A review by diplocaulus
Dinosaur Sanctuary Vol. 5 by Itaru Kinoshita

funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 Are you just like me and very tired of the Jurrasic-park franchise slop we get? In which every movie seems to feel the need to introduce a bigger, badder and more fucked up looking creature until it barely resembles a dinosaur anymore? Creatures that wouldn't look out of place as filler beings for a King Kong movie back on Skull Island? 

Are you also tired of seeing dinosaurs being portrayed as psychopatic, murder and rage filled monsters that feel the need to fight and slay anything that might come in their vicinity? 

And are you fascinated by the idea of a prehistoric park in general? Do you like slice of life? 

So then I got the manga receipe for you: 

-A bunch of actually diverse and interesting human characters. 

-A whole dose of slice of life. 

-Cool paleo facts, which try to be up to date 

-the concept of a behind-the-zoo-look show 

-Really gorgeous, lush and detailed art! 

-Finally dino's and other prehistoric animals! 

Mix and stir and let stew for a bit and poof, there you have it! Dinosaur Sanctuary is your manga. 

We follow Suzume, a young and enthousiastic dino keeper who goes to work for one of the smaller parks. There, she learns the ropes of being a dino keeper and together with the audicience learns and sees a whole bunch of prehistoric creatures, from the small Troodon Benkei to the much larger and elderly Tyrannosaur Hanako. 

In between her adventures we also catch a glimpse of other human characters. This volume has the story of Sakura, a young girl who absolutely adores dinosaurs and wants to become a dino keeper. Her grandad thinks she's getting to old for this and should become more girly, citing that dino's are more for boys. She attends a career day at the park and learns that dino's are for everybody and that she should keep on chasing her dream. (Something that we should tell people in reallife, sadly dino's seem to be associated with being a boy's thing for when they are like 3-7 or 8 max. Take a deep dive one afternoon in the subject and everybody can learn how cool and fascinating or outright bizarre they could be!) We also slowly learn some backstories from the other workers at the dino zoo and how they bond with eachother or why they do their job. (Bonus: no awfull fanservice with the female characters here!) 

The animals themselves are also portrayed as accurate as possible for the time being and shown with different personalities. We have the earlier mentioned Hanako, the elderly T-rex, who despite her size and breed, is not a murderous killing machine but quite gentle. We have Benkei, a really smart Troodon who's an outsider from his own species and was raised by humans for the most part. There's Masaru, a triceratops who lost a horn and loafs like a cat. In a whole other park there's a mosasaur called Sophie, a Globidens specialized in eating shell fish and seems quite gentle despite her size. 

I can go on and on, but seriously, read this if you enjoy slice of life, prehistoric stuff, pretty art and that shows how a dino zoo could have been operated.