カモのネギには毒がある: 加茂教授の人間経済学講義
Kamo’s Onion is Poisoned: Lectures on Human Economics by 甲斐谷忍 and Takeshi Natsuhara
Genres: Informative, Psychological, Drama, Economics
Triggers: Scams? The first chapter has some off-colored jokes but it calms down a lot after that.
Background on the artist:
Shinobu Kaitani is secretly one of my favorite mangaka, which is strange as normally I go on and on about the art when I do my write ups, but Kaitani-sensei’s art feels almost lackluster by comparison (his newer work is much cleaner, his older work is honestly kind of rough). While his facial reactions are solid, the rest of his art exists primarily to show the characters reactions to what is being said. So why do I like him so much?
Because goddammit he knows exactly what to make them say. Let me explain.
Kaitani-sensei might have the most well known work in the west out of all the mangaka I have covered doing this project. You see, he made the hit manga (and subsequent drama series and movie) Liar Game
While it’s conclusion is almost ten years old now (I remember waiting for new chapters on Mangafox of all places) This manga remains an absolute classic, and is fondly remembered by Japanese people, especially because of the hit drama series.
It was basically a proto-Squid Game/Kaiji, but, IMO, much much better than the two of them. It was not about a death game but a DEBT game, where players would compete to have their debt erased and earn more money. The games were incredibly complicated and imaginative, and the solution was always a fair puzzle for the reader to solve. They dealt with human emotions, fear and in the end, kindness. It is a phenomenal, phenomenal manga worthy of lots of praise, and it highlights his themes of money, deception, and tricking those who trick others.
But here is the thing, that is only his SECOND best manga. I mentioned that Kaitani-sensei is one of my favorite mangaka, but it’s not because of Liar Game. It’s because of this:
One Outs is one of my favorite sports manga of all time. It’s about a baseball pitcher living in Okinawa and whose sole motivation is money, and he is forced to join the worst team in Japan (at the time a clear Hanshin Tigers stand in).
He has no special physical skills, but is an expert at reading other people. After signing an insane contract that pays him for every out but charges him for every run scored on him, he uses his knowledge of human nature to try to bring his team to the championship, while making every last yen he can.
I am underselling this manga when I say it is absolutely addictive to read. I’ve read it through several times now, and the clever writing and scenarios he created are just chef’s kiss. If nothing else, check out this manga when you can.
One Outs Tokuchi Toua Face Compliation (for my benefit and for others)
Manga Summary:
I know, I know, what the hell is the title? It confused me a lot too. From what I understand, the Onion is a metaphor for peeling back layers of the scammer’s lies and tricking them (poisoning them) into making a mistake that allows the main characters to prevail.
Yes, this manga is about scammers, how appropriate in the post-crypto era of video-makers taking down big scammers and getting thousands of views doing so. The premise is pretty basic; a zany genius economist and university lecturer goes around uncovering scams and doing research, usually by turning the tables on the scammers. Its a very basic concept, and it follows a pretty basic pattern that you can pick up in the first chapter or three. And its almost great to watch the scammer’s reactions after the jig is up.
Sean’s Thoughts/Should You Read This?:
Ummmm, probably not?
Oh it’s a good manga, don’t get me wrong. But it’s also barely a manga? This manga feels like textbook chapters more than anything else. Kaitani-sensei used to be an Electrical Engineer, and god it shows the way he writes. And man does he write. He has absolutely no scruples about making his work as language intensive as possible, with lots of long furigana-less kanji in new combinations and crazy compound words, and often mixing katakana economic terms with kanji economic terms.
It’s the type of manga that is meant to be hard for some adults to read. He does explain a lot, and if you want to decipher complicated explanations near-constantly, by all means go for it! Here are average panels that show what I’m talking about.
Again, not impossible, but often a lot to go through. I’ll be keeping up in Grand Jump as always, so if there is a comrade in arms, let me know!
TLDR:
You shouldn’t read this if:
- You aren’t N1. I’m N2 and it was a struggggllllllleeeeeee. Not impossible, just overwhelming.
- You read manga for the art
- You aren’t in the mood for learning
You should read this if:
- You liked Liar Game
- You want to learn complicated Japanese/Economics
- You like watching Coffeezilla videos
- You are masochistic and want something really hard to read to test yourself.
Read the first chapter here for free!
Sorry, I feel like I talked more about One Outs that KamoNegi, but honestly you should check out One Outs first, and if you like that and want more, check out Liar Game and then KamoNegi!