The Chessboard Ghost's Library

The fact the profile that posted it was a string of numbers felt like a clue it was a scam.

So I clicked report.

Hmm, not sexual, not spam, something else…

… hmmm, no option for phishing scam, I’ll go with impersonating behaviour … no, not impersonating me or my company, impersonating someone else…

Oh. I need to bring it to the attention of the one being impersonated?

But I am. You are the ones being impersonated so I’m bringing it to you attention by reporting it.

Tried again, and selected “Spam”.

Animal Signal started on the Shonen Jump app a couple months back, and it is an utter delight.

With story by Robinson Haruhara of “Tis Time for Torture, Princess” fame (which is not about actual torture) and art by the Mangaka behind We Never Learn, this manga is among the first I read each week.

Take My Hero Academia’s “Everyone has super powers” setting, then make the powers all based on Animal trivia, and you begin to form an inaccurate picture of the series. The male lead is even one of the few characters without powers, but a deep love of animals and an encyclopaedia knowledge of animal facts. But while MHA is an action series with comedy elements/moments, Animal Signal is a pure comedy, at least so far. There really hasn’t been anything resembling a plot yet, and the stories have all been episodic. Make no mistake, this won’t be the next manga to become one of the Big Three, and I don’t know how long it will last, but while it does run, it’s going to be a joy to read, with great art and designs, fun characters and humour that will make you smile.

As I said, it’s set in a world where some people are born with animal traits, that takes animal trivia then takes it to a bit of an illogical extreme. A person with a dog’s nose can detect the feelings of others. A person with frog skin can predict the weather. These abilities are called Anima, in the English translation at least.

But the rise of these powers have given rise to Anima related crimes. To combat this, a special agency was established, the Anima Control Centre. Our two leads are two (high school?) students that also work for this agency.

Kokone Otowa, one of the agency’s top investigators who uses her Bat Anima to read the thoughts of those around her. And Tsubasa Makise, a rookie with no anima, a heart full of love of animals, and a head full of Animal Trivia. What tends to happen is Kokone, who would usually use her anima to catch the culprit planning on doing a crime, gets distracted by listening to the Animal Trivia playing in Tsubasa’s head. Which is a problem, as her Anima has a limit- she can only use the ability for three minutes a day.

It’s been fun so far, with some imaginative abilities and scenarios. The only thing is that while there is a continuity, there is no plot. Does it need one? No, not really, but I’m worried that the fun won’t last long. Which would be a crime, as it is very entertaining.