Super Mario Manga Mania Review: Covered In Tears & Snot

 

Did you know Mario had a manga series in Japan following him through his video game adventures? I'd remember seeing this version of Mario, dubbed by fans as Mario-Kun, in Japanese super markets, on Twitter images and even as a skin in the first Mario Maker, but other then that I payed it little mind. Viz, however did care and gives us a best-of compilation of Mario-Kun by artist and writer Yukio Sawada. And it's juvenile as Hell.

 

Snot and tears flow so much off Mario-Kun and his friends in this book I think it be better if Viz re-did the cover and re-titled it Mario-Kun: Snot & Tears. The simple happy go-lucky cover on Super Mario Manga Mania does not inform the reader of the cartoony, silly and gross-out humor it contains. It should be a snot flowing and teary-eyed Mario and his friends selling the book. Not this very average looking cover.

If you've ever read a boy's manga, this is it, with constant stupid jokes and antics on par with Bugs Bunny, but grosser, much, much grosser.

Though I'm amazed at how many different games Yukio has covered over the years-25+ in all it says in inside- and put into this one book, it's just not for me. You'll see Mario fight bad guys from the games and it probably pulls from the games even more than the cartoons ever did back in the early 90's.

 

And it's for little kids, though there's even a warning at the end for a sad parent passing story that the book tells you feels out of place, but since the creator wanted it in his original compilation, they left it in.

I still recommend it for kids who want a gag book and know of Mario playing his games in any fashion. It jumps around as it's a mix of stories through-out Mario's career.

Super Mario Manga Mania

$9.99

*I could totally see the art on shirts, stickers and other collectibles. Maybe even, a fun wrapping paper or even a hand picked silliest images art book.

 

Book provided by publisher for review purposes