Yuzu The Pet Vet is a manga that initially flew under the radar. I can't remember if I discovered it on my own or through this article talking about it on ANN when it was first starting to come out, but I remember being intrigued by the premise and figured it'd be a nice new read to check out. Yeah, that wound up being a great decision, as in case you couldn't tell, I love this manga and I think it's quite honestly one of the best children's manga of the 2020s. The story is centered on a young girl named Yuzu Morino whose mother has to be hospitalized for the time being, and since Yuzu can't stay in the house unsupervised for obvious reasons, she's made to live with her veterinarian uncle Akihito Hidaka. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue, but there's one big thing complicating the living arrangement: Yuzu absolutely can't stand animals, mainly because a lot of them seem to attack her for some reason. As much as Yuzu hates dealing with animals, she has no choice but to help her uncle at his vet clinic, but this might wind up being good for her. Every day she learns and understands more and more about her clients, both human and animal, slowly overcoming her fear bit by bit.

I was originally going to hold off on reviewing this, as Yuzu The Pet Vet has a sequel and I was going to wait until after the sequel came out. Unfortunately, Kodansha USA seems to have no plans on releasing it as of right now, so I decided to review the first series on its own. There's also the fact that the manga is actually based on a video game that's exclusive to Japan. Thankfully, you don't need to know about the game in order to enjoy Yuzu The Pet Vet, as I came to find out. Plus, I just really want to gush about this amazing yet criminally underrated children's manga. Yes, Yuzu The Pet Vet has very shoujo-esque artwork, complete with ridiculously large, sparkly eyes, chibi-fied animals made to look even cuter than they would be in real life, and a lot of comically cartoony faces for the comedy parts. Yes, the majority of the manga consists of self-contained stories, with only a few two parters every now and again, complete with characters of the week who only appear once and never again. Don't go into this expecting a narrative on the level of Naoki Urasawa. But with all that said, Yuzu The Pet Vet's biggest strength is its emotional intelligence and refusal to sugarcoat the realities that come with raising a pet, and it never tries to talk down to its audience.

Whereas most media tend to depict animals as either beings driven entirely by instict or perpetually adorable affection-giving machines with no personality outside of being cute, Yuzu The Pet Vet understands the psychology of animals and depicts them with a wide array of personalities through the way they behave and show their feelings. Some animals play hide-and-seek, act really rambunctious, can be flat-out catty, or even fake being sick or injured just for the chance to get some extra pampering. They make messes and sometimes drive us crazy, but any sane pet owner will still love them for it. What pet owner hasn't had to deal with things like their pet making messes or faking being sick or showing other people attention rather than you? As a pet owner myself, I can surely relate. Furthermore, the manga also makes sure to have each animal story tie into whatever issue Yuzu is facing in her life, drawing a nice parallel between humans and animals. Of course, Yuzu The Pet Vet isn't all sunshine and cuddles either, as it makes sure to highlight the more serious parts of owning a pet, such as being able to financially support it, acknowledging their short life spans and the fact that an animal is a living thing, not a toy or an aesthetically pleasing accessory, and the importance of things like spaying/neutering your pet to prevent health problems and overpopulation. And yes, this also means that plenty pets of the day die (Usually from natural causes and old age), and if you're someone who hates seeing animals die, even fictional ones, you'd best skip this one. One set of chapters even highlights a pretty serious issue—animal hoarding—tackling it with all the gravity it deserves, acknowledging the problems it can cause without resorting to antagonizing anyone involved.

As someone who has always loved anime/manga for its willingness to tackle subjects that American children's media refuses to touch with a ten foot pole for any reason, I respect Yuzu The Pet Vet for going hard on highlighting how owning a pet is a big responsibility that's not to be taken lightly. Of course, the manga is careful to keep it out of preachy after school territory with a charming, likeable cast to follow, namely Yuzu, her uncle, and Sora the persnickety chihuahua, who interact with plenty of interesting people and pets, even if they're not the most fleshed out cast of characters ever. Yuzu herself is an interesting lead character who does grow and change throughout the story while still retaining the personality of a young kid who does believably act her age. Even the various pets of the day receive some fun characterization that manage to make them rise above just "cute animal." Granted, some readers may not like that the characters of the day disappear after their focus chapters, and I can understand why. I personally had no problem with it because the self-contained stories are all well-written enough that I did care about the characters involved, though your mileage may vary.

Granted, while Yuzu The Pet Vet's writing is pretty nuanced a lot of the time, some of the solutions posed for some of the stories' endings do come off as a bit too convenient and neat, which can definitely stretch one's suspension of disbelief, especially if you're aware of how hard it is for animal shelters to adopt out animals. I follow a few animal rescue groups on Facebook, and finding homes for animals is nowhere NEAR as easy as Yuzu The Pet Vet makes it out to be. Some might find the manga's shoujo artwork to be too cutesy and saccharine for their liking, which is also fine. But in my opinion, Yuzu The Pet Vet's strengths far outweigh its flaws. I dare say it may even be the best 2020's children's manga I've ever read thus far. I'm really glad I discovered this, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is not only interested in animals, but people who want children's manga that have a bit more meat and substance to them. Whether you can stomach the various animal deaths in some chapters is another thing entirely, so I wouldn't really recommend this to sensitive children who can't handle it, even though having pets is one of the ways children learn about death and grief. But I don't think that's a reason to skip over Yuzu The Pet Vet, as I feel some of the best children's media are those that go all in on tackling serious subject matter, overzealous parents' opinions be damned. Why do you think I love the World Masterpiece Theater so much?!

So yeah, Yuzu The Pet Vet is a great manga about the wonders and realities that come with raising pets and taking care of them without bordering on preachy or condescending. Now if only Kodansha USA would put out the sequel manga! Get on that already, Kodansha! I'd buy it day one!