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hasellia · 2 years ago

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A review / discussion of Dinosaur Sanctuary Vol 1

Light spoilers ahead

Dinosaur Sanctuary is a manga written / illustrated by Itaru Kinoshita with Shin-Ichi Fujiwara as scientific consultant.

75 years before the setting, Dinosaurs were discovered alive on an remote island. Several decades later after years of breeding and genetic manipulation several dinoparks were established. Dinosaurs became a world wide phenomenon. Until a horrible incident occurred. Now dinosaurs are seen as a past fad, parks and reserves are currently on hard times. Now in 2021 a young dinosaur keeper, Suma Suzume enters the field with a still burning passion and love of dinosaurs. She learns the ins and outs of animal keeping (for dinosaurs) while hoping to one day bridge the gap between dinosaurs and people. Will she save Enoshima Dinoland from going extinct?

The way I would describe Dinosaur Sanctuary (so far) is that it's kind of life prehistoric park, but no time trvel or non mesozoic animals, a greater focus on the caretaking of the dinosaurs and follows the tropes and expectations of a manga instead of a BBC series.

The main focus is the dinosaurs of-course. In volume one we spend time looking at some of treatment of dinosaur pathology and how the park copes with their wellfare. In treating the dinosaurs we learn a bit about their anatomy and behaviour. Some interesting quirks are presented here that I haven't really seen in other paleomedia.

One is the knee caps of Dilophosaurus.

Another is the horns of Triceratops, I haven't really seen or notice any other paleoartistic depicting ridges in the keratine of their horns.

Of coarse, if their is a major issue with the dinosaurs every week that might raise some questions right? Well the story explains that Enoshima Dinoland is the smallest and least funded Dinosaur park in Japan. Some characters are there because they worked with an dinosaur who was transfered there after being declared unprofitable from viewing after an injury.

Another is a seasoned carer who is somewhat jaded but continues to work for the animals sake. And then there's the main character. All she ever wanted was to work as a dinosaurs carer. And now coming into the workspace with bright eyes, her dream clashes with the experiecne of the veteren workers who know what it's like to work in an exploitetive enviroment.

[Side note, there's quite a bit of (handsome) older men talking down the newcommer girl. Espetially in the last chapter where things get personal for yet to be dramatically revealed reasons. At the very least it's called out and it doen't seem to bother the main character but was enough to make me a little uncomfortable. Other than that I sympathise with the characters here, since I lived near a similar park for rescue animals. At such a place, there a fast turnover of green gilled carers that didn't realize the actual politics and conditions of working for such a place. Eventually most of the qualfied people left to work at greener pastures leaving the actual animal handeling to the young newcommers and the older veterans committed by loyalty. I never worked there, but I've heard the stories. But after decades of hardship that park has new ownership now who is working to make conditions better for both workers and animals. Our girl Suma is determined to work hard to make Enoshima Dinoland the best park it can be, but if you have hopes to be an animal carerer, I'd say work at a place that treats you and the animals with respect first. Once you're given the best possible chance to know the job is reallly for you, maybe then you can try shounen manga protagonisting your way to better working conditions. That sounds like a joke but I know some people seriously thought they could do that. Please, treat yourself with respect first.]

One aspect of diagnosing an animal illness is looking at changes in their behaviour. When the animals you're depicted are extinct, you have to rely on clues in the fossil record and phylogenetic bracketing to find the best way to accurately bring those behaviours to life. Chapter two is mostly applying various bird behaviours to a Troodon couple hatching eggs. [Side note, that naked patch of skin is a real thing in birds and I think certain non-avian dinosaurs? I'd love to hear some feedback on the possibility the chest patch.]

Another is Dilophosaurus fishing which is something I've seen discussed but never really understood the final conclusions on.

The Dinosaurs of Enoshima Dinoland have another thing to look out for with illnesses. Dinosaur Sanctuary is the only paleomedia I can think of that seriously talks about the ramifications of genetic modifications on animal wellfare. When journalist and influencers are falling for lacking promises and straight up scams (I'll never forget Tierzoo and the *** gun) it's refreshing and somewhat important for a piece of media to actually discuss the conditions genetically modified animals have to live with. These dinosaurs are alive, but some would never be able to live without constant care and human intervention.

It's clear that Kinoshita is, what we would call in the west, a paleo-nerd.

The dinosaurs are depicted beutifully.

But a passion without the knowledge can only lead so far, that why he has Shin-Ichi Fujiwara as a scientific consultant. Dr. Fujiwara specializes in biomechanics and gives insightful afterthoughts after everychapter relating to dinosaur anatomy or his experiance in the field of paleontology. One very important thing I need to mention is that aparantly, certain ceratopsians cat-loafs.

One thing I've haven't commented on is the actual accuracy of the dinosaurs. That's mainly because, I'm not confident enough in my dinosaur knowledge to give any meaningfull comments. All I can say is that a) T-rex is probably a bit overfluffed on the cover, b) the Dilophosuars is maaaaaybe a bit underfleshed in the crest. Other than that I give it to the die-hards to say anything else that sticks out to them.

Enoshima is also an actual inahabited island in japan. All the dinosaurs avian but that shouldn't stop you form seeing them. If you're on the look out for your favourite dinosaur to appear in the future (or maybe want to scope out Enoshima for a vist) here's the layout of Enoshima Dinosaurland park. I can't wait until the inevitable Prehistoric kingdom recreation.

As someone that used to play Zoo Tycoon and role play Prehistoric Park in forums this series is a long time comming for me. There are more dinosaurs and characters on the way and so far I'm having a blast. And one last piece of very important information.

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