Kon Kon Kokon
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 series written and illustrated by Koge-Donbo
Koge-Donbo
, is a Japanese manga artist. Koge-Donbo* started her career soon after college as a doujinshi artist. She got the idea of a unique pen-name, Koge-Donbo* from Akira Toriyama's pet cat. She made her first official US appearance at Otakon 2004 in Baltimore, MD as a Guest of Honor...

. The manga is currently in serialisation in Broccoli Books
Broccoli (company)
is a Japanese media company that publishes manga, anime, and video games through its various subsidiaries.- About :Broccoli is the parent company of Broccoli Music Publishing, Broccoli International USA, and Anime Gamers USA Inc...

's magazine, Comi Digi +
Comi Digi +
is a Japanese seinen manga magazine editied by Broccoli, published by Flex Comix, and sold through Soft Bank Creative. The magazine is sold bimonthly on even-numbered months on the twenty-first. The magazine was originally published in April 2003 under the title , after the series Di Gi Charat...

. In North America the manga was released by Broccoli Books USA
Broccoli (company)
is a Japanese media company that publishes manga, anime, and video games through its various subsidiaries.- About :Broccoli is the parent company of Broccoli Music Publishing, Broccoli International USA, and Anime Gamers USA Inc...

. It is about a boy named Ren who just wants to be one of the cool kids, but it doesn’t help that secretly he’s just a nerdy monster fanatic. That is, until a young girl named Kokon shows up. She claims to be a fox that he had helped years ago and now she wants to return the favor.

Plot

The series starts with Ren in school, getting high grades and wishing Himeka would notice him, this is all interrupted however when Konkon comes in, and jumps on Ren saying that she "has come to repay him". At first Ren is indifferent towards Konkon, but that quickly changes when after Himeka asks Ren to explore the school with her because she had heard about an obake
Obake
and are a class of yōkai, preternatural creatures in Japanese folklore. Literally, the terms mean a thing that changes, referring to a state of transformation or shapeshifting....

 while exploring he discovers that Konkon is actually a Kyubi-no-Kitsune, a nine-tailed fox, something he hides from Himeka.

Later, Kitsuneko, another fox demon from the same clan as Konkon makes a similar appearance as Konkon first did only she demands that Ren let Konkon go with her. Ren refuses her, and Kitsuneko challenges Ren to a contest for Konkon to stay or not, which Ren wins when Konkon saves him. During the contest however Ren finds out that Konkon is a god of the fox clan called a "Miko" which is chosen by one of the other fox yokai
Yokai
are a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. The word yōkai is made up of the kanji for "otherworldly" and "weird". Yōkai range eclectically from the malevolent to the mischievous, or occasionally bring good fortune to those who encounter them...

.Kitsuneko also develops a crush on Ren and ends up staying with Konkon, and him.

During a swimming contest Kitsuneko gets jealous at seeing Himeka together with Ren and shoots at Himeka but ends up hitting an umibōzu
Umibozu
is a spirit in Japanese folklore. The Umibōzu is said to live in the ocean and capsize the ship of anyone who dares speak to it. This spirit's name, which combines the character for "sea" with the character of "Buddhist monk," is possibly related to the fact that the Umibōzu is said to have a...

 instead. Konkon then sees that it is an Ocean Miko, and that it is sad, something that Ren fixes by pulling its power source out of all this black goop. The umibōzu, who looks a bit like Himeka, later pays a visit to Ren at his house saying that she needs to pay him back for his kindness, something that does not go well with Konkon upon hearing. From Umibozu's payback promise to Kitsuneko's flirting with Ren, she becomes sad and determined to get Ren's attention back. She does that by accident by blowing up food in the kitchen and getting herself covered in it. Ren pleased that Konkon is acting more like a yokai than a foxgirl is happy but Konkon is not, saying she "became human in order to be his wife".

Characters

- Ren is a country bumpkin who recreates himself as a smart and cool guy in Tokyo so as not to reveal his secret, which is that he is a Japanese demon otaku
Otaku
is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga or video games.- Etymology :Otaku is derived from a Japanese term for another's house or family , which is also used as an honorific second-person pronoun...

.

- Kokon is a fox-demon girl who comes to Tokyo to repay her debt to Ren, a boy who saved her life. At the ending of the first volume, she claims that she became human in order to be his wife.

- Kitsuneko is a fox-demon girl from the same fox-demon clan as Kokon. She appears to take Kokon back to her clan,and challenges Ren to a race to find a charm. But after meeting Ren, she gains a new agenda: staying as close to Ren as possible.

- Himeka is Ren's classmate and Kazune's cousin. Because she is Ren's crush, he is always trying to act cool in front of her. She is also a main character in Koge-Donbo's Kamichama Karin
Kamichama Karin
is a Japanese manga originally written by Koge-Donbo about a seventh grade girl named Karin who finds out that she can transform into a goddess. The series began as a manga first serialized in January 2003. Kamichama Karin was serialized in the Japanese shōjo manga magazine Nakayoshi and published...

" but only sometimes appear in the "Kamichama Karin Chu
series.

- Kazune is Ren's classmate who is smart, good-looking, popular with girls and cool. He is also a main character in Koge-Donbo's Kamichama Karin
Kamichama Karin
is a Japanese manga originally written by Koge-Donbo about a seventh grade girl named Karin who finds out that she can transform into a goddess. The series began as a manga first serialized in January 2003. Kamichama Karin was serialized in the Japanese shōjo manga magazine Nakayoshi and published...

/Kamichama Karin Chu
series.

- Umibozu is an ocean-dwelling demon. During a trip to the beach, Ren helps her, and she soon chases after him with a desire to repay him for what he did. It is later discovered that Umibozu is actually male.

Manga

So far there has been only 1 book released in both Japan, and North America. Japan's manga release date was December 21, 2006 while in North America Broccoli Books USA
Broccoli (company)
is a Japanese media company that publishes manga, anime, and video games through its various subsidiaries.- About :Broccoli is the parent company of Broccoli Music Publishing, Broccoli International USA, and Anime Gamers USA Inc...

released an English version on June 13, 2007. Broccoli Books USA went under in December 2008 so the future of the manga is uncertain. The book licenses that Broccoli International USA had reverted back to Japanese publishers at the end of 2008. However, Broccoli stated that they were "working with them so the titles can be released by other US publishers sometime in the future".

Reception

Mania.com's Ariadne Roberts commends the manga for its "delicately textured and soft to the touch" cover as well as its "reprinted with exquisite clarity" "black & white pages".

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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