Volume 2 of the Animal Crossing manga is here and, well, it’s very similar to the first! Once again, it is a very silly take on island life. Characters react in big, goofy ways. A few villagers show up. But there’s a common theme coming up in this installment’s stories. Many of them focus on the various visitor NPCs who might show up while you play. Each storyline with one offers a different take on the person and plays to one of their personality quirks.
The short stories start with CJ. In the game, he’s very focused on two things. One is fishing. Which makes sense, as he runs the fishing tournaments. The other is catering to and cultivating his audience. This installment of the Animal Crossing manga really plays up that second element. When we first meet him here, he’s being carried away by a ribbon eel because he got too close for a selfie. When island denizens Coroyuki, Himepoyo, Guchan, and Benben are too focused on pulling weeds to pay attention to his event, he essentially bribes them into taking part. It makes him a caricature of himself.
The same thing happens with Red. When he comes to the island, he starts his shenanigans. In-game, picking out the real pieces of art from the fake ones can sometimes be challenging! While sometimes a statue features a wristwatch where it shouldn’t be, other differences are more subtle. But when Red shows up here, it’s all about running a scam. Which means incredibly silly situations and results. It’s absolutely entertaining, but again another example of going to extremes.
This isn’t to say every Animal Crossing visitor is portrayed in such overboard ways in volume 2 of the manga. Some depictions just play with what we know about them and their tendencies. Pascal is mostly himself. Yes, it’s silly to think he’s just lying in wait on the ocean floor for a scallop. But for the most part it’s a fairly true-to-life take on encounters with him. Though in this case, the advice starts to become a parody of the actual pearls of wisdom he’ll drop.
Similarly, Jack feels rather true to his normal depiction. He shows up to introduce the four to the Halloween event. Which means a chapter dedicated to trick or treating in town. It even alludes to the possibility of getting pranked by not obeying his rules.
Which means volume 2 of the Animal Crossing manga offers a good balance. It isn’t always going to extremes to keep things interesting. Instead, it sometimes only slightly plays up certain characters’ tendencies or traits and springboards off of what we know in the name of comedy, rather than constantly going too far. It means things are still entertaining and identifiable.
Animal Crossing volume 2 is available via Viz Media.
