Taiyo Matsumoto is an amazing illustrator and writer but he seems to do the same story in all the works that I've read: two teenage male characters have a coming of age experience with some fantasy or magical realism elements. Typically, one of the characters is exceptional in some regard (an amazing fighter, a great Ping-Pong player, an excellent student) and seems to have some connection to an invisible world, sometimes in the form of a doppleganger. In GoGo Monster, as in Ping-Pong, the magical realism elements appear to be mostly in the mind of the Peko/Yuki character. Whether or not Super Star and the others are real, Yuki, Ganz and IQ all believe that they effect the world outside of Yuki's head. The art in this book is not quite as polished as in Sunny or Tekkonkinkreet (both of which I believe were published later?), but it's still engaging. If you're looking for a typical manga with this book, you'll probably be disappointed and/or bored as it's very long, very slow and very strange, despite the fairly mundane setting of a middle school.

An unnerving and beautiful story about first graders and their imaginations. At times a very surreal look at what it might feel like to have a young developing brain. We all went through it and have mostly forgotten, but it probably felt something like reading this incredible book. Wonderful thoughtful storytelling that can only be achieved in this form. A complete and total masterpiece by the greatest manga artist alive.

This was a remarkable piece of work. Of growing up and escaping through imaginary worlds and beings. Of being a child and finding independence, being a loner or part of the pack. Of being a teacher, a carer and having to deal with young developing minds. The scratchy illustration style and architectural precision made this one that I fully escaped into as the characters went through all the seasons. Wonderful.

Yuki is in third grade. He has no friends, other kids think he is bizarre and rarely talk to him. This is not surprising as he talks to “imaginary” beings like Superstar.

Superstar is a being who lives on the third floor of his school, off limits to students due to some unspoken danger. Occasionally he (or other beings) coming down to create havoc, steal things, and generally stir up trouble. the closer that Yuki gets to the world that Superstar rules, the hard it is for him to differentiate our reality from this other one.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel. It is presented fully translated, but in classic manga format ( read from right to left). It comes with a corrugated cardboard sleeve protecting the book itself. The art work is very European with multiple interpretations to the meanings of various panels. text is sparse throughout the story, relying on various obscure and dark story elements presented in the images.

The Graphic Novel is presented by VIZ Media, almost entirely in black and white, and totals 464 pages.

I do not know that this graphic novel is really geared to most readers. if you avoid art house films, dislike subtitles, and prefer a story that is hand fed to you, avoid this.

This is more for those who like dark introspective genres, multiple possible interpretations, beautiful artwork.

For anyone looking for a more technical review, just drop gogo monster in google and you will find a ton of info. I will leave the discussion of allegory and societal comparisons to those who are more fluent in manga. I am just a tourist in the genre…

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This is such a beautiful book.

It's so strange to enjoy something, yet feel like I understood so little of it. I found it a wild combination of creepy and delightful, but I rarely knew what was "really happening", although I'm not sure how much that mattered. I would like to re-read it sometime to see if I can grasp the story more. Mostly I felt an emotional response to the drawings and the situations (as best I understood them).

I loved the artwork in this manga, especially the body shapes, expressions and angles which I recognize is another odd thing to say!

Note - this only took me so long to read because I had to return it to the library and wait for my hold to come in. Overall it would have only taken about 5 days, not 6 weeks!