MANGA REVIEW | Let Kids' Imaginations Run Wild With "Chi's Sweet Coloring Book"
If you are wanting to get your youngest child into anime and manga, there is no better series to introduce them to than Chi's Sweet Home. Kanata Konami's tale of a lost kitten shacking up with the Yamada family has warmed the hearts of readers of all ages, being both adorable enough to grab the youths' attention and funny enough to make older audiences laugh out loud. With her appearances in various forms of pop culture (including famously in a 2014 Apple MacBook Air commercial), the wide-eyed tabby has found herself quite the cult following across the world.
So it seems fitting that this cute character would find herself jumping from her regular manga to something that kids can interact with. Chi's Sweet Coloring Book is 72 pages of adorability, silliness, and wondrous personality that will entice children to stare awe-like at whilst adding their own colorful spin to the cat's world. With 72 pages of scenes pulled straight from Konami's original manga, each picture has its own unique expressiveness that'll keep children smiling as they bring it to a much more colorful life.
What's good about Chi's Sweet Coloring Book is that the pictures have a solid range of difficulty in the artwork department. Some pics will have wide-enough spaces to be more carefree with the coloring, whereas others can act as teaching tools to show kids how to color between the lines. Still, even if your child has trouble with the more time-consuming pages, the imagery is heartwarming enough to keep them from getting too upset if they may mess up. There's also enough choices featuring various white backgrounds, giving your future artists a chance to add their own world behind Chi and the Yamadas.
Despite the crayon-styled cover, this kind of coloring book is more akin to the usage of watercolors. While children can use just about any means to bring the pictures to life, I feel that watercolors would do more justice to keeping Konami's original work from being drowned out by your kid's creativity. With that being said, because of its double-sided presentation, I would strongly recommend making photocopies of the pictures and use those, so as to not let the colors bleed through to the other side.
Chi's Sweet Coloring Book is a nice little add-on to the famous cat's library of manga, anime, and merchandise. Fans of the series will no doubt enjoy adding their own creative spin to the feline's world, while at the same time giving kids a fun and relaxing way to interact with the character.
FINAL GRADE:
Promotional consideration provided by Tomo Tran of Vertical Comics
