Utsuru n Desu. Review: The Manga Where Nothing Made Sense and That Was the Whole Point
by Yoshida Sensha
Read the first volume. If it doesn't hook you, put it down. It'll hook you.
Buy Utsuru n Desu. on Amazon →*Affiliate link — I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
There is a frog. The frog says something. The something is not funny in any conventional way. You laugh anyway.
Quick Take
- Yoshida Sensha's 1989-1994 Big Comic Spirits anthology — each story is 4 pages, each story is a complete non-sequitur
- Hugely influential on Japanese internet humor, meme culture, and the generation of comedy manga that followed
- 5 volumes that demonstrate with mathematical precision that humor doesn't require setup, payoff, or any known component of comedy
Who Is This Manga For?
- Absurdist humor fans who want the genre pushed past its comfortable limits
- Readers curious about Japanese internet culture origins — many memes and humor formats trace to this series
- Anyone who has found something funny and been unable to explain why
- Comedy manga readers who want to see what the form looks like when all conventions are removed
Content Warnings & Age Rating
Age Rating: T (Teen) Content Warnings: Surreal content, non-sequitur situations. Occasionally unsettling imagery presented as comedy. Nothing graphic — just strange.
Suitable for teen readers and above.
Yu's Rating
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Story Depth | ★☆☆☆☆ |
| Art Style | ★★★★☆ |
| Character Development | ★☆☆☆☆ |
| Accessibility for Non-Japanese Readers | ★★★★★ |
| Reread Value | ★★★★☆ |
Story Overview
Each story is 4 pages. Each story contains characters who appear in multiple stories without continuity between appearances. Each story begins, proceeds through events that do not follow from each other, and ends.
There is no deeper level. The stories are not metaphors. They are not satire in disguise. They do not resolve into sense if you read them carefully enough. They are simply what they are: short sequences of events arranged to produce a response that resembles laughter while violating all the mechanisms that laughter normally requires.
The recurring characters — a salaryman, a strange small creature, various animals — appear across stories without remembering previous stories. They are not characters in the conventional sense. They are comedy infrastructure: familiar shapes onto which the non-sequiturs are placed.
Characters
There are recurring figures. They do not have interiority. Their purpose is presence, not depth. Yoshida draws them consistently enough that they are recognizable, and their recognizability is itself part of the comedy — familiar shapes doing incomprehensible things.
Art Style
Yoshida's art is simple and clean — accessible enough that the weirdness of the content is never obscured by technical difficulty. The simplicity is deliberate: the humor requires that you understand exactly what is happening before you process that what is happening makes no sense.
Cultural Context
Utsuru n Desu. ran in Big Comic Spirits from 1989 to 1994. It appeared during a period when Japanese comedy manga was diversifying beyond the established gag traditions, and the series became a reference point for a generation of comedians and manga artists who grew up with it.
Its influence on Japanese internet humor — the 2channel era's comedy sensibility, the particular form of Japanese meme culture that prizes complete non-sequitur — is documented by the comedians who cite it. It did something to the Japanese comedy ecosystem that persisted long after the series ended.
What I Love About It
I love that it cannot be explained.
I have tried to explain Utsuru n Desu. to people who haven't read it. The explanations are always failures. The response to the explanation is always: "That doesn't sound funny." The response to the manga is often laughter. The gap between those two responses is the series' entire argument: that comedy operates on the body before it operates on the mind, and setup-payoff logic is only one of its mechanisms.
What English-Speaking Fans Say
Not known outside Japan except among dedicated absurdist comedy manga readers. Among those who have sought it out, the reaction is polarized: some find it immediately, viscerally funny; others find it completely opaque. Both reactions are valid. It is genuinely not for everyone, and "not for everyone" is not a diplomatic softening — it is an accurate description.
Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning
A story involving a small creature that says something. The something is not meaningful. The story ends. The reason this is the memorable scene is that every scene in the series has the same structure, which is itself the joke, which is itself not explainable.
Similar Manga
| Title | Its Approach | How Utsuru n Desu. Differs |
|---|---|---|
| Tensai Bakabon | Akatsuka absurdism with character-based gags | No characters in any meaningful sense — pure structure |
| Cromartie High School | Surreal delinquent comedy with knowable characters | Removes characters entirely; the content is pure non-sequitur |
| Excel Saga | Comedy that destroys its own conventions deliberately | Less self-aware — Utsuru n Desu. doesn't know it's absurd |
Reading Order / Where to Start
Any volume. There is no continuity to respect. Begin wherever you are.
Official English Translation Status
Utsuru n Desu. has no official English translation.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Historically significant for Japanese comedy culture
- One of the few works that genuinely expands what comedy can be
- Extraordinarily accessible regardless of Japanese cultural knowledge
- Short — 5 volumes, easily read completely
Cons
- No English translation
- For many readers, this will simply not be funny — and that is an accurate outcome, not a failure of reading
- Story Depth is rated 1 star because there is no story depth, which is the point
- Cannot be recommended to readers who want any conventional comedy mechanics
Is Utsuru n Desu. Worth Reading?
For absurdist comedy enthusiasts and readers curious about the outer limits of the comedy manga form, yes — this is one of the most interesting things the form has produced, and its influence on Japanese humor makes it historically significant regardless of whether you find it funny. For readers who want coherent comedy with setup and payoff, this is not your book, and I say that without any equivocation.
Format Comparison
| Format | Notes |
|---|---|
| Physical | Japanese editions available |
| Digital | Available in Japanese |
| Omnibus | Collected edition available |
Where to Buy
No English release yet. That just means you find it before everyone else does.
*Affiliate link — I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Written by
Yu
Manga Enthusiast from Japan
I grew up in Japan and manga literally saved me during a tough time in elementary school. My English isn't perfect, but my love for manga is real — and I want to share it with you.