This was really fun! I read the first book in the series and didn't enjoy as much as I thought I would, skipped the second, read this one and was not disappointed. Perhaps since I haven't been as much into Animal Crossing the game as much, perhaps because I let go of my expectations of what this comic is supposed to be like, regardless, I enjoyed this quick zaney read. We know a bit more about the main characters (the four friends), and they added in a few more animal characters to the island. There is definitely no overarching story, however, the little vignettes make this easy to pick up any volume regardless of if you have read the previous ones or not. My favorite was Labelle taking fashion notes, though Tom Nook fantasizing about K.K. Slider during the talent show is a close second.

In this manga volume,, the islanders discover Fashion, New Years, Name the Island, visit Dream Islands, K.K. Slider, and more adventures that are close to the game but not quite. Vol. 3 has definitely slowed down in terms of the zaniness and speed of previous volumes and I kind of like it? It seems like the author is sort of hitting their stride in terms of story and weaving in game elements. I'm not sure if kids who have been following so far would like this change of pace but the frenetic pace was a bit much for me. Cartoony and fun. A good all ages comic and wide appeal based on the video game connection alone. A must for youth and school libraries.

My kid is a huge fan of the Animal Crossing games and was super excited to see this series being published. He devoured it quickly and was very happy with the content.

My kids absolutely love animal crossing and were so excited to read this book!

Thank you netGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Animal Crossing New Horizons Deserted Island Diary Volume Three continues adapting the videogame into a manga.

Animal Crossing New Horizons Deserted Island Diary Volume Three
Written by: KOKONASU RUMBA
Publisher: Shogakukan
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: September 13, 2022

This volume of the manga introduces a few more characters from the game into this adaptation. In the first chapter, we are introduced to Label, a fashion designer who’s always in search of cutting edge styles. This character and her search for styles comes directly from the game, but this manga adaptation kicks things up a couple of notches, due to the human characters and the personalities that have been established for them earlier in the series. This chapter also introduces the Able Sisters store, which is the clothing store owned by the Able Sisters in the game. While I didn’t personally enjoy the hijinks in this chapter, I think the younger readers that this series is aimed at may appreciate the jokes more.

The second chapter introduces K.K. Slider, a famous musician that Tom Nook is a big fan of. This chapter focuses on Tom Nook and the islanders trying to convince K.K. to come to the island for a live performance. This is also something that’s from the videogame, but the execution in the manga is quite different. Tom Nook and the human characters decide to put together a music video to try to convince K.K. to come, and Dom and Raymond also become involved. As expected from this adaptation, things get out of hand and lead to hijinks. But during the filming of the video, a new character named Coach is introduced, and he becomes a new resident of the island. Unfortunately, after Coach’s introduction, we don’t really get to see him again in order to start learning more about what kind of a character he is. The writeups of the characters at the beginning of the volume include Coach, so the reader knows what he’s going to be like through that if they read it. However, it would have been nice to see him do a little more in Volume Three in order to let the reader see what he’s like through his actions.

Chapter Three moves us into the winter months and focuses on building Snowboys (which is Animal Crossing‘s version of snowmen). Coroyuki, along with a dung beetle, work at building a Snowboy… but they use the smaller snowball for the body and the bigger one for the head. Just like in the game, the Snowboy starts talking and making wisecracks. The Snowboy’s dialogue came across exactly like how it does in the game. Again, the usual hijinks appear before they build the perfect Snowboy. Unfortunately, the ending nearly made me facepalm. After all that effort to build the perfect Snowboy, someone does something ridiculous that they really should have known better about. While it was a little frustrating, it’s sadly something I could see these characters doing considering how they’ve been depicted in the manga up to this point.

The fourth chapter is supposed to be about New Year’s, but Tom Nook points out early on that New Year’s has long since been over and done with. He’s also upset about the mess the human characters have made with their protracted New Year’s celebration and insists that they clean up. A new character named Kabuki, who has just moved to the island, is introduced. Ultimately, he distracts the kids and encourages them to keep celebrating New Year’s… and they create more of a mess. In the long run, not much stood out to me in this chapter outside of Kabuki’s introduction. Unfortunately, I thought Kabuki came across as kind of annoying. But readers who have read and enjoyed the series up to this point will likely appreciate this new character more than I do.


Date: September 13, 2022
Author: Lesley Aeschliman
0 Comments
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Animal Crossing New Horizons Deserted Island Diary Volume Three continues adapting the videogame into a manga.

Animal Crossing New Horizons Deserted Island Diary Volume Three
Written by: KOKONASU RUMBA
Publisher: Shogakukan
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: September 13, 2022

This volume of the manga introduces a few more characters from the game into this adaptation. In the first chapter, we are introduced to Label, a fashion designer who’s always in search of cutting edge styles. This character and her search for styles comes directly from the game, but this manga adaptation kicks things up a couple of notches, due to the human characters and the personalities that have been established for them earlier in the series. This chapter also introduces the Able Sisters store, which is the clothing store owned by the Able Sisters in the game. While I didn’t personally enjoy the hijinks in this chapter, I think the younger readers that this series is aimed at may appreciate the jokes more.

The second chapter introduces K.K. Slider, a famous musician that Tom Nook is a big fan of. This chapter focuses on Tom Nook and the islanders trying to convince K.K. to come to the island for a live performance. This is also something that’s from the videogame, but the execution in the manga is quite different. Tom Nook and the human characters decide to put together a music video to try to convince K.K. to come, and Dom and Raymond also become involved. As expected from this adaptation, things get out of hand and lead to hijinks. But during the filming of the video, a new character named Coach is introduced, and he becomes a new resident of the island. Unfortunately, after Coach’s introduction, we don’t really get to see him again in order to start learning more about what kind of a character he is. The writeups of the characters at the beginning of the volume include Coach, so the reader knows what he’s going to be like through that if they read it. However, it would have been nice to see him do a little more in Volume Three in order to let the reader see what he’s like through his actions.

Chapter Three moves us into the winter months and focuses on building Snowboys (which is Animal Crossing‘s version of snowmen). Coroyuki, along with a dung beetle, work at building a Snowboy… but they use the smaller snowball for the body and the bigger one for the head. Just like in the game, the Snowboy starts talking and making wisecracks. The Snowboy’s dialogue came across exactly like how it does in the game. Again, the usual hijinks appear before they build the perfect Snowboy. Unfortunately, the ending nearly made me facepalm. After all that effort to build the perfect Snowboy, someone does something ridiculous that they really should have known better about. While it was a little frustrating, it’s sadly something I could see these characters doing considering how they’ve been depicted in the manga up to this point.

The fourth chapter is supposed to be about New Year’s, but Tom Nook points out early on that New Year’s has long since been over and done with. He’s also upset about the mess the human characters have made with their protracted New Year’s celebration and insists that they clean up. A new character named Kabuki, who has just moved to the island, is introduced. Ultimately, he distracts the kids and encourages them to keep celebrating New Year’s… and they create more of a mess. In the long run, not much stood out to me in this chapter outside of Kabuki’s introduction. Unfortunately, I thought Kabuki came across as kind of annoying. But readers who have read and enjoyed the series up to this point will likely appreciate this new character more than I do.

Chapter Five introduces Harv and the island he lives on. Harv has a whole photo studio on his private island, and the human characters are going there to do a photoshoot. While the usual hijinks occur, Harv is much more mellow about the chaos than Tom Nook. Then again, looking at Harv’s design, his character was obviously modeled off of hippies from the 1960’s… so his mellow personality makes a lot of sense. Does the story in this chapter get kind of ridiculous and over the top? Sure, but it was actually kind of amusing to see how unfazed Harv was to everything that was happening. He makes for an interesting counterpoint for the uptight Tom Nook.

The sixth chapter shows the human characters feeling bored on the island, and they are approached by a new character named Luna. According to her writeup, she’s a dream therapist who guides people to islands they could never imagine. She’s in the game, but I’ve never personally encountered her while playing. In the manga adaptation, Coroyuki is sent to several islands, but they’re more dangerous than exciting. Of course, the danger is played for laughs and incorporates the expected hijinks that are associated with this adaptation. Once again, the kids who are the target audience for this title may find more humor in this chapter than I did.

Chapter Seven focuses on DIY. We see Coroyuki making a lot of space shuttles, and they look rather impressive. However, after being given a DIY recipe for a raccoon figurine, he makes something that looks very shoddy. In the end, he combines the space shuttles and the raccoon figurine, but it just doesn’t work. I’m having a hard time using my “willing suspension of disbelief” for this chapter, because it seems unrealistic that Coroyuki can make something as elaborate as a space shuttle, but then can’t follow a simple DIY recipe for the raccoon figurine. Previous to this story, I was able to utilize my “willing suspension of disbelief” for what happened in earlier stories, but for some reason, I just couldn’t with this one. Fortunately, this was the shortest chapter in the volume.

The final chapter sees Tom Nook insisting that the characters finally name the island, which was something he asked them to do when they first arrived. Of course, the human characters all come up with names that would never work. The chapter also introduces a new character named Zucker, who just moved to the island that day. Even though Zucker’s idea isn’t much better than the others, in the end, it’s still his suggestion that becomes the name for the island.

Volume Three also includes a “Bonus Diary” that includes pictures and writeups for the animal characters that live on the island, as well as “RUMBA’s ACNH GAME DIARY.” In this edition of the game diary, RUMBA and her character, Diva, have a little fight over something that RUMBA gives to Diva. This was OK for a short extra.

When I’m reviewing Animal Crossing New Horizons Deserted Island Diary, I’m trying not to be too hard on it, since I know it’s a manga aimed at an all ages demographic. Because its main target audience seems to be kids, it’s going to include character types and situations that the intended audience will likely find to be funny or amusing. The manga isn’t bad for the audience that it’s being aimed at, but as someone who’s not part of that target market, I haven’t found much that I’ve truly enjoyed about this series. However, if you’re a reader who has read the previous two volumes of Animal Crossing New Horizons Deserted Island Diary and enjoyed them, then I expect you’ll also enjoy Volume Three, since it’s written in the exact same style.

Miigweetch NetGalley and VIZ Media for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This is a comic based on the popular Nintendo game of the same name. I did not read the previous two volumes, and might have benefited from doing so. Nevertheless, the story wasn’t too complicated and I was able to enjoy the ride. The lettering is lovely and the panels of the comic flow. The line work is clean and the gags are clear. Visually, this comic works very well.

I recommend this book to teenage readers who are already fans of the Animal Crossing franchise. A big part of the fun in this book are the “cameos” of beloved characters, particularly those whose appearance is tied to a seasonal event. The art and story is geared toward a younger audience and although I love playing the game, I was less enamored with this manga.

This manga was so hilariously cute!
The ongoing jokes and quick telling of mini stories made this such a light and easy read. The art was so cute and quirky, i found myself giggling at the faces alone. I haven’t had the chance to read the first two volumes, but even as a standalone, this was such a delight to read through.
Any fan of animal crossing (which I definitely am) would enjoy this!! I highly recommend adding this to your collection.

I am a huge fan of the Animal Crossing franchise and I was excited for this graphic novel, but sadly it wasn't for me.

I jumped straight into volume 3, not having read 1 and 2 so that may have had an impact on my experience.

The visuals are extremely busy and disjointed. I can confidently say I had absolutely no idea what was going on when reading this book; although maybe that is somewhat intentional. It is very chaotic and 'loud'. However, I will say it was fun to see some of my favourite characters, particularly seasonal characters, in book form.

I read a lot of graphic novels but not a huge amount of manga, so maybe this book simply missed the mark for me.

Huge thanks to VIZ media for the opportunity to review.

I accessed a digital copy of this book through NetGalley from the publisher, thank you for an early copy!

As a HUGE fan of the Animal Crossing franchise, I was so jazzed to see that this series was being published. I figured I could jump into volume three without reading the first two volumes. I definitely could, but I still wouldn't recommend. I am guessing that I am missing something because it was translated into English - plus I know that there are other Animal Crossing franchise things in Japan (I know there's a movie), and it is not portrayed like the game. It isn't very funny and didn't feel "on brand."

Thank you NetGalley and VIZ Media for a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Kokonasu Rumba's Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Vol. 3 is another fun addition to a light and silly series based on the popular Animal Crossing video game series.

Character interactions and cartooning through lettering are the highlights of this book. As touch-up artist and letterer, Sara Linsley does an excellent job of adapting the printed Japanese text for English-reading audiences. Caleb Cook's translation and adaptation conveys a light and jolly tone, and the book is always a joy to read. I'd recommend this to readers teen and up, and I think younger readers might not understand all of the gags in this book.

Story and Art by Kokonasu Rumba
Translation and Adaptation: Caleb Cook
Touch-Up Art and Lettering: Sara Linsley
Design: Shawn Carrico
Editor: Nancy Thistlethwaite

Lovers of Animal Crossing rejoice! This manga has cameos of all your favorite characters. My favorite chapter was Label. The author captured that exchange perfectly.

I don't think young children would find enjoyment in this title. It's probably better suited for teenagers and adults.

I was impressed even some items made their way into the manga. The Luna chapter deserves an honorable mention also. That one made me smile.