Asakusa's a big, scary place for a little pug all on his own. Or so high school student Sally thinks when she finds the pup abandoned by the Sumida river and gives him a home and a name: Doggo. But there's more to this pupper than meets the eye. He's a talking dog. A fighting dog. A no-nonsense, hard-boiled son-of-a-gun. If he knows what's good for him, he'll be a good boy and lay low, but that's gonna be hard when his new owner's the daughter of a yakuza! This doggone doggo's in for a rough time in this hilarious, action-packed manga about the yakuza and the pug-thug who joins them.

DOGGO has a story by Ryūki Ōnuma and art by Hikari Komaru. English translation is done by Matthew Jackson and lettering by Arbash Mughal. Published by Seven Seas Entertainment (April 28, 2026). Rated OT.

Lauren Orsini
Rating:

This manga left me with so many unanswered questions! Why is Doggo able to talk? Why is he effortlessly talented at hand-to-hand combat, marksmanship, and driving a car? Why does he talk like a hardboiled ex-yakuza? The gall with which DOGGO refuses to answer a single one of these worldbuilding questions in favor of nonstop action sequences is almost laudable. This ridiculous manga doesn't even try to justify its impossible premise, instead distracting us with the spectacle of a John Wick-like pug single-handedly taking on the mob—and it almost gets away with it! Unfortunately, DOGGO's unsavory penchant for rape fantasies repeatedly sexualizes its teen support character and sours the overall feel of these cute pug adventures.

We meet Doggo as he sits in a cardboard box outdoors, hoping somebody passing by will be kind enough to adopt him. But then comes the twist: this pug can talk. And what a mouth he has on him, using slang more reminiscent of mobsters or perhaps hardcore gacha gamers (he refers to his eventual adopter, Sally, as an “SSR card”). After he preserves Sally's virtue and possibly her life from a couple of horny kidnappers, she returns the favor by bringing him home. But Doggo's problems are just beginning: Sally is the daughter of a yakuza boss, and this hardboiled pug just became her most talented bodyguard. Doggo's efficiency puts this story squarely in the niche genre of “competent protagonists doing competent things competently,” no matter how impossible they may seem. Think Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto or One-Punch Man. But the very fact of Doggo's, well, dog-ness, adds a surreal layer of impossibility that is harder for readers to digest. It's a story that asks you to glaze over the setup with the promise that you will get a truly spectacular visual punchline as a reward.

If you can get past this manga's refusal to devise even a cursory plot reason for Doggo to be gifted with these talents (a body swap with a human yakuza, or magic powers, or anything would have done!), there's one more hurdle for you to overcome—and it's a doozy. The story's female protagonist, Sally, is forever getting kidnapped, depicted in ripped clothes with a bad guy threatening to sexually assault her. Even when she's not in danger, our lovable pug Doggo becomes less lovable every time he undresses his new owner with his eyes. I could accept a gangster pug doing cool explosions and in-air fist fights. But Sally's oversexualization gives this silly manga a mean streak that spoiled my fun.