Thanks to barnesandnoble.com for the image.

Rating “T” for “Ages 13+”

50 years after a devastating war, a second industrial age has begun…

Kakashi is an orphaned boy living in small community on a backwater island.  He never really knew his father, but thanks to a journal his father left him, Kakashi can read about his father’s travels around the world.  Kakashi is determined to experience his father’s whirlwind adventures, but practically everyone on the island thinks Kakashi is a joke.

Fate changes the boy’s life when an airship stops on the island for repairs, and Kakashi forces his way onto the zeppelin.  Fate steps in again, and not long after getting on the ship, Kakashi finds a friendly puppy and the Man Chicken Family hijacks the airship.  Now, the adventure really begins.

THE LOWDOWN:  Filled with references to The Wizard of Oz, Toto!, Vol. 1 is pure shounen manga (boys’ comics), a wide open, action-adventure that recalls 19th adventure stories with a some of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece thrown in the mix.  It’s also reminiscent of those old movie serials that influenced George Lucas for Star Wars.  For some reason Toto! also reminds me of the films of Hayao Miyazaki (the Oscar-winning director of Spirited Away), in its sense of wonder and in the grit, determination, and resourcefulness of its plucky hero, Kakashi.

Toto! is a page-turner, reluctant to let go of your attention once it grabs onto you.  It may be too early to call this a great shounen, but it’s not too early to say that it is an indisputably fun and entertaining read.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  The same audience that goes for the wonderful comics in VIZ Media’s Shonen Jump magazine will find joy in this, also.

A-