Dinosaur Sanctuary Explained
| Ja Kanji: | ディノサン |
| Ja Romaji: | Dinosan |
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Itaru Kinoshita, with paleontologist Dr. Shin-ichi Fujiwara serving as research consultant. It began serialization in Shinchosha's Monthly Comic Bunch magazine in March 2021; as of July 2024, six volumes have been released.
Plot
In a world where dinosaurs were rediscovered in 1946, Suma Suzume works in Enoshima Dinoland, a struggling dinosaur park where she takes care of many dinosaurs and faces many challenges.
Characters
Enoshima Dinoland Staff and Keepers
- Suma Suzume
A rookie dinokeeper at the Enoshima Dinoland dinosaur park and the main character. Her love of dinosaurs stems from her father, Suma Ichirou, who was a scientist responsible for bringing certain extinct species back through genetics. After a fatal incident ruined her father's career and drove him to suicide, Suma lost her interest in dinosaurs which she regained when she remembered the happiness they brought her when she was growing up. She aspires to be able to bridge the gap between humans and dinosaurs and reignite the dying passion people had with dinosaurs.
- Kaidou Arata
An experienced dinokeeper who specializes in the parks theropods. Kaidou worked at Enoshima Dinoland for over 15 years under another dinokeeper Yamaga before a tragic incident involving Ichigo, the park's Allosaurus, resulted in the death of both Yamaga and the dinosaur. Since then, Kaidou became stricter with rules and regulations to prevent any further incidents. Despite his more aloof personality, Kaidou does still love his job and cares for those he works for and with. He's Suma's primary overseer.
- Kirishima Karin
The park's ceratopsian keeper. Kirishima worked at another dinosaur park with the Triceratops, Masaru. However, when Masaru broke his horn and lost popularity to the point of selling him to Enoshima Dinoland, Kirishima left to continue working with him. She has a sisterly attitude towards Suma, both working hard to make an interactive display to boost Masaru's popularity.
- Ogino Takatoshi
Enoshima Dinoland's chief curator and manager. Mild-mannered and gentle, Ogino is determined to keep the park running despite its relatively poor state. He has, however, clashed with Kirishima when his superiors decided to sell Masaru the Triceratops for more funds, something he was reluctant about. He gladly convinced them otherwise when Kirishima and Suma worked together to make an interactive display, which proved to be successful after an online influencer posted online about it.
- Torikai Ami
Enoshima Dinoland's accountant and office manager working beneath Ogino. She's usually seen wearing a dinosaur hat, a jumpsuit, and barefooted. She keeps to herself on her laptop, keeping track of the park's finances and online media presence.
- Shiranui Ren
The veterinarian of the park. He primarily works with his assistant Nakajou. Despite being attractive and caring towards his dinosaur patients, he's distant towards people and can be seen as spiteful, blaming certain health problems dinosaurs have from genetic tampering done in the labs. He also states to hate people who have goals but no way of achieving them, believing Suma to be one such person. He does start warming up to her after she helped with the park's Pachycephalosaurus after he experiences slight pnuemonia.
- Igarashi Keisuke
The park's stegosaur and pachycephalosaur keeper. He used to work at another dinosaur park that specialized in marine reptiles like mosasaurs and ichthyosaurs called Blue World years prior to the story. He grew attached the park's Globidens Sophia, but left and joined Enoshima Dinoland. He's boisterous and something of a smooth-talker, easily getting along with Suma due to their mutual love of dinosaurs and parallels in their trainee experiences. He has butted heads with Shiranui due to their clashing personalities, though will work together for the sake of the dinosaurs.
- Katase Shougo
A keeper who works primarily with the park's ankylosaurs, though certain theropods like the Citipati pair are under his care. He's relatively new to his position due to his predecessor quitting. He's put under constant pressure, though hides it with a stone face. He's methodical in his work and strict with his rules.
- Katou Harue
The park's ornithopod keeper. She's motherly and caring. She's also excited to see baby dinosaurs, hoping that the Centrosaurus will breed and earn the park an award.
- Makabe Kazuya
The park's plesiosaur keeper. He's shown to be something of a cynic, believing that people aren't interested in the educational aspect of the park and only go to see cool dinosaurs.
- Hayashi Fuzuki
The park's pterosaur keeper.
- Hoshino Kurumi
The park's sauropod keeper.
- Kazama Ryuuji
A keeper who works for the park's unusual dinosaurs.Enoshima Dinoland's Dinosaurs and other Animals
- Yuuki
The park's Giganotosaurus. Despite being a predatory dinosaur, she's actually pretty skittish and cautious. She's also described as needy and pampered.
- Niko & Vena
The park's pair of Troodon. They have mated and laid a clutch of eggs, four of which hatch. Niko was the first dinosaur Suma worked with, helping Kaidou and Kirishima when he was suffering from a combination of heat stroke and a blocked throat. The runt of the clutch, Benkei, was placed under Suma's care before he was sent to the lab to be cared for and transferred once he is at the right age. The other three remain under their parents care.
- Masaru
The park's Triceratops. He belonged to another dinosaur park where he was the star dinosaur, even being the basis for a character in a dinosaur movie. Unfortunately, his popularity was shot when he accidentally broke his left horn after he got it stuck. He became the source of ridicule and mockery afterwards. He was sold to Enoshima Dinoland in hopes of bringing people to the smaller park, though Kirishima believes it was to save face for the bigger park. He was nearly sold to another park when he didn't bring the crowds, but through Kirishima and Suma's hard work, they were able to make a display out of Masaru's broken horn, which gained popularity when an influencer talked about it online.
- Roy
The park's Dilophosaurus. Due to his species being brought back through genetics rather than being part of the lost world most dinosaurs came from, Roy suffers from a number of health problems like gout. Despite this, he still lives a good life at the park.
- Daikichi, Shoukichi, & Umeko
The park's trio of Centrosaurus. Umeko is the sole female of the group and the reason Daikichi and Shoukichi spar. In one bout, Shoukichi was able to win and pair up with Umeko. This has resulted in Daikichi being moved to another exhibit and hopes of breeding some baby Centrosaurus
- Hanako
The park's sole Tyrannosaurus. She briefly appears in a flashback in the first chapter. When she is formally introduced, the park is celebrating her 35th birthday. Because of her age, she doesn't move around as much and isn't as popular as other tyrannosaurs. Despite this, the birthday celebration was a success and she was able to enjoy a pile of steaks made of hadrosaur meat in front of a crowd.
- Eiger
The park's Spinosaurus. He's described as being hot-headed, though is a popular attraction at the park. Because of his temperament, he sometimes misses his catches.
- Hachibei
The park's Pachycephalosaurus. He was paired with a female named Daisy, though she died before the start of the manga. For a short time, his sleep was interrupted by water splashing down from a clogged gutter, which caused him to drowsily bump his nose to the wall while pacing. This led to a case of pneumonia when his nostrils got reshaped by an infection caused by nasal catarrh. Fortunately, Suma was able to catch it early enough to have Hachibei examined and healed. He continues to sleep in a spot he shared with Daisy.
- Momiji
The park's Stegosaurus. She used to live in an exhibit of her own, but was swapped with Daikichi while Shoukichi and Umeko were prepped for breeding. She also lives with the Camarasaurus, Plateosaurus, and Thescelosaurus. She gained some online popularity when a picture of her made it look like she was smiling.
- Ayaka, Norika, Fuuka, & Nia
The park's small herd of Pinacosaurus. Nia is the sole male of the group and the father of five babies, Ayaka being the mother. Each member of the herd are picky about what they eat, so their main keeper, Katase, divides the food evenly to their liking. The babies are transferred to another park.
- Kaka & Kuku
The park's pair of Citipati. Kuku is the skittish of the two, refusing to got to her crate even with the promise of food. The two currently live with the Pinacosaurus herd.
- Unnamed Camarasaurus
Seen a few times in the story. It's the park sole sauropod. It lives in the biggest exhibit with Shoukichi, Umeko, Momiji, a flock of Thescelosaurus, and a group of Plateosaurus.
- Unnamed Protoceratops
Seen a couple times in the story. The park has at least two.
- Unnamed Deinocheirus
Seen a couple times in the story. Only one is seen.
- Unnamed Psittacosaurus
Seen a couple times in the story. The park has a small herd with hopes of breeding them.
- Unnamed Plateosaurus
Seen a couple times in the story. One is barely seen, but dialogue indicates there's more.
- Unnamed Thescelosaurus
Seen a couple times in the story. Three could be seen in certain panals.
- Edmontosaurus
Unseen and unnamed, but confirmed to be a part of the park according to the map. Whether they're E. annectens or E. regalis is currently not known, but E. regalis is seen as a still.
- Halszkaraptor
Unseen and unnamed, but confirmed to be a part of the park according to the map.
- Futabasaurus
Unseen and unnamed, but confirmed to be a part of the park according to the map.
- Pterodactylus
Unseen and unnamed, but confirmed to be a part of the park according to the map. Lives in the aviary with other pterosaurs.
- Rhamphorhynchus
Unseen and unnamed, but confirmed to be a part of the park according to the map. Lives in the aviary with other pterosaurs.
- Pterodaustro
Unseen and unnamed, but confirmed to be a part of the park according to the map. Lives in the aviary with other pterosaurs.
- Ctenochasma
Unseen and unnamed, but confirmed to be a part of the park according to the map. Lives in the aviary with other pterosaurs.Other Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals
- Ichigo
Enoshima Dinoland's Allosaurus. She was under the care of Kaidou and Yamaga 15 years before the beginning of the story. She was shy and easily frightened. Due to Yamaga ignoring the buddy system and a minor construction incident, Ichigo got frightened and killed Yamaga before trying to escape. Though she got caught by the gate, the pressure injured her ribs and made her sounds of pain scare the crowds. Ichigo was euthanized by a shot to the head, but the incident caused a domino effect that is felt throughout the story.
- Sophia
Blue World's Globidens. The survivor of a c-section after her mother's untimely death, Sophia was a popular attraction at the park. As she aged, however, her popularity waned. Before working at Enoshima Dinoland, Igarashi was one of Sophia's keepers.
- Unnamed Ichthyosaurs
Blue World had a tank of unidentified ichthyosaurs. Sophia was placed into their tank as a pup with little risk to either since the ichthyosaurs are primarily fish eaters and Sophia eats mollusks rather than bigger animals.
- Unnamed Plesiosaur
Blue World has at least one species of plesiosaur, though the identity of it is unknown.
- Velociraptor
The result of illegal breeding, a Velociraptor was smuggled into Kamakura from Yokohama before it escaped to a nearby shrine. Due to being captively bred and raised by humans, there was concern about it harming someone. Suma and Kaidou worked with local law enforcement to capture it and bring it to the lab.Publication
Written by Itaru Kinoshita, the series began serialization in Shinchosha's Monthly Comic Bunch magazine on March 19, 2021.[1] Shin-ichi Fujiwara, a lecturer at the, is serving as the series' research consultant.[1] As of December 2023, the series' individual chapters have been collected into five tankōbon volumes.
In January 2022, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they licensed the series for English publication.[2]
Volume list
Reception
Danica Davidson of Otaku USA praised the story, characters, and extra notes from Fujiwara, noting that "Dinosaur Sanctuary does a good job of making [dinosaurs] like animals with personalities, rather than monsters in a monster movie".[3] Jonathan Greenall of Comic Book Resources praised the tone and art style. Additionally, Greenall felt the series does a good job of describing how to care for animals.[4] J. Caleb Mozzocco of School Library Journal also praised the artwork and characters. Mozocco felt the plot was "[''[[Jurassic Park]] but] the park works like it was supposed to".[5]
The series ranked 20th in the 2023 Next Manga Award in the print manga category.[6]
Notes and References
- Web site: ja:恐竜が絶滅しなかった世界を舞台に1人の新人飼育員を描く新連載、バンチで始動. https://natalie.mu/comic/news/420792. Comic Natalie. Natasha, Inc. March 19, 2021. July 15, 2023. ja.
- Web site: Seven Seas Licenses 'Imaginary,' 'Dinosaurs Sanctuary' Manga. Anime News Network. Pineda. Rafael. January 19, 2022. July 15, 2023.
- Web site: Dinosaur Sanctuary Is For Anyone Who's a Fan of Dinos and Manga. Otaku USA. Davidson. Danica. October 21, 2022. July 15, 2023.
- Web site: Dinosaur Sanctuary: The Manga That Will Reawaken Your Childhood Love of Dinosaurs. Comic Book Resources. Greenall. Jonathan. October 16, 2022. July 15, 2023.
- Web site: Dinosaur Sanctuary Vol. 1 Review. School Library Journal. Mozocco. J. Caleb. October 31, 2022. July 15, 2023.
- Web site: ja:次にくるマンガ大賞2023、コミックス部門1位はむちまろ「生徒会にも穴はある！」. https://natalie.mu/comic/news/539186. Comic Natalie. Natasha, Inc. August 31, 2023. August 31, 2023. ja.
