Penguin Highway Manga Perfectly Highlights Its Magical Realism

I loved the Penguin Highway movie and the way it blended fantasy elements and an unusual mystery into a real world mystery, and I was curious how the manga adaptation would handle its concepts. After all, we’re getting the descriptive nature of the novel paired with potential opportunities for greater detail than the anime adaptation. It remains a fascinating story that still leaves a reader wondering about its many mysteries.

Aoyama is a young man who explores mysteries and the unknown with his friend and classmate Uchida. He also has a crush on a dental assistant who he really only knows as an unknown lady. However, both of these “interests” come together when he realizes she’s able to create penguins. These have been sighted around town, with no real explanation for them. However, when Aoyama and Uchida try to take a penguin outside of the area, it transforms into a can of soda. We get to watch (or in this case read) as Aoyama gets to know the lady, learn about her past, and figure out what is going on with the penguins, all while dealing with things like another classmate with a crush on him named Hamamoto and a bully named Suzuki.

What’s interesting about all forms of Penguin Highway, and not just the manga, is how the fantasy elements start to ease their way into the story. When we first find out about the penguins, it’s reasonable to assume maybe there was a situation with a zoo. However, then we see the lady throw a soda can and transform it into a penguin, eliminating that theory. From there, a cavalcade of additional information, tests, and insights proves that yes, something is happening. Not to mention that we get to see more,which is satisfying and serves to highlight the other underlying themes in the story.

Because there’s so much going on, and so many of the fantastical and supernatural elements are tied into and ramp up when they get involved. I felt like with the manga version of Penguin Highway, it was often easier to spot the correlations and connections between them. For example, early interactions between Aoyama and the young woman he met begin to blossom more as he falls in love with her. First crushes are magical! As they spend more time together, we get to see more penguin-creating and whimsical elements. 

Then, as the more critical elements of the plot come up, we see more harrowing otherworldly appearances. Once we see the sphere and its waters, we know that it’s an ominous symbol due to the things happening around it. The spaceship disappears. The Jaberwock shows up. Avoiding spoilers, of course, but as critical moments tied to coming of age, dealing with bullies, and encountering loss come up, that’s reflected in what Aoyama and even characters like Hamamoto deal with. 

With the manga adaptation of Penguin Highway, I could see more opportunities to better illustrate what’s happening and bring the town and its situations to life. It may not always be as visually impressive as the movie adaptation. However, I also felt like it sometimes meant a little extra time or opportunities to pause and take in what’s happening. Which is especially important as the story reaches its climax and ending.

I liked how the manga adaptation of the Penguin Highway allowed me to really take my time with the story. At the same time, it integrates the same sort of fantastic visuals and lets us appreciate the sometimes silly and occasionally dire situations in the same way the anime movie adaptation did. In any case, it’s a lovely way to introduce even more people to the original story from the novel.

The Penguin Highway manga is available via Yen Press now, as is the novel. The film is streaming on Crunchyroll.