‘Rai Rai Rai’ Is a Pastiche of Manga Greats Rolled Right into a Cutesy Kaiju Bundle

Big monsters and manga are a goated combo that has solely gotten stronger as a staple in popular culture. A lot of that is thanks partly to sequence like Kaiju No. 8, which set the bar excessive with its adult-cast twist, serving as an iconoclast to the well-trodden teenage somethings who’ve solely been allowed to play starring roles in shonen sequence.

However one other sequence hewing near its profitable method, deserving simply as a lot reward as its star begins to rise, is Rai Rai Rai, an underappreciated Viz Media manga wealthy with gag-comedy attraction and a deceptively provocative narrative hidden beneath the attraction of its cute woman donning a fair cuter kaiju design. 

Rai Rai Rai (which interprets to “Lightning Lightning Lightning”), written by Yoshiaki, is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi motion comedy sequence. In 2052, the world is on the upswing after an alien invasion half a century prior. Now, organizations are tasked with cleansing up the remaining alien monsters known as varmints.

The sequence follows our crybaby hero, Sumire Ichigaya, an 18-year-old girl who, after getting kidnapped by aliens, has the ability to rework right into a kaiju. At this level, you don’t should squint too laborious to assume that its premise is just about a gender-bent model of Kaiju No. 8, solely buying and selling homegrown kaiju for area kaiju. And properly, yeah. That’s actually a lot of its onboarding, however because the sequence evolves, Rai Rai Rai branches itself out from being a twin sequence to Kaiju No. 8 in fascinating methods price getting in on the bottom flooring now earlier than it actually takes off or will get cancelled (KNOCKS ON WOOD).

This isn’t a spoiler for the sequence’ twist, however what Rai Rai Rai does greater than be the sort of “Kaiju No.8 manga is over, right here’s one thing related” advice that may come readers’ manner is that, regardless of feeling just like the median of a number of manga’s core premises, it nonetheless manages to dig its toes in and maintain robust as a sequence price studying for its personal deserves. These inspirations embrace early Dragon Ball‘s comedic timing, Ranma 1/2 and Kaiju No. 8‘s aesthetics, and a touch of Gunbuster and Chainsaw Man‘s rule of cool to spherical it out.

For one, Rai Rai Rai harkens again to the softer, rounder character designs of seminal manga sequence. Sumire’s ponytail look is peak Ramna 1/2—a mode newer manga like Gokurakugai and Dandadan have properly folded into their DNA, as a result of creator Rumiko Takahashi is price mimicking. But the sequence doesn’t simply delight in attraction; it layers an edge that’s harking back to, after all, Kaiju No. 8, but in addition Chainsaw Man.

That edge reveals most clearly within the militaristic varmint-killing group Sumire is coerced into becoming a member of, Raiden, the place operatives are outfitted in modern plug fits that increase one’s fight prowess—at all times a plus in any sci-fi sequence. However clumsy Sumire, Rai Rai Rai‘s crybaby hero—born to whimsy, pressured to lock in—anchors the story by persevering as its loveable goofball harboring her personal tragedy.

Regardless of Rai Rai Rai‘s deceptively cute veneer, the sequence digs into heavy themes. Key amongst them being the bodily abuse Sumire suffered by the hands of her mom, her dad and mom’ crushing debt, and the exploitative jobs she takes to assist them crawl out of it.

She’s a Denji-like determine, throwing herself into hurt’s manner for pay to the purpose that Raiden doesn’t should hassle hiding that they’re utilizing her as some grand secret. You’d assume all of this is able to coalesce in her kaiju transformation to seem like one thing that crawled out of Q Hayashida’s Dai Dark drafts. As an alternative, we have now a cute subversion: Sumire’s kaiju type is extra like an overstuffed plushy (or a Labubu). Witnessing her wrestle to repress a Godzilla-style atomic breath, solely to rally as an emblem residents can embrace reasonably than worry (peep her Gunbuster pose), feels nearer to Superman-levels of hope-maxing than the sharp-edged poster boys of shonen manga normally parade.

Extra crucially, regardless of being solely roughly 40 chapters deep, Rai Rai Rai strikes an enthralling stability between gag‑manga comedy and its battle‑shonen‑meets‑horror aesthetic.  In the identical manner that Magilumiere Co. LTD. riffs on My Hero Academia and Sailor Moon to show women can lead these sequence with out trying like Scorching Matter knockoffs, Rai Rai Rai pushes the oddly profitable combo of a cute woman in a cute kaiju swimsuit preventing for her life as one thing that doesn’t really feel spinoff however contemporary. It’s mile‑a‑minute bodily comedy that is aware of what makes kaiju media cool and leans closely into that, with gnarly battles, unsettling kaiju designs, and a pointy critique of rah-rah militaristic obedience, making its whimsy really feel not simply charming however subversive and important.

The manga business is cutthroat, with numerous promising sequence cancelled earlier than they ever take off.  Particularly when ladies are at their facilities, too usually their survival will depend on phrase‑of‑mouth to champion them lengthy sufficient to achieve their full potential—as we’ve seen with titles like Love Bullet.

Hopefully, Rai Rai Rai sparks that very same groundswell, as a result of I need to see Yoshiaki preserve cooking. It simply launched a Metal Gear Rising-coded muscle grandma as a wild new rival character, and it’d be a disgrace if this sequence ended up as one other “what might’ve been” manga.

Need extra io9 information? Take a look at when to anticipate the most recent Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on film and TV, and every part it is advisable find out about the way forward for Doctor Who.