only appealing to fans of dinosaur-related media, but to paleontologists and zookeepers as well given its fairly accurate portrayal of the dinosaurs and of the day-to-day life of zookeeping. Here's hoping that Dinosaur Sanctuary gains wider recognition (and perhaps an anime adaptation).

This is by far the greatest dinosaur manga of all time. It treats the titular animals like animals, rather than simply giant monsters to be feared. The first chapter made me tear up, this is special. The protagonist is someone that I personally, as a huge Paleonerd, can relate to. I want more people to read this. I was always that guy who said: "You see that bird over there? Well, that's technically a dinosaur.". I love seeing that somewhere after all this time. On top of that, the dinosaurs are mostly pretty accurate which is a huge plus. I love how this manga teaches ... things about dinosaurs in an interesting way. If you like dinosaurs, this is a must-read.

I found this manga by complete mistake!. I came across it at random and the cover looked interesting. Im a big fan of jurassic park so a manga inspired by that should be right up every jurassic parks fan alley. The story starts out interesting. The main character is your classic very happy to go lucky girl but the author sets up an interesting mystery about her family. This plays out well around in the end of the volume where it leaves on a cliffhanger. The art is extremely good and the dinosaurs look extremely realistic. The world is also built well so far in ... the 1 volume that has been translated. Im happy to have come across this manga. Its only 5 chapters but it was a joy to read. More chapters will come but it will take a bit of time. I recommend this for anyone looking for just a short wholesome story with an interesting world and likeable characters.