Yagi The Bookshop Goat – Manga Review

I wasn’t going to write a review about Yagi the bookstore goat. Cause I’m a bit of a noob. I’ll tell you about it in a second. But I think it’s a generally sweet little manga and when I went looking for reviews of it, not on sales sites or aggregators, I  couldn’t find anything… so here we are!

Why I Picked up Yagi The Bookshop Goat

I got Yagi the bookstore goat entirely because I  liked the title. Specifically the idea of a bookstore goat. I suspected it might be for little kids but that’s OK. It’s nice to get in touch with your inner toddler once in a while… or daily.

Official Summary

In this tranquil world where all animals live in peace, carnivores and herbivores have an agreement to live amicably. Yagi is a goat who loves reading (and eating!) books; his dream is to become a bookstore clerk, but goats who eat paper aren’t exactly welcomed at places that sell books! But maybe he can charm Ookami, the scary wolf store manager into giving him a job…

My First Impression

This art is really cute

Review

Here are a few practical things first. Yagi the Bookstore Goat is a single-volume manga. I really like single-volume Mangas but I find that they tend to be mostly in one or two genres. I  suspect Yagi may be a doujin but I have not done the research.

In fact, I had done no research at all. I was sure this was going to be the first volume of many cute little bookstore slice of life adventures. It was not. Nit only is there no more to come but Yagi the bookstore goat is Yaoi. As in explicit bl. That took me by surprise. Not that it would have changed much but I would have approached it differently.

And this was why I wasn’t sure if I wanted to review it. I’ve mostly stayed away from the really saucy stuff for various reasons. And I should add, Yagi isn’t that saucy. There’s a scene towards the end that feels sort of obligatory but most of the manga is the sweet fluffy stuff.

So what is  Yagi, the bookstore goat, and should you read it? There are obvious ways to strike it off your list. It is Yagi, so if you don’t like that, might not be for you.

It’s also quite superficial. It seems to flirt with some concepts, the distinctions between carnivores and herbivores, for instance, reminded me of Beastars a lot but it stays rather shallow in its realization.

The love story is also sort of shallow. You get a pretty standard explanation for why the characters are in love but you really don’t get to see them fall in love or see their relationship bloom. You just sort of have to accept that now they’re in love. It’s more rational than I’m making it sound but the reader will not get much insight into the progression of the relationship.

Sheeesh the way I’m describing it, one would wonder why ANYONE would want to read Yagi the bookstore goat. There are quite a few reasons in fact, but I think it’s better if you go in with reasonable expectations.

Yagi is a cute manga. It has cute art, cute characters and a cute story. It’s not particularly profound or engaging but it’s also not trying to be. It’s a light popcorn fair or maybe cotton candy. If you like this sort of manga, it will make you smile. It’s a great little book to cozy up with and spend a rainy afternoon. I buy a lot of manga I realize I shouldn’t have. I have bookshelves of abandoned series and lonely first volumes. When I  run out of space I will likely donate or exchange them. But I’ll keep Yagi The Bookstore Goat. A cute book that can make you smile is more precious than people realize.