The interesting pairings that emerge in the world of wine never cease to surprise us. Today we are going to talk about wine and comics, specifically about a Manga comic that has revolutionised consumption habits in Asian countries.
One of the biggest things responsible for the passion in wine and its culture to have grown in Japan, or South Korea, is a Manga comic called “Kami no Shizuku” or “The Drops of God”. For a comic to increase the sales of wine by 30% in a country such as South Korea or to sell out certain references in Japan for appearing in the comic does not cease to surprise us in the Western world. But, we have to take into account that in these countries, comics are not for children and kids only, they are common reading material for all ages. In the case of this Manga comic, with wine as its main character, most of its readers are in the 30- 50 age bracket, something that is not so common around here, right?
The persons responsible for creating such passion for the culture of wine, which had already emerged some years ago, are the “mangakas” (Manga comic artists) Yuko and Shin Kibayashi. The story they tell has a bit of everything, because of course Manga comics do not live on wine alone, and to give it a large dose of excitement, the story that “Kami no Shizuku” presents includes a rivalry between two brothers for an inheritance, love, saucy scenes...
Let us present you the plot. A well-known wine critic, Kanzaki Yutaka, dies leaving an inheritance valued in 20 billion yen in his bodega. His biological son Kanzaki Shizuku is a young person that renounces the world of wine and devotes himself to selling beer. Following his father's death, he discovers that he has a brother, Tomine Issei, who is a renowned wine critic that his father adopted recently. They will both fight for making theirs the inheritance left by the sensei by identifying what their father calls “The twelve apostles”, a dozen legendary wines. Although, it may seem initially that Issei will be the heir, the young Shizuku discovers that he has more abilities than he thought.
In this process of searching for these unique wines, the main characters taste and discover other wines. Among them, they have recently tasted two Vintae wines! They tasted Libalis Rosé and De Bardos Mítica, which have been drawn by the “mangakas” as beautiful as this.
The characters, especially the main character, learn about the wine world in an easy way, using simple language and a humorous touch. Therefore, a consumer that is not yet fully acquainted with wine can learn at the same pace.
The success of this Manga comic has been such that it has been translated to several languages. It has been released in France, and it has even been transformed into a TV series in Japan. Of course, it has been adapted for TV with six apostles instead of twelve. Look, look, they are subtitled in English:
Did you know about this phenomenon? Would you like to read it in English?
Vino y cómic, maridaje sorprendente
