The Fall 2023 Manga Guide

Drops of God Mariage

What's It About? 

One last challenge stands between Shizuku Kanzaki and his father's fortune—to identify the wine his father called “The Drops of God” in his will. Problem is, he's up against Issei Tomine, a famous wine critic his father adopted shortly before his death. Alone and penniless following his journey around the world to gain knowledge and train his senses for the final showdown, Shizuku stumbles into a Western-style izakaya to work for food and a place to stay. But when Shizuku uses his newfound smarts to save the struggling business, a competing chain launches an identical menu and enlists the help of a rising sommelier to go head-to-head with them. To stay on top and survive this brutal business, it all comes down to perfecting the food and wine pairings—the blissful mariage of flavors that delights the senses.

Drops of God: Mariage has a story by Tadashi Agi and art by Shū Okimoto. The English translation is by Robert Harkins, and the lettering is by Monika Hegedusava. Published by Kodansha Comics (September 26).

Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

What follows is my first draft of The Drops of God editorial I wrote some time ago:
Shizuku: I hate wine because my dad was a wine critic and made my life about wine, too!
Dad: *dies*
Lawyer: Hey, Shizuku, your dad said that either you or this random famous wine critic (who is adopted and not his illegitimate son) will inherit all his crap if you can solve his random poetic descriptions of wines for thirteen bottles!
Shizuku: Screw that.
Issei: I'm snooty and I will win.
Shizuku: Never mind, I'll do it.
Dead Father: This wine is like the Sagrada Familia being watched by the Mona Lisa, who is pregnant and also likes French grapes in Australia.
Issei: I don't know what it is, but I'll almost kill myself figuring it out.
Shizuku: I guess I'll ask people?
Robert: Wine is like that. That, too, is wine.
Women: Lust after either Issei or Shizuku.
Issei: *has sex with them*
Shizuku: *doesn't notice they like him*
**Continue for 44 Volumes**
Now that you're all caught up, I vastly preferred this sequel volume to the original series. That's mostly a me thing – I don't care at all about wine or other alcohol, but I do enjoy food. This new series, while purportedly about Shizuku and Issei competing to name the eponymous Drops of God, finally seems to focus on how wine and food go together to create a harmonious whole. This particular volume has Shizuku returning from his year's travels around the world to save a small Japanese restaurant having issues with the franchise that moved in across the street. Although both restaurants are trying to make a go of providing both food and wine, neither of them knows how to do it properly, and Shizuku is ready to take on the challenge – especially since someone stole his bag and wallet. It's a wonderful way to remind readers of his basic personality and the fact that he has a nose like a beagle because if there's one thing you can say about Shizuku, he wholeheartedly throws himself into things that interest him.

Shizuku is, for the most part, the only returning character here; until the final chapter when Issei and Robert pop up, this may as well be a standalone series. I'm not sure that I'd recommend diving in here without reading the original's first forty-four (!) volumes. Still, I will say that this feels better written – the foodgasms are far less elaborate and ridiculous, and the characters feel more like real people than their over-the-top counterparts in the original. The art remains solid, which is excellent; the food looks tasty, and Shizuku's evolution from a scruffy traveler to his more well-groomed self is handled well and takes place throughout the book. There's also an effort to point out that specialized knowledge is more helpful than general “wisdom,” thus creating a need for the sort of skill Shizuku spent volumes acquiring. If nothing else, this will bring his story to a close eventually, so that's one major deterrent to picking up both series taken care of.