'Ran and the Gray World' Feels Like a Manga From a Bygone Era

“Don’t judge a book by its cover” is advice that’s often hand-waved away whenever you frequent a bookstore, especially for manga. After all, a manga’s pretty artwork is the first thing that’ll make you go “ooh,” bend your poor, precious knees to grab the book off the bottom shelf (because the best books are always there), and buy it after the store clerk gives you a look for treating the store like a library. Such was the case when I picked up Ran and the Gray World, a manga that feels like a send-up from a bygone era, for better and, mostly, for worse. Ran and the Gray World, created by Aki Irie, is a supernatural fantasy seinen manga whose cover immediately drew me in because it reminded me of Rumiko Takahashi’s art style blended with Kamome Shirahama‘s in Witch Hat Atelier. Translation: its art style was teeming with charm and whimsy. It also unabashedly had its titular character wearing a pair of Nike shoes—something that, funnily enough, became important to the story. In fact, I would’ve used it as a preface explaining why folks should read it before it quickly became a source of ire (we’ll get there). It follows Ran Uruma, an elementary school kid and heir apparent to a famil