Mr. Villain’s Day Off – Review of the first volume

“From a very young age, I preferred villains to heroes”: this simple sentence from the mangaka Yuu Morikawa summarizes the idea behind the work we are going to talk about today. Mr. Villain’s Day Offpublished in Italy by J-POP Mangais one slice of life published in Japan since 2018, and which also recently received an animated adaptation.

The premise of the story is very simple: the Earth is threatened by a generic “evil organization” composed of bad guys who want to exterminate humans, but who are opposed by ranger who defend the planet. The protagonist is one of these villains, who we only know by the name of “General”, but we won’t see him in action fighting the rangers, but rather enjoying his days off. Conquering the Earth is a long and complicated job, so even the bad guys have to take a vacation every now and then, right?

The importance of rest

The story will make us follow the daily life of this feared General: On his days off, he is intent on avoiding meetings with his colleagues or fighting the rangers; days off are important, and grand plans of conquest are to be undertaken only during his “office hours.” Despite his noted disdain for humans, there is one species of creature that has captured his interest: the pandas. For some reason, these animals have become his greatest passion, to the point of often visiting them in zoos and deciding to help them increase their population, once the Earth is conquered.

The structure of the manga is that of a slice of life composed of short episodeswhich have a length that varies from 5 to 15 pages; each episode follows a different day of the General, in a normal daily routine that will take an ironic turn thanks to his unique perspective, as he is wary of humans and their customs. This first volume focuses almost exclusively on the General, but little by little we will be introduced to other characters: we have Akatsuki Reda member of the ranger a little naive, two mysterious kids who seem to know the identity of the villain, and a child who, with his knowledge of animals, has earned the title of “master” from the General.

It is interesting how the author chose to use the villain’s point of view not only for a purely comical factorbut also for make us observe our daily life with different eyes: The protagonist’s curiosity in trying to understand human customs will lead him to appreciate the most banal things, whether it’s a walk in the park or tasting a new flavor of ice cream. The General’s days are always accompanied by new discoveries, almost to remind us of the beauty of small things.

Also interesting is how the “lair” of the evil organization is shown, namely through what appears to be a simple office: the hard work of conquering the Earth is not without having piles of paperwork to deal with and employees working late hours at their desks. It becomes easy then draw a parallel with the life of white collar workers, although here, paradoxically, the importance of workers’ rest is highlighted, with the General himself advising employees not to overload themselves with too many tasks.

There is also a veil of curiosity about the future development of the General: will he remain a simple character throughout the story or Will the various encounters with humans lead to a change in him?

A light read, very light indeed.

Since it is a purely comic and silly manga, the characters are not particularly complex. and are actually more similar to sketches, simple and functional to this kind of stories. There is however the problem that this kind of sketch and interactions, it soon becomes repetitive in case a minimum of depth is not added to the plot or characters. In a first volume, it is easy to smile at the protagonist’s reactions, but the lack of depth of the latter risks flattening the next gags, if these continue to focus on the usual character traits.

Although a work of this kind does not require a particular complexity, it is still necessary to have a minimum of conflict or evolution for the characters, at least to avoid always witnessing the same scenes. For now, this is the side that leaves us a little more doubtful.but to have a complete opinion on the matter it will obviously be necessary to continue reading the next issues.

Moving on to the technical side, there is actually very little to say about the manga’s drawings: there are no details or aesthetic flashes that particularly stand out, having a very generic style, just as the character designs do not stand out. They are still more than good drawings, but they lack that extra pinch of personality that makes them distinguishable from other comics. The author’s small sketches, which separate the various chapters, are very cute. As for the pace of the narration, each story flows with pleasure, with little dialogue and the right comic timinggiving us a short but pleasant read.

The edition J-POP presents an excellent quality of paper, as we are now accustomed to. If we take into account the few pages, the cost of the volume is a little higher than average, but it must be admitted that The adorable panda bookmark might be enough to justify the purchase for someone.

Who do we recommend Mr. Villain’s Day Off to?

As you may have already read, Mr. Villain’s Day Off it is a collection of very short stories, therefore, if you want a quick and light read that will help you unwind from the daycould be for you, entertaining you for a good half hour; the simplicity and sympathy of the characters could easily win you over, especially if you don’t have particular demands or expectations. The episodic structure and (at the moment) the two-dimensionality of the characters, It will hardly satisfy those looking for more complex characters and stories.but given the short length of the manga you can easily understand if it will be to your taste by taking a look at a couple of chapters.