The Fall 2024 Manga Guide

Dragon and Chameleon

What's It About? 

Garyo Hanagami is a best-selling manga artist praised as a genius of the craft. Shinobu Miyama is a bitter rookie with a knack for copying other people's art styles. When an accident causes the two to switch bodies, Miyama is more than happy to take Hanagami's place, forcing the veteran to rebuild his career from the ground up. Now, the dragon must reclaim his throne from the chameleon who replaced him!

Dragon and Chameleon has a story and art by Ryō Ishiyama, with English translation by Kevin Yuan. This volume was lettered by Phil Christie. Published by Square Enix Manga & Books (November 19, 2024).

Is It Worth Reading?

I love Bakuman.. Never in my life did I think I would read a story that broke down the introductory steps of what it meant to be a manga creator in a structure that was similar to what you would see in a Shonen Jump series. The only thing that would've made it better is if we had more of an exaggerated tone. Maybe something was more indicative of what you would see in a battle manga series. That's what Dragon and Chameleon is. It's what would happen if you mixed Bakuman. with something like Kaiju No. 8.

This story is dumb. It does not care about establishing logic for the supernatural circumstances surrounding the story. The main character does whatever he wants. He's a very wide-eyed and driven protagonist, one you've seen before but now has the added benefit of already being a professional. Our main character lives and breathes manga, but what happens when he is forced to compete with himself at his peak? I like that idea of someone who seemingly already reached the top now being forced into a situation where he needs to excel even further. Dragon and Chameleon approach this idea from two perspectives; a veteran who reached that point and a novice who is doing everything they can to maintain that position. This leads to very fun and engaging exchanges that are elevated by the artwork.

I could recommend this book by its artwork alone. The visual metaphors, the exaggerated facial expressions, and the single and double-page spreads are all used to highlight the characters' thought processes. There's a good chance that this story would not have worked if the art and storyboarding weren't as strong as it was. If you're looking for a cheesy Shounen series, this is a great and unique read. I'm going to buy the second volume when it comes out.

What if a rookie manga artist got body swapped with a seasoned pro? Dragon and Chameleon is that thought experiment if it were transformed into a full-blown competition manga. Manga about manga can be hit or miss, but this story full of larger-than-life personalities is like Bakuman. on steroids. Combining the reality of how your weekly shonen manga sausage gets made every week with exaggerated characters to keep it interesting, Dragon and Chameleon kept my attention. However, its lack of multi-dimensional female characters, plus the way it skims over some very real problems in the manga industry, keep it from being a total win.

The animal abstracts of the title represent the personalities of two very different manga artists. There's veteran Hanagami-sensei, AKA the “Dragon,” a powerhouse manga artist of the likes of Akira Toriyama or Eiichiro Oda. Then there's the upstart Miyama, a temporary assistant to Hanagami-sensei, who has a knack for imitating any manga artist's style. Why is he just a temp with a skill like that? He'd be in demand as an assistant if it weren't for his garbage personality! After alienating the rest of the assistants during an outburst, Miyama gets so worked up he falls down the stairs, and only the kindly Hanagami races to rescue Miyama's unlikeable ass. But when the two artists wake up, they've swapped bodies for some reason—a twist that they both compare to a shonen manga, of course. Hanagami wants to find a fix, but Miyama is completely content: he's taking this chance as his fast track to success, even if (especially if?) it's not built on his own accomplishments. He's one despicable guy, but with his Chameleon powers, there's nothing Hanagami can do to unmask him as an imposter. Instead, Hanagami must start from scratch with a brand new manga to compete with his former temp—and with Miyama's sour reputation, it's not going to be easy to find people who want to be on his side!

The central conflict is gripping, with a deliciously hateable antagonist and a good guy who is easy to root for. But the characters around them aren't so deep. The Dragon and Chameleon have fantastic designs, but everyone else is there as a Teachable Moment about manga more than for their own personalities. When Hanagami-as-Miyama meets a female assistant, she's more concerned about increasing her bust size than creating the next great manga. Additionally, I didn't like the veneration of Hanagami's (and then Hanagami-as-Miyama's) unhealthy lifestyle, lauding the way he supposedly doesn't need food or sleep because his love of manga fuels him just that much, and anyone who can't subsist on 1.5 hours of sleep per night doesn't have what it takes to be a manga artist. I'm glad the manga commented on this dark side of serial manga creation, but I wish it hadn't been done in such an incurious way. Even this manga's flaws make it feel like a spiritual successor to Bakuman., so if you enjoyed that manga about manga, you'll probably want to check this one out, too.