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Sun Dog Zero, or Taiyo Ken Zero, was a nine-chapter one-shot created by author Moo Nenpei. It was first published in Monthly CoroCoro Comics from April 1985 to December 1985 across nine chapters. Sun Dog Zero was Moo Nenpei's first published manga, and seemingly his only that focuses on canine characters, or for that matter, any animal characters too.
The story focuses on a little stray mutt named Zero, who befriends a homeless boy named Taro. Together they cause trouble, until one day Zero is taken away by The Hound Master for training. After this, he's sets off on a mission to find his own "Sun" ... His own true power and happiness.
The style is vastly different from canines that you may see in mangas from the 60s and 70s, but still fairly different other dog mangas from the 80s. It's incredibly interesting to see how the styles of these mangaka evolve over the decades.
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Unfortunately, Zero's story abruptly comes to an end after nine chapters which leaves a lot of 'what if', especially with a few major plot points unresolved. It's unclear if Moo Nenpei lost interest in working on Zero, if reception to the series wasn't warm enough, or if CoroCoro wanted Moo Nenpei to work on other ventures. I personally lean more towards popularity being a factor - I found little about this manga prior to it being republished in 2021. If not for a republication announcement, I'm not sure I'd even have found it despite my 400+ collection of dog and animal manga. It was just that obscure.
I saw the above announcement in 2020 and opted to wait for the new print to be available before collecting old CoroCoro magazines. While magazines had better quality paper in the 1980s, a nice book print is almost always vastly better.
The style immediately gripped me, though. There's so many expressions in this series that grab you, and the storytelling has a fun, lighthearted style. The chapters typically seem episodic in nature with new characters introduced in almost all of them.
The first page immediately slams you with which type of energy to expect throughout all nine chapters. The compositions are dramatic, the use of tones are impressively done for 1985, and the weighted ink lines show Moo Nenpei's confidence in what he is doing, even though this is apparently his very first venture into manga.
Moo fills every inch of the pages. The art goes right up to the corners of most pages (which provided a fan translation nightmare when it came to cleaning the pages, but it was ultimately so very worth it.)
The dramatic shots and fast energy lines make it fun to read this manga over and over, and it truly feels like there's new expressions and poses on each page here. I can easily get tired of many mangas after the mid 1980s - Many of them tend to look uniform and templated. Sometimes it can feel like authors are scared to try new things. That's why I love showa era manga so much. So many of these authors are pioneers and I don't see too much new, gripping style in animal manga that comes out of recent years. Meanwhile these dynamic, fun poses and expressions that flood these pages keep me coming back to the older stuff.
Here's what I'm talking about. Look at the sheer dynamic energy in these:
I just adore these expressions and poses, too:
The big, heavy paw on Zero's back and its towering owner, present such different calibers between these two characters. Despite Zero's intense energy, he's just not enough to take on this mountain of a dog.
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There's a mechanic in this world I found truly interesting. If you truly bond with a dog, you'll be able to hear each other's voices. I thought it was a cool little idea I'd not really seen before in any other work. Usually animals can outright speak from the beginning, or they have their own internal dialog that their owners will never understand. The fact in this manga that it has to be earned, I thought pretty interesting. Imagine walking your dog every day and suddenly, bam, they can convey their thoughts to you.
It'd be pretty cool.
I appreciate the overall message of this mechanic, too. Treat your animals well, bond with them, and listen to what they have to say. The language may not be the same, but the needs of the animal can at least be understood.
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This series only had two colour covers in the original publication - Usually, these get neglected during reprints. They're either downgraded to a greyscale image that screams, "I used to be in colour!" or is omitted altogether. I have many books that just simply don't have all of these beautiful title pages from their magazine publications.
Both of Zero's were included in the book, which was very surprising. All of the black and white title pages were also reprinted. They all have great art on them, so I'm glad the printing company opted to do that. Printing additional colour pages needs a higher budget and they went above and beyond to keep Moo's colour work out there.
Moo Nenpei's colour stuff is truly gorgeous. I love the use of markers and bright, bold palettes. Zero looks so colourful and detailed, despite being a white mutt. Moo isn't afraid to slap some white paint over his finished painting to show the light flare. I know that if I had a finished painting like the above, I'd be a little worried about slapping white paint over it, but Moo Nenpei is a bold illustrator and it works brilliantly.
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Potential Spoilers Ahead!
If you'd like to read Sun Dog Zero in English before proceeding,
you can do so on MangaDex!
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This manga shows some strong character development that was a joy to flick through. Zero starts out as a feisty but weak little stray, but under strict training and several life lessons in which he helps out other animals, he becomes more and more a likable, respectable character.
This makes it hurt even more when the manga suddenly stops when chapter nine concludes. You wonder what could have been. If it continued. Would Zero have found his "sun?" Would he have dueled King, and come out on top? Would a duel with King have even been necessary? Would he have seen Taro again? What other animals would he have ended up meeting?
We're certainly never going to see an official continuation of this manga given both its age and the age of the author now, but it leaves an opening for renditions of fan-made chapters which could very well be interesting. There's a lot to work with and I hope some day this manga generates enough interest for fanart, fan-comics, and generally more love for Moo Nenpei's style.
We're certainly never going to see an official continuation of this manga given both its age and the age of the author now, but it leaves an opening for renditions of fan-made chapters which could very well be interesting. There's a lot to work with and I hope some day this manga generates enough interest for fanart, fan-comics, and generally more love for Moo Nenpei's style.
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The characters that Zero encounters are all just delightful.
The first is a Siamese cat that Zero encounters while searching for food. She's tall, lithe and elegant. She addresses herself as "The Queen of the Night" and there's no better title for a character that has these kind of fluid shapes and confidence:
Look how long she is. Perfect.
At first impression, she just straight up seems like a complete bitch. She steals Zero's food and mocks him. Zero learns that she's been terrorizing other cats in the area too, and they all want to teach her a lesson. When Zero sets off to do just that -
Shortly after this discovery, the Siamese cat is caught by two boys who take joy in abusing her. The other cats are happy to let her suffer while Zero, who knows what the Siamese cat is enduring behind the scenes, dives to her rescue.
猫をかん袋に押し込んで
Neko wo kanbukuro ni oshikonde,
Stuff the cat in the paper bag,
Neko wo kanbukuro ni oshikonde,
Stuff the cat in the paper bag,
ポンとけりゃニャンとなく
Pon to kerya, nyan to naku
kick it with a thump and it'll cry, meow!
kick it with a thump and it'll cry, meow!
Zero saves the cat who is exhausted from hunger, and unites the Siamese with the other cats. Feeling good about his good deed, he moves on to meet...
Alpha the Dalmatian dog, who is obsessed with his dog show trophies and his spotless, elite pedigree. These are Alpha's treasures, and he concludes that a little wild mutt like Zero must not have any treasure at all.
Alpha has some really fun expressions, too.
Despite his heritage and everything he has to show for it, he's a cowardly dog who doesn't know much about the outside world at all. This comes to a head when Alpha's young owner takes him for a walk into the mountains. The pair eventually get lost and the boy is bitten by a venomous snake. Zero dashes to their aid, and instructs Alpha as to how he can help. This leads Alpha to realize how little he knows, and how useless he truly is.
This panel just bleeds hopelessness and distrust in oneself.
The forest scenes in this chapter are lovely, too. Everything is drawn with such a wild thickness and it certainly resembles a place you wouldn't want to get lost in, especially during a heavy storm.
Zero helps Alpha learn to become a better dog and get his boy home to safety. In return, Zero learns that the only treasure he needs is his bandanna, which Taro gifted to him before Zero went on his journey.
Next we meet a hawk that is convinced that the ability to fly is all there is to life:
Next we meet a hawk that is convinced that the ability to fly is all there is to life:
Moo Nenpei doesn't shy away from drawing all of the gorgeous feather detailing and stripey pen strokes in every panel where this character appears, which I really appreciate. Holy brush strokes, there's a lot of 'em... That'd certainly make me a little tired even after just one panel, but Moo's readily throwing this character into many panels with the full scope of his wings visible in most. That's admirable!
The way birdy claws are drawn too for this character. You can tell that natural birds of prey have been studied to pull off this character so well.
Next up is a cute little silky-furred pet dog named Cheese, who wants the same free existence that Zero experiences on a daily basis. However, she's cute and delicate and doesn't make much of a good candidate for the outside world.
The last two chapters deal with Zero's run-in with a circus after a man traps him and sells him to the ringleader. It's a rather fun little two-parter with some gorgeous panels, and some wonderfully drawn circus animals.
Moo Nenpei just proves that he can draw all manner of animals, each with a fun design and charisma to boot. I think the humans he draws are brilliant too, but it is an awful shame he stopped with animal manga so soon in his career.
And Zero in circus getup is simply precious.
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The fun circus chapters, and the entire tale, culminates with this panel:
If this one-shot had finished on a boring chapter or had somewhat concluded a major plot point, I'd certainly be a little less bitter at it ending here. It feels a little like someone ripped a rug out from under you when you're just getting settled into a good read.
If this one-shot had finished on a boring chapter or had somewhat concluded a major plot point, I'd certainly be a little less bitter at it ending here. It feels a little like someone ripped a rug out from under you when you're just getting settled into a good read.
Nonetheless, it's still a great read with some fantastic art!
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Despite leaving the manga unfinished, Moo Nenpei has done some amazing signature / Sign work over the years and has really acknowledged Zero:
"That's Zero, who ran one year before I did!" exclaims a character from a 1986 work by Moo!
I especially love this last one which includes the Siamese cat character. Such a pretty autograph / Sign! Prior to this I hadn't realized that part of her face had a blue marking. What a gorgeous piece of art! What an interesting style of clouds, too. Moo really rocks those marker pens. I really envy the owner of it!
