Kokonasu Rumba

I don’t have any experience with the Animal Crossing games/franchise (though I’ve played Rune Factory 4 which has similar mechanics), but I thought this was cute.

Here, four basically dumb humans (dummy, rich girl, sleepy, and scholar) arrive at a deserted island and are chaperoned by a raccoon named Tom Nook who acts as a straight man (comedywise). The humans get into wacky situations and always comedically miss the point of taking care of themselves on the island (making a house out of show more trash, eating uncooked fish, etc).

I’m sure the gags will be more fun to a fan of the series, especially the character jokes, but it still works as a standalone. Of course, the illustrations are just adorable! Gulliver, the eagle always in distress, was making me laugh! But I don’t know if I would want to read more. Maybe if my library buys another volume. show less

Four characters - Corouyuki, who loves fish, Benben, who's constantly reading the dictionary, Himepoyo, a spoiled young lady who's used to getting others to do everything for her, and Guchan, who's always sleeping and talks via snot bubbles - move to one of Tom Nook's deserted islands. They were expecting a proper vacation near actual civilization, but they soon adapt to their situation, learn what sorts of things they can do on the island, enjoy island life, and just generally drive Tom show more Nook crazy.

This weird manga is basically a combination of ad and game guide. It introduces several villagers, including Dom and Raymond, as well as a bunch of NPCs players of the game will encounter, such as Blathers, Tom Nook, Timmy and Tommy, Wisp the ghost, Gulliver, and more.

A little over a third of this volume is explicitly game guide stuff, paired with humorous four-panel comics - lots of ACNH character introductions (including a bunch of villagers I've never met), and gameplay tips like setting up your home, using a vaulting pole to get across rivers, catching bugs, fishing, and more.

It doesn't manage to get through everything you can do in the game (I assume this manga was published prior to the updates that added new activities), but it does get through a huge chunk of the basics, so I wonder if future volumes in this series will be more focused on Coroyuki, Benben, Himepoyo, Guchan, and their interactions with villagers.

Other than the chance to see a few villagers in action that I might never meet, there isn't a lot here to make me want to read the next volume. The humor is aimed at kids (Japanese kids, at that, so there are probably jokes lost in translation) and never really hit the mark with me. It was kind of fun seeing the characters drive Tom Nook nuts, though.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

I just want to say that I am a massive fan of the Animal Crossing video game series which is why I snatched these books up when i first found out about them.

I went into this knowing it would be silly and chaotic, so I kept that in mind when thinking of my rating.

I found myself giggling at certain parts and I absolutely loved how the established game characters were portrayed. The "story" was a little all over the place, but I still very much enjoyed myself.

This was such a fun and funny read. I think it was such a nice way to end my reading year