Manga Reviews (2010-2019): Heaven's Design Team Vol. 1 by HEBI-ZOU and Suzuki Tsuta, Art by Tarako

If you are interested in reading a manga storyline that revolves around the creation of animals with a fun, manga spin to it, then definitely check out “Heaven’s Design Team”.

Click here to buy the “Heaven’s Design Team” Vol. 1

MANGA TITLE: Heaven’s Design Team Vol. 1

STORY AND ART BY: HEBI-ZOU and Suzuki Tsuta, Art by Tarako

FIRST PUBLISHED IN JAPAN: Kodansha Comics

PUBLISHED IN USA BY: Kodansha Comics

RATED: N/A

RELEASE DATE: October 20, 2020

This isn’t your average Design Agency! Their assignment? Make the animals that will populate Earth to God’s exacting specs! As their rejected designs pile up (literally), the team may worry that they’ll never get it right, but that’s often when inspiration strikes. The result might be a giraffe, a koala, or something new, weird, wonderful—and real! Welcome to the wild thing factory!

Includes photos and educational information about the REAL animals created in this volume: Giraffe, Red-eyed tree frog, Koala, Horsehair worm, Armadillo, Anteater, Sea cucumber, American red deer, Fiddler crab, Narwhal, Sperm whale, Giant squid, Seahorse…and many more!

With the anime adaptation of “Tenchi Sozo Dezain-bu” (Heaven’s Design Team) at the beginning of the year, now “Heaven’s Design Team” written by Hebi-Zou, Suzuki Tsuta and illustrations by Tarako will be released in North America courtesy of Kodansha Comics.

The manga series which began in 2017 and serialized in Kodansha’s Seinen magazine “Monthly Morning Two” has been collected in six volumes so far.

The series kicks off with a new angle named Shimoda who serves as a liaison between God (the client) and the Design Department.

He is quickly introduced to the other designers in the team:

Ueda – Shimoda’s Supervisor and also a liaison between God and the Design Department.
Mr. Saturn – A designer and head of the Design Department. His masterpiece was designing the horse and because of the success, wants to continue to make horses.
Jupiter – A designer whose masterpiece is the cow.
Mercury – A designer whose masterpiece is the snake.
Venus – A designer nicknamed “Ven” and his masterpiece is the bird.
Pluto – A designer. Her masterpiece is the poisonous frog.
Neptune – His masterpiece is the Kangaroo.
Mars – An Engineer who tests whether the animal designs will function in the physical world.

For the first manga series which serves as an introduction to the main characters of the Heaven’s Design Team, part of the introduction is introducing the main masterpiece of the designers.

But also how they debate on how to create animals different from their masterpiece and in a creative way seeing how they work together to make things happen, but also an educational page about the actual animal.

From how animals such as a giraffe, a common egg eater, weaverbird, koala, armadillo, elk, sperm whale, fiddler crab, Narwhal, giant squid, Japanese flying squid, a giant siphonophore were created and more!

In a way, it kind of reminded me of the animal cards which I grew up with. The ones with a photo in the front and information in the rear, it’s something I enjoyed as a young kid.

So, “Heaven’s Design” is interesting in the fact of stories crafted of how a design team came up with ideas such as Mr. Saturn, who can’t think of anything else but creating animals similar to his masterpiece, the horse. So, Mr. Saturn and the team come up with an idea such as a Pegasus, but what happens when a horse flies and has to poop? That means manure would be dropping from the sky. So, that idea is scrapped.

So, then they start experimenting with a deer with a long neck or a deer with long legs, but it would lead to a strain in the heart or getting anemia by eating on grass and then hitting its head. But instead of a deer, what happens if they add horns, and spots and sure enough, create a giraffe.

What happens when Mr. Saturn creates a Common Egg-Eater which eats bird eggs. But for Venus, whose masterpiece is the bird, he wants to protect the bird and its eggs. So, what kind of design would he do, in order to prevent Mr. Saturn’s snake from eating his egg? What kind of bird will he create?

So, it’s a very fascinating manga series but because it focuses on animal designs, chapter in and out, its a storyline that may be entertaining to some or repetitive to some. So, it depends on the reader.

But overall, if you are interested in reading a manga storyline that revolves around the creation of animals with a fun, manga spin to it, then definitely check out “Heaven’s Design Team”.

Click here to buy the “Heaven’s Design Team” Vol. 1

Manga Reviews (2010-2019): Heaven’s Design Team Vol. 1 by HEBI-ZOU and Suzuki Tsuta, Art by Tarako

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