The KAORI Nusantara Bibliobattle continues! On 25 April 2026, the monthly bibliobattle continues to the seventh. Held on the KAORI Nusantara Discord server, that month’s session has gathered 5 participants, including 2 duelists.
If you read the previous bibliobattle report, we are still using the same steps in each session. Start with the recommendation battle, do a voting session, and continue with either watchalong or silent reading (readalong) for the activity.
This session recommended two one-shot manga published on MangaPlus: Hitoner, written and illustrated by Yagi Tomohiro, recommended by Pl4tinumDisco; and Gachipin, written and illustrated by Date Tsunehiro, recommended by Dany M.
For Pl4tinumDisco, here’s how he recommends Hitoner manga:
This is purely my opinion, and I’d like to say that this one-shot manga is a reverse furry.
The story begins in a society of anthropomorphic mammals. This society has technological advancements that are comparable to those of pre-World War II times. This society is shocked by the arrival of hairless aliens seen in legends. These hairless ape-like aliens are historically referred to as ヒト (Hito/Human).
This one-shot presents a sci-fi “first contact” drama with a slightly unusual presentation. This makes for a refreshing read, but it also has controversial elements that further enhance its uniqueness. PS: I’m not a furry, but Tonelico is cute.
For Dany, here’s how he recommends Gachipin manga:
The story then focuses on Shunichi Hazama, a high schooler who is also an aspiring photographer, on his journey to find his ideal photography subject. This led him to meet a girl named Kageyama, a beautiful schoolmate who is also very shy.
The story itself is a typical comedy with fan service, but what makes it stand out is the execution. The character designs are great (and cute by my standards). The panelling is funny and can be hilarious at the right moments; the character development is solid; the plot points are clear; and the comedy is very good. The only downside is that it’s ecchi, so don’t read it in public.Â
For the Q&A session, the duelists were asked where the manga was published, and to everyone’s surprise, both manga were published by Shueisha’s Shounen Jump on their digital platform (which some of them can be accessed via MangaPlus).
One participant asked what Hitoner would explore in the upcoming story; Pl4tinumDisco said that the topic of Hitoner’s venture is what if humans as a species are reversed into a minority in a society of different species. He also anticipated that the manga could tackle intense racial and political issues, drawing comparisons to works like Beastars.
Meanwhile, the conversation regarding Gachipin shifted toward its visual aesthetics, with participants pointing out that the manga’s vibrant colouring and art style highly resembled the works of animator Akio Watanabe and the Grisaia series. The participants also talked about Tsunehiro Date’s previous work, including Ghostwriter Time Paradox and Tokyo Wonder Boys. Turns out, his serialised manga rarely have a long life. Dany himself is a fan of his artwork and hopes he can get a long serialisation one day.
With that, the session entered the voting session. Turns out Hitoner is more popular, so the session continues with readalong session. For the next 30 minutes, the participants read the manga and give their opinion.
One of the talking points after the readalong session was about the sci-fi elements. They noticed there are hints at a darker backstory where Earth might have faced an apocalypse, forcing him into a desperate mission to find intelligent life. Pl4tinumDisco said that this part reminds him of Project Hail Mary, the Hollywood film that has a similar premise.
Another talking point is about how the story will have some kind of twist. One of the participants talked about how the main character might be sent to this planet so that humans can prepare for their invasion. One possible future twist might be that another human will come to the planet, find out that the planet is livable, and other humans will come to invade the planet. As the trope is quite common in sci-fi stories, maybe this could be the future story of Hitoner.
With this, the 7th KAORI Nusantara 7th bibliobattle has officially ended. Out of those two manga, which one are you most interested in? Tell us in our comment section. See you next session!
The Indonesian Anime Times ┃Event report by Vina Nurziani & Dany Muhammad
