The Drops of God

Is it possible to make an entire comic just about wine?

I just finished reading the first volume of The Drops of God series, written by Tadashi Agi and drawn by Shu Okimoto. The story centers on Shizuku Kanzaki, the son of renowned wine critic Yutaka Kanzaki. Shizuku has had a strained relationship with his father and has not seen him for a number of years. He even started working in a beer company to spite his father. However, he is forced to visit his old home after he receives a call from his father's lawyer, telling him that his father has passed away. There, Shizuku finds out that he will not be able to inherit his father's fortune or his legendary wine collection if he does not beat Issei Tomine (a young wine critic--aka The Prince of Wine) in a wine tasting contest where each must identify twelve heavenly wines known as the Twelve Apostles and one wine that stands above them all, The Drops of God.


This poses quite a challenge to Shizuku because although he is the son of a famous wine critic, he has never tasted a drop of wine in his life. However, with the help of Miyabi Shinohara, he discovers that he has unusually strong senses of taste and smell.This is most likely due to the fact that his father forced him to chew on different kinds of wood, soil and fruits as a child and made him compare their tastes and aromas.

 Agi and Okimoto use some very interesting techniques to keep the reader interested. Although the manga is about wine, the story is constructed like a shonen martial arts comic.

First, the hero, Shizuku, is faced with a challenge that he has slim chances of winning. The challenge  provides him with the opportunity to reach closure with his troubled relationship with his father. It also sets him on the path to finding his true destiny--becoming a legendary wine critic.

Not only is the element of a challenge present, but Shizuku encounters a mentor in the form of an elderly man who resides in a homeless shelter and who keeps a box of legendary wines buried in the ground. This man also knew his father. Shizuku also encounters various characters that present him with challenges that will prepare him for his battle with Issei, his number one enemy.

Doesn't this narrative sound familiar? Replace wine with the "sword" and wine critic with "warrior" and you've got a classic battle narrative.

 Shizuku's mentor makes him compare two glasses of wine.

In some cases even the manner in which the panels are divided resemble a shonen martial arts manga. For example, when Shizuku first encounters Issei in his father's home and is asked to identify a wine in order to keep his father's home for the duration of the contest (he loses this battle--he doesn't drink the wine), the panels close-up on his face. This emphasizes the intensity of his glare at Issei. It reminded me of an underdog fighter staring at his formidable opponent before they begin to battle.

Although the employment of this style of narrative creates a lot of drama, it leaves me wondering how the series would have turned out if the authors had taken a more subdued approach to telling the story.The summary on the back described the manga as "a page-turner that's not about superheroes but people with jobs to keep". Although not incorrect, I feel like this description is a bit misleading. The narrative style employed by the author is very reminiscent of styles used to tell stories about superheroes, martial artists and fighters, etc. As a result, it takes away from the "real" feeling this story could have had.