Drops of God/Kami no Shizuku has always been on my reading list and I'm so glad I finally got around to reading and finishing it. I originally picked this up when it was being scanlated, but after the group got a C&D, I never got around to finding out what happens next. I tried to read the French version, but I missed a lot of the subtle nuances since I don't actually understand French well enough to make it worth the effort. I got interested in the series again after doing the MAL Rewrite synopsis for it and decided to pick it up again (depending on when you see this review, the MAL Rewrite synopsis may or may not be up on the page, but it's been written). It makes me so happy that the ENTIRE 44 volume series was officially translated and published into English by ComiXology on Amazon Prime Reading. If you have Amazon Prime already, pick up this series and give it a go because it's free with your membership (not spons, but hey it's a legal and "free" way to read it).
I thought the story would be your run-of-the-mill "protagonist and rival face off in an epic battle to determine who's superior" kind of affair and it was, to an extent. The story revolves around Shizuku Kanzaki; a kid who resents his father and wine for reasons explained within the first 5 chapters, and Issei Tomine; a famous wine critic with his own ulterior goals also explained within the first 5 chapters, duking it out over the estate and extremely priceless wine collection of Shizuku's recently deceased father: Yutaka Kanzaki. It is one extremely long and convoluted family argument that involves a lot of wine, near-death experiences, sexual encounters, broken hearts and the universe dragging everyone together through the power of fermented grape juice. I found that the situations portrayed throughout the series have a sense of realism to them and are situations I feel like I can find myself in (or have found myself in before).
What surprised me the most was how spicy it got. I know seinen manga is targeted towards older male audiences, but there were a lot more panels suggesting sexual acts in this series than out of all the other seinen series I have read combined. The series was serialized in Morning, so all of the stuff was just heavily implied and as SFW as the mangakas could draw it, but wine is considered a sexual drink at times, so it makes some sense. The characters are well developed up until a certain point. It's kind of obvious to me that the mangakas intended for new characters that were introduced later in the series to be just as important as the main cast, but they quickly disappear into obscurity until the last chapters, where they suddenly remember that they existed and drag them back into the story. The relationships portrayed in the series feel real, but they aren't the central focus of the story and mostly exist to develop the main characters.
This story is one of those highly technical types of manga due to the central plot device being wine. I'm a lightweight when it comes to any alcohol, so my understanding of wine going into this series was just bitter, alcoholic grape juice. Within the first few chapters, that perception I had about wine was immediately turned on its head and taught me a lot about the drink. There is a lot of wine-specific terminology the series throws around, like terroir, noble-rot, vintage, grand-cru and tannins to name a few. The terms get introduced the very first time they are used, but the mangakas assume you'll remember the meanings as you go along. I found myself looking up more information on all of the terminology because I found the explanation in the story to be somewhat lacking, but I'm not sure if that's due to things getting lost in translation or if I'm just extremely dumb (likely the latter). The story does an amazing job showcasing wine and food pairings (called "mariages"), as well as a lot of fascinating wines from all over the world (France, Italy, Spain, Chile, United States, Australia, Japan, etc.).
I found that the technicality of describing REAL WORLD WINES in a fictional story to be a breath of fresh air when all I have been reading lately are stories rooted in mild fantasy or just your average teenage angsty romance. I especially like how clueless Shizuku was about wine because it allowed for the other more knowledgeable characters to give Shizuku and myself the Robert E. O. Speedwagon explanation of what's going on. The art and imagery to describe all of the wines is so vivid and rich that I felt like I could taste it at times. There are a lot of visual metaphors used in this series to describe wine, such as saying that a wine tasted like the conception of a child or the wine evoked the imagery of two ex-lovers passing by each other on the streets in the rain, not stopping to look back and check to see if it really was them. There were a lot of really beautiful panels throughout the series, especially the ones involving imagery relating to the "Twelve Apostles".
Overall, Drops of God/Kami no Shizuku is a fantastic manga that's worthy of the "cult classic" title it gets in France and within the culinary world. It's just the right amount of technical that I learn something new while also not alienating me with terminology that I don't get. The story is surprisingly more mature than most other seinen I have read and it really felt like a story that was targeted towards adults. The art is breathtaking at times and really helps you understand what the wine is supposed to taste like without having to actually describe the taste of it. Hell, I might even start drinking more wine now that I'm emotionally invested in this series. It was a wild ride getting to learn about the Twelve Apostles and Drops of God and I'm excited to start reading the sequel (if I can even find it). A solid 10/10 for me.
