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Dinosaur Sanctuary (Japanese: ディノサン, Hepburn: Dinosan) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Itaru Kinoshita, with paleontologist Dr. Shin-ichi Fujiwara serving as research consultant. It began serialization in Shinchosha's Monthly Comic Bunch magazine in March 2021; as of July 2024, six volumes have been released.
Plot
In a world where dinosaurs were rediscovered in 1946, Suma Suzume works in Enoshima Dinoland, a struggling dinosaur park where she takes care of many dinosaurs and faces many challenges.
Characters
Enoshima Dinoland staff and keepers
Suma Suzume
A rookie dinokeeper at the Enoshima Dinoland dinosaur park and the main character. Her love of dinosaurs stems from her father, Suma Ichirou, who was a scientist responsible for bringing certain extinct species back through genetics. After a fatal incident ruined her father's career and drove him to suicide, Suma lost her interest in dinosaurs which she regained when she remembered the happiness they brought her when she was growing up. She aspires to be able to bridge the gap between humans and dinosaurs and reignite the dying passion people had with dinosaurs.
Kaidou Arata
An experienced dinokeeper who specializes in the parks theropods. Kaidou worked at Enoshima Dinoland for over 15 years under another dinokeeper Yamaga before a tragic incident involving Ichigo, the park's Allosaurus, resulted in the death of both Yamaga and the dinosaur. Since then, Kaidou became stricter with rules and regulations to prevent any further incidents. Despite his more aloof personality, Kaidou does still love his job and cares for those he works for and with. He's Suma's primary overseer.
Kirishima Karin
The park's ceratopsian keeper. Kirishima worked at another dinosaur park with the Triceratops, Masaru. However, when Masaru broke his horn and lost popularity to the point of selling him to Enoshima Dinoland, Kirishima left to continue working with him. She has a sisterly attitude towards Suma, both working hard to make an interactive display to boost Masaru's popularity.
Ogino Takatoshi
Enoshima Dinoland's chief curator and manager. Mild-mannered and gentle, Ogino is determined to keep the park running despite its relatively poor state. He has, however, clashed with Kirishima when his superiors decided to sell Masaru the Triceratops for more funds, something he was reluctant about. He gladly convinced them otherwise when Kirishima and Suma worked together to make an interactive display, which proved to be successful after an online influencer posted online about it.
Torikai Ami
Enoshima Dinoland's accountant and office manager working beneath Ogino. She's usually seen wearing a dinosaur hat, a jumpsuit, and barefooted. She keeps to herself on her laptop, keeping track of the park's finances and online media presence.
Shiranui Ren
The veterinarian of the park. He primarily works with his assistant Nakajou. Despite being attractive and caring towards his dinosaur patients, he's distant towards people and can be seen as spiteful, blaming certain health problems dinosaurs have from genetic tampering done in the labs. He also states to hate people who have goals but no way of achieving them, believing Suma to be one such person. He does start warming up to her after she helped with the park's Pachycephalosaurus after he experiences slight pneumonia.
Igarashi Keisuke
The park's stegosaur and pachycephalosaur keeper. He used to work at another dinosaur park that specialized in marine reptiles like mosasaurs and ichthyosaurs called Blue World years prior to the story. He grew attached the park's Globidens Sophia, but left and joined Enoshima Dinoland. He's boisterous and something of a smooth-talker, easily getting along with Suma due to their mutual love of dinosaurs and parallels in their trainee experiences. He has butted heads with Shiranui due to their clashing personalities, though will work together for the sake of the dinosaurs.
Katase Shougo
A keeper who works primarily with the park's ankylosaurs, though certain theropods like the Citipati pair are under his care. He's relatively new to his position due to his predecessor quitting. He's put under constant pressure, though hides it with a stone face. He's methodical in his work and strict with his rules.
Katou Harue
The park's ornithopod keeper. She's motherly and caring. She's also excited to see baby dinosaurs, hoping that the Centrosaurus will breed and earn the park an award.
Makabe Kazuya
The park's plesiosaur keeper. He's shown to be something of a cynic, believing that people aren't interested in the educational aspect of the park and only go to see cool dinosaurs.
A keeper who works for the park's unusual dinosaurs.
Enoshima Dinoland's dinosaurs and other animals
Yuuki
The park's Giganotosaurus. Despite being a predatory dinosaur, she's actually pretty skittish and cautious. She's also described as needy and pampered.
Niko & Vena
The park's pair of Troodon. They have mated and laid a clutch of eggs, four of which hatch. Niko was the first dinosaur Suma worked with, helping Kaidou and Kirishima when he was suffering from a combination of heat stroke and a blocked throat. The runt of the clutch, Benkei, was placed under Suma's care before he was sent to the lab to be cared for and transferred once he is at the right age. The other three remain under their parents care.
Masaru
The park's Triceratops. He belonged to another dinosaur park where he was the star dinosaur, even being the basis for a character in a dinosaur movie. Unfortunately, his popularity was shot when he accidentally broke his left horn after he got it stuck. He became the source of ridicule and mockery afterwards. He was sold to Enoshima Dinoland in hopes of bringing people to the smaller park, though Kirishima believes it was to save face for the bigger park. He was nearly sold to another park when he didn't bring the crowds, but through Kirishima and Suma's hard work, they were able to make a display out of Masaru's broken horn, which gained popularity when an influencer talked about it online.
Roy
The park's Dilophosaurus. Due to his species being brought back through genetics rather than being part of the lost world most dinosaurs came from, Roy suffers from a number of health problems like gout. Despite this, he still lives a good life at the park.
Daikichi, Shoukichi, & Umeko
The park's trio of Centrosaurus. Umeko is the sole female of the group and the reason Daikichi and Shoukichi spar. In one bout, Shoukichi was able to win and pair up with Umeko. This has resulted in Daikichi being moved to another exhibit and hopes of breeding some baby Centrosaurus
Hanako
The park's sole Tyrannosaurus. She briefly appears in a flashback in the first chapter. When she is formally introduced, the park is celebrating her 36th birthday. Because of her age, she doesn't move around as much and isn't as popular as other tyrannosaurs. Despite this, the birthday celebration was a success and she was able to enjoy a pile of steaks made of hadrosaur meat in front of a crowd.
Eiger
The park's Spinosaurus. He's described as being hot-headed, though is a popular attraction at the park. Because of his temperament, he sometimes misses his catches.
Hachibei
The park's Pachycephalosaurus. He was paired with a female named Daisy, though she died before the start of the manga. For a short time, his sleep was interrupted by water splashing down from a clogged gutter, which caused him to drowsily bump his nose to the wall while pacing. This led to a case of pneumonia when his nostrils got reshaped by an infection caused by nasal catarrh. Fortunately, Suma was able to catch it early enough to have Hachibei examined and healed. He continues to sleep in a spot he shared with Daisy.
Momiji
The park's Stegosaurus. She used to live in an exhibit of her own, but was swapped with Daikichi while Shoukichi and Umeko were prepped for breeding. She also lives with the Camarasaurus, Plateosaurus, and Thescelosaurus. She gained some online popularity when a picture of her made it look like she was smiling.
Ayaka, Norika, Fuuka, & Nia
The park's small herd of Pinacosaurus. Nia is the sole male of the group and the father of five babies, Ayaka being the mother. Each member of the herd are picky about what they eat, so their main keeper, Katase, divides the food evenly to their liking. The babies are transferred to another park.
Kaka & Kuku
The park's pair of Citipati. Kuku is the skittish of the two, refusing to got to her crate even with the promise of food. The two currently live with the Pinacosaurus herd.
Seen a few times in the story. It's the park sole sauropod. It lives in the biggest exhibit with Shoukichi, Umeko, Momiji, a flock of Thescelosaurus, and a group of Plateosaurus.
At least one Edmontosaurus regalis has been seen, though others may call the park home. A group of kids mistook them for Parasaurolophus, but were corrected.
Unseen and unnamed, but confirmed to be a part of the park according to the map. Lives in the aviary with other pterosaurs.
Other dinosaurs and prehistoric animals
Ichigo
Enoshima Dinoland's Allosaurus. She was under the care of Kaidou and Yamaga 15 years before the beginning of the story. She was shy and easily frightened. Due to Yamaga ignoring the buddy system and a minor construction incident, Ichigo got frightened and killed Yamaga before trying to escape. Though she got caught by the gate, the pressure injured her ribs and made her sounds of pain scare the crowds. Ichigo was euthanized by a shot to the head, but the incident caused a domino effect that is felt throughout the story.
Sophia
Blue World's Globidens. The survivor of a c-section after her mother's untimely death, Sophia was a popular attraction at the park. As she aged, however, her popularity waned. Before working at Enoshima Dinoland, Igarashi was one of Sophia's keepers.
Unnamed Ichthyosaurs
Blue World had a tank of unidentified ichthyosaurs. Sophia was placed into their tank as a pup with little risk to either since the ichthyosaurs are primarily fish eaters and Sophia eats mollusks rather than bigger animals.
Unnamed Plesiosaur
Blue World has at least one species of plesiosaur, though the identity of it is unknown.
The result of illegal breeding, a Velociraptor was smuggled into Kamakura from Yokohama before it escaped to a nearby shrine. Due to being captively bred and raised by humans, there was concern about it harming someone. Suma and Kaidou worked with local law enforcement to capture it and bring it to the lab.
Several could be seen at an Australian dinosaur preserve called Australo National Dino Park. They were placed in the preserve as an experiment and seem to be acclimating well.
Herds of Styracosaurus are seen at the Australo National Dino Park. They are also subject to poaching as their horns are sold on the black market, much like rhinos. Shiranui used to work at the preserve as a field vet and tried helping an injured Styracosaurus, but though the animal was treated it still had some tranquilizer in its system, leading it to collapse in a body of water and drown. This incident affects Shiranui to this day.
They could be seen at the Australo National Dino Park when Shiranui and his fellow vets are looking for an injured Styracosaurus. Though unnamed in the story, an afterword by the author confirms most of the dinosaurs in the preserve are from the Dinosaur Park Formation, with this and several other dinosaurs listed.
Unnamed Pachycephalosaurs
While Shiranui and his vets are searching for an injured Styracosaurus at Australo National Dino Park, a pair of unidentified pachycephalosaurs are seen. They may either be Stegoceras or Foraminacephale.
They are an inhabitant of Australo National Dino Park. When the injured Styracosaurus died, an individual is seen scavenging its remains.
Publication
Written by Itaru Kinoshita, the series began serialization in Shinchosha's Monthly Comic Bunch magazine on March 19, 2021.[2] Shin-ichi Fujiwara, a lecturer at the Nagoya University Museum [ja], is serving as the series' research consultant.[2] As of December 2023, the series' individual chapters have been collected into five tankōbon volumes.[3]
In January 2022, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they licensed the series for English publication.[4]
2. Welcome to Fatherhood, Niko (ニコ、父になる, Niko, chichi ni naru)
3. A Place for Masaru, Part 1 (マサルの居場所①, Masaru no i basho ichi 1)
4. A Place for Masaru, Part 2 (マサルの居場所②, Masaru no i basho ichi 2)
5. Roy's Destiny (ロイの宿命, Roi no shukumei)
Suma Suzume begins her dream job as a dinosaur keeper at Enoshima Dinoland. Her first day starts on a hot summer day, which has been a source of complaints for the staff. Theropod keeper Kaidou Arata performs a feeding for a school but has difficulty calming a girl who got scared by the park's Giganotosaurus, Yuuki. Suma arrives and is able to calm the girl to enjoy Yuuki's behavior. After formally introducing herself, Suma is assigned to work with Arata for a short period of time. While the two work with the Troodon pair, Arata realizes the enclosures air-conditioning has stopped working and sees Niko, the brooding male, suffering from heat stroke and a caught throat. With few options, Arata and Suma enter the enclosure to help him. Though they remove what was blocking Niko's throat, Arata gets kicked after Suma loses her grip on the dinosaur. Arata sends her away so that he and Kirishima, but she returns with a block of ice from a food stand to help cool Niko. They succeed and the Troodon eggs hatch with no further problems. Suma is later transferred to work with Karin Kirishima, the park's ceratopsian keeper, for a week. The two work with the Triceratops Masaru. While cleaning his enclosure and feeding him, Kirishima reveals how she worked with Masaru at Dino Park until an accident broke one of Masaru's horns and had him sold to Enoshima Dinoland, Kirishima joining the parks staff no long after. Later, Suma overhears a confrontation between Kirishima and Ogino when he says his superiors are planning to sell Masaru. Suma helps Kirishima to gain popularity for Masaru by building a display with Masaru's broken horn that showed information about Masaru's personal life. Though no one initially shows interest, online influencer Pyonkobuu and her boyfriend spark public interest when they share the display and the dinosaur on their social media. While working with Arata at the Dilophosaurus enclosure, veterinarian Shiranui Ren meets the two for a monthly checkup with the exhibit's sole inhabitant, Roy. Shiranui examines Roy's dung and suspects a health issue, so he has Roy tranquilized and examined. Shiranui finds Roy's suffering from a combination of gout and mild kidney failure, whicj he's able to prescribe antibiotics and herbal supplements to help Roy's conditions. Suma expresses her admiration to Shiranui's hard work but is met with contempt from the vet. Arata tries to stand up for Suma, but Shiranui reminds him about the Ichigo incident, which silences Arata.
6. The Ichigo Incident, Part 1 (イチゴの悲劇①, Ichigo no higeki ichi 1)
7. The Ichigo Incident, Part 2 (イチゴの悲劇②, Ichigo no higeki ichi 2)
8. Two Sides of Benkei, Part 1 (内弁慶なベンケエ①, Naiben yorokobi na 1)
9. Two Sides of Benkei, Part 2 (内弁慶なベンケエ②, Naiben yorokobi na 2)
10. One Summer, in Dinoland (あの夏、ディノランドで, Ano natsu, Dino rando de)
11. Happy Birthday, Hanako (花子の誕生日, Hanako no tanjō hi)
Bonus: A Day in Ichigo's Life
Suma finds Arata and a memorial dedicated to Ichigo, an Allosaurus he used to work with along with his predecessor Yamaga. While following Yamaga's orders which disregarded the park's buddy system, Ichigo gets startled by construction noises and kills Yamaga. She nearly escaped but is caught and euthanized. Arata placed the blame on himself and apologizes to Suma, knowing the incident placed public blame on her father who was a scientist that worked with dinosaurs. Suma, however, doesn't blame Arata and reaffirms why she wants to keep working at the park. Impressed by Suma's selflessness, Arata and Ogino assign her to take care of Benkei, the Troodon's runt. Though having trouble, Suma notes his intelligence and plans to use it to integrate him back into the Troodon family with the use of a puzzle. Though Benkei is able to solve it, he is continually bullied by his siblings. Realizing that she can't help Benkei, Suma allows him to be taken to the lab, a special location that handles dinosaurs until they are ready to be taken to dinosaur zoos. Later, Suma and Arata plan a birthday gift for the park's Tyrannosaurus, Hanako. Hanako has been refusing to go on exhibit due to her age and has not been able to meet public expectations. To get Hanako out for her birthday, Suma and Arata use a "cake" made from hadrosaur meat. With the public watching and Suma presenting, Hanako goes on display and eats her cake. With her probationary period over, it is decided Suma will work with other dinosaur keepers before she could be placed in a department. In a side story, a high school student visits the park with his crush before admitting he would like to go on more dates with her. Meanwhile, the Centosaurus herd enters its mating season with Shoukichi getting with Umeko.
13. Clumsy Hachibei, Part 1 (うっかりハチベエ①, Ukkari Hachibei 1)
14. Clumsy Hachibei, Part 2 (うっかりハチベエ②, Ukkari Hachibei 2)
15. Dino Fans Forever! (推し活よ永遠なれ！, Oshi katsu yo eien nare！)
16. Moving Momiji (モミジの引っ越し大作戦, Momiji no hikkoshi dai sakusen)
17. Sophia from the Sea (碧い世界のソフィア①, Aoi sekai no sofia 1)
Bonus: Days with Daisy
During a meeting, Suma proposes to have live cams recording the dinosaurs as a way to get people invested in the dinosaurs and garner more attention for the park. This leads to her being in charge of the park's social media before she starts working with Igarashi Keisuke, the stegosaur and pachycephalosaur keeper. He gets a call that Heichibei, the Pachycephalosaurus, has injured himself. Though he is successfully treated, it has been a recurring problem that need to be looked into. After constant surveillance, Suma notices that Heichibei only injures himself during rain. During a storm, they notice something's startling him and quickly investigate. Shiranui followed them and they all notice another potential health problem, leading them to give him a CT scan and diagnosing him with pneumonia caused by a reshaped nostril from his injuries. While Heichibei is recovering, Suma and Igarashi find that a clogged gutter was constantly startling and waking him up, which lead him to accidentally bumping his head in a tired state. They unclog the gutter and Heichibei makes a full recovery. During the fall season, Suma helps Kirishima and Igarashi move Daikichi and Momiji around so that Shochiki and Umeko can breed in peace. Though initially having trouble with Momiji, the move goes well. In a side story, high school friends Yukari and Akiho go through a rough patch with Akiho overhearing Yukari bad talking dinosaurs which she likes and Yukari about to move to New Zealand with her family, though the two are able to make amends. Meanwhile, Igarashi talks to Suma about his previous employment at another dinosaur zoo called Blue World. Though being a caretaker, Igarashi winds up breaking rules to educate people about Sophia, the aquarium's Globidens. This leads him to confront his superiors about educating people about prehistoric life, only to get shot down.
18. Sophia from the Sea, Part 2 (碧い世界のソフィア②, Aoi sekai no sofia 2)
19. Smile, Momiji! (モミジスマイル！, Momiji sumairu!)
20. Follow that Raptor, Part 1 (ラプトルを追えっ！①, Raputoru o oe! 1)
21. Follow that Raptor, Part 2 (ラプトルを追えっ！②, Raputoru o oe! 2)
22. The Armored Dinosaur's Dilemma, Part 1 (トゲトゲハートの鎧竜①, Togetoge hāto no yoroi ryū 1)
Bonus: Showdown
Continuing his story, Igarashi learns about Sophia's origin and how his superior wasn't too different from him when he was younger. After learning his tale, Suma gets excited about her part in helping the park. However, her social media posts aren't doing too well and requests help from Igarashi to make a post for Momiji. She joins him in preparing the exhibit for winter, during which she notes Momoji's beak looking like a smile face-to-face and is able to post it. The post does decently well and gets some new guests. Arata has Suma help him witha wild Velociraptor that was illegally bred and trafficked before it escaped. After talking with the authorities and getting eyewitness reports, they realize the raptor is using a nearby shrine as shelter and food. They plan to trap it by luring it with fish and blocking any potential escape routes with the police. Though it fought back, the plan worked, and the Velociraptor is sent to the lab. Once everything is situated, Suma works with Katase Harue to tend to the park's Pinacosaurus and Citipati, though the two do not get along well due to their clashing personalities and styles.
Danica Davidson of Otaku USA praised the story, characters, and extra notes from Fujiwara, noting that "Dinosaur Sanctuary does a good job of making [dinosaurs] like animals with personalities, rather than monsters in a monster movie".[15] Jonathan Greenall of Comic Book Resources praised the tone and art style. Additionally, Greenall felt the series does a good job of describing how to care for animals.[16] J. Caleb Mozzocco of School Library Journal also praised the artwork and characters. Mozocco felt the plot was "[Jurassic Park but] the park works like it was supposed to".[17]
The series ranked 20th in the 2023 Next Manga Award in the print manga category.[18]
