i was told there is a manga out there on any theme imaginable. so i was not very surprised when i heard that a there is a manga on wine but it single-handedly increased wine sales in japan from less than a third of the market to around 70 per cent of alcohol sales. wow! traditionally, wine consumption is very low in japan but everything and anything french is great so the poetic description of wines and especially of french wines led to this unheard of outcome…
the manga was later published all over asia, with similar sale-boosting results, and then in france. an american release is scheduled for september 2011. there’s also a 9-episode tv adaptation.
kami no shizuku (les gouttes de dieu/the drops of the gods) has been written by two siblings, yuko and shin kibayashi, under the pen name of tadashi agi, starting with november 2004.
the main character is kanzuki shizuku, who was estranged from his father, a very famous wine critic. when his father dies, he is to inherit a very valuable wine collection upon the solving of a series of puzzles and identification of the 13 wines described in his father’s will, namely the twelve apostles and les gouttes de dieu. he must compete with toomine issei, an important wine critic whom his father had adopted before passing away.
click here for more details and an interview of the magakas.
