Title: RuriDragon Vol. 1
Author: Masaoki Shindo
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 176
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Comedy, Supernatural
Publication Date: January 7, 2025
The Story
Ruri wakes up one day and notices that she has horns sticking out of her head. Confused, she asks her mother what the deal is over breakfast; however, her mother nonchalantly drops the bomb on her that her father is a dragon and that she inherited his traits. She then wishes her luck at school and goes to work!
Ruri heads to school and everyone is staring at her but they seem to be taking her new appearance rather well. Suddenly, she sneezes and blows fire all over the back of the head of the kid who sits in front of her! She then gushes blood from her mouth and passes out. Her mother comes to pick her up and without too much concern, asks if she burned down the classroom to which she’s like “Well, no harm, no foul!”
Ruri takes a week off from school to let the burns in and around her mouth heal. In the meantime, she practices how to control her new fire-breathing trait. She gets the hang of it so there won’t be any new issues going forward but she’s reluctant to return to school… that is until Yuka, one of her classmates, encourages her and comes to pick her up. When she returns, she becomes the center of attention. She even gets invited to a study session at Starbucks. Ruri seems to be making friends rather quickly as people are more interested in her uniqueness rather than making fun of her.
Things seem to be going great until her third dragon trait suddenly awakens in the middle of class!
Characters
Okay… I know Ruri is the main character here but let’s take a step back and talk about this mother of hers. Her poor daughter is having an existential crisis and she just gives zero you know what’s about it… passing it off as if her becoming a dragon, her father being a dragon, and so forth is a common everyday thing that she should already be aware of and expect. Even when Ruri has a moment and tells her mom that her lack of caring makes her feel so alone, she thanks her and tells Ruri that she’s such an adult! Like… what caring mother does that!?
But… there’s more to Ruri’s mother than meets the eye. She secretly went to meet the dragon who she fathered Ruri with (which raises a LOT of questions about how they mated) to get information and help to deal with it. Also, she made it a point to go to Ruri’s school and explain everything to not only the school but to Ruri’s classmates so that she would have a comfortable time going back once she healed up. She does care about Ruri but her ability to directly show that to her daughter is… well.. something she REALLY needs to work on.
As for Ruri herself, she’s a bit anti-social but it’s not something that is overexaggerated. She will have conversations with people but she’s just not the type to really initiate them. Plus, this thinks talking to boys is useless… typical teen girl stuff. She tries her best to deal with the horns but she’s about as lost as everyone else around her thanks to her mother just ignoring the problem (at first.) It’s all thanks to Ruri’s slightly apathetic attitude that she’s able to cope with it and move on from day to day. If it wasn’t for that, she probably would been a total mess or had a legit breakdown. Even though she’s a bit apathetic, you can tell that she’s confused and scared of what’s happening to her. You just want to hug her and tell her it’s going to be okay!
Yuka is a bit of an oddball. She seems really interested in talking to Ruri and getting to know her but when it comes to helping her get caught up on studying when she misses a week of school, Yuka just flat out turns her down, saying it’s hard enough for her to keep up that she doesn’t have time to help her. Ouch… and yet… they still remain friends somehow? She ends up pawning Ruri off on Airi, the girl who sits next to her.
Airi has multi-colored twin tails but when Ruri makes the assumption that she’s all rays and sunshine, Airi hits her with a reality check that’s kind of cold and direct but she still wants to help her study. She sets up the study session and because of Airi, Ruri is able to make some friends! Despite the rough introduction, Airi turns out to be completely cool and shows Ruri that she can be accepted even if she’s a little different. She’s going to end up being a great support character!
Final Thoughts
Okay… I had to stop reading multiple times to gloat to some friends about how hilarious this first volume was. All of the parts of Ruri’s mother just blowing off her daughter’s existential crisis like it was no big deal were absolutely hilarious. The random explosion of fire during class was equally as hilarious and big laughs were had all around but then this volume took a turn in a more serious way and became a story about acceptance for being different. The fact that Ruri’s classmates were so understanding and accepting of her was heartwarming… even if they were taking turns guessing what kind of life form she truly was… (she’s not a biological organic weapon!)
This probably one the best first volumes of a manga I’ve read… a unique premise, great comedy, tender moments, great pacing, great character development, and so much more. If this series doesn’t end up getting an anime, I’m going to riot and I hardly ever say that after just one volume. That’s how good this was and I can’t wait to see volume two!
Also, I did notice a little tiny mistake in this volume. Ruri’s first dragon trait was her horns. Her second dragon trait was breathing fire; however, the volume ended on revealing Ruri’s third dragon trait but it’s actually her fourth because when she was recovering from her burns, she healed in about two days which means she has quick regeneration and that should have been her third dragon trait. A bit of an oversight and I’m not sure if it’s that way in the Japanese version, too, but I just found that a bit odd. Unless they just don’t count fast healing as a dragon trait? I don’t know.
Nevertheless, if you want a great comedy with excellent joke delivery and some tender moments, RuriDragon should be at the top of your list in 2025 of series to check out!
You can also check out other The Outerhaven reviews on your favorite social media networks:
Subscribe to us on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theouterhaven.net
Subscribe to us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheOuterHaven
Subscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/theouterhavennet
This item was provided for review by Viz Media
