Murakami is not very fond of other people. He lives a quiet life in his old apartment, going to college, gaming, and buying onigiri at a local place. One day, he passes a dragon holding a sign, “Look After Me Please,” and finds himself caught up in the mythological beast's needs. Ilsera is in our world to practice magic in this slice-of-life fantasy manga

Please Look After the Dragon is based on the original story by Shoun Makise, with art by Yuki Higashiura. Translated by Sarah Burch and lettered by Elena Pizaro. Published by Yen Press. (January 26, 2026). Rated T.

Erica Friedman
Rating:

Murakami is a perfect straight man. With almost no personality, every situation that is outside his norm, i.e., all of them, is amusing. Ilsera the dragon is equally amusing. She's high-handed and prideful, but kind of a doofus, until she pulls a win out in the clutch. I wouldn't call it “laugh out loud funny,” but Please Look After the Dragon, Vol. 1 definitely got a “heh” or five out of me. The jokes tend to be based around the mismatch of the lives of the principals, but a few gags stray into funnier territory. Together, this is less of a boy and his dog and much more an Odd Couple-type buddy story with antics like Ilsera's dragon-breath grilled onigiri going viral, or the two of them are roped into helping out with the local Dragon God festival.

When a friend joins their merry band, the gags come thick and fast. When I say “gags,” I mean repeated situations, you know the kind. If this were a comic about a woman who could not cook, you'd be reading about how she switched the salt and sugar, ahahah. Here we get Ilsera's size magic kicking out at the worst moments. Ahahah. But for as predictable as it appears to be, the end of the volume gives us a compelling reason to return for Volume 2, which I hesitate to spoil, as it was really quite good.

Art here is adequate to the story's need, with occasional brilliant takes. Fantasy from a half dozen different systems is combined in this manga for something flighty, funny, and just a little fantasy.

This is very much a manga you can kick back and read and relax the brain. I'd recommend it for some easy reading when you need a “heh” or two.

Bolts
Rating:

I relate very strongly to our main character here when he was playing a video game, hoping to bring on a dragon as a companion, only for that dragon to turn into a conventionally attractive woman with scales. It almost feels like a cheat because why can't we just walk around with a dragon as we can? I love dragons because dragons are cool, not because they can turn into attractive, busty women. So, having a cute comedy series revolving around a young man and his legit dragon companion in a slice-of-life setting felt like a breath of fresh air. The minute I saw our protagonist walk past our dragon sitting in a park holding a sign asking for somebody to take them home, I knew I would fall in love with this book, and I did.

I'd argue the story isn't doing anything super unconventional because it's just another comedy series where the main bulk of the comedy is a mythical creature adapting to everyday modern life. But it's that caveat of hiding a legitimate mythical creature that makes it work. They can't just write off a situation as “this girl with horns is a little weird. There's a giant, flying lizard, and our protagonist needs to hide her like we would a typical giant flying lizard.

Our two main leads are both distinct archetypes, but they also play around with the absurdity of the archetypes themselves. Our dragon is mythical and majestic, but she's a little bit of a failure, so she is trying to figure things out. Meanwhile, our lead really likes dragons, but not in an overly sexy or off-putting way. He's a guy who would pocket a dragon scale while also acting as an effective straight man. He has just enough of his own presence that he's able to provide his own comedic flair to the situation.

These two have amazing chemistry, and I could read random misadventures in their life for a long time. I want to see what other conventional situations they have to push through, I want to see what other random magical things that they come up with, and I want to see more of the sharp, witty writing that these two punch at each other with. Of all the manga in this guide, this is probably the one that got the most laughs out of me, and I hope it's able to do the same for you, too.