By Erica Friedman
You could almost hear the corks being popped this morning as Wine Spectator’s Unfiltered announced the brand new collaboration between ComiXology and Kodansha Comics to publish the entirety of the popular and influential manga, The Drops of God by Shin and Yuko Kibayashi under the name Tadashi Agi, with art by Shu Okimoto. This is not the first time Drops of God has been published — the first five volumes were released previously by Vertical Publishing in the early 2010s. However, this marks the first time the entire 44- volume series will be released in English.
When world-renowned wine critic Kanzaki Yutaka passes away, his will reveals that his fortune of a wine collection isn’t automatically bequeathed to his only son Kanzaki Shizuku, a junior employee at a Japanese beverage company whose main focus is selling beer. In order to take ownership of his legacy and the inheritance, he must correctly identify and describe 13 wines, the first 12 Heaven-sent wines known as the “Twelve Apostles” and the thirteenth known as the “Drops of God,” while competing against the stellar young wine critic, Toomine Issei. With determination, a strong sense of taste and smell, and an uncanny ability to describe his experiences, Shizuku submerges himself in the world of wine to try to solve its mysteries and defeat Issei.
In it original run from 2004 to 2014, The Drops of God was influential in increasing the Asian wine market and received a review in the Wall Street Journal before it was ever translated into English. This fun to read manga features easily understandable wine knowledge, charming characters, and a “fighting manga” style of competitive wine tasting.
ComiXology’s press release notes that the first 11 volumes are available today, and can be read digitally as part of the ComiXology Originals at no additional cost for members of Amazon Prime via their Prime Reading benefit, Kindle Unlimited, and ComiXology Unlimited; they are also available for purchase on Kindle and comiXology.
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