Title: Dragon and Chameleon Vol. 3
Author: Ryo Ishiyama
Publisher: Square Enix
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 176
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Sci-Fi
Publication Date: May 13, 2025
The Story
The Serialization Boot Camp has ended and now Garyo has to face the fact that he was blacklisted from Wonder. While his editor puts up a protest, we learn that the blacklist does, indeed, have an expiration date and Garyo could return to Wonder in just a year and a half; however, he may not get that chance as after he leaves, he is approached by our new character who receives a bit of a backstory in parallel to Garyo meeting her.
She is Orochi Yamadano, the creator of a rival manga magazine named after her. She is the only person in Wonder’s history to receive a permanent blacklist after she tried to steal all of Wonder’s top mangaka, which would have put them out of business! She has her eyes on Garyo (as Miyami); however, she has this ability to “read” people’s minds. In other words, she has incredible deductive skills and pieces together the puzzle and figures out that Garyo and Miyami switched bodies. To make matters worse, Garyo was the one who ratted her out to the editors at Wonder and got her permanently blacklisted!
At first, it seems that she wants Garyo to sign as a measure of revenge; however, she is truly interested in his talents and wants to take down Doragon Land. She gets Garyo to realize his potential by locking him in a room and forcing him to draw the first two pages of his storyboard from the boot camp; however, the stipulation is that he can only use his left hand. The goal wasn’t to teach him to draw with his left hand, but rather, to put him through a mental hell so that he could think things through and become inspired. With Garyo joining Orochi, the showdown between him and Miyami is about to begin!
Characters
There is only one new character in this volume, and that is Orochi Yamadano. As aforementioned, she has a very keen ability to be observant and piece together things in her head, making it seem as if she can read people’s minds, but she can’t. She’s also an outlaw when it comes to manga. When she worked at Wonder, she invited a bunch of artists to a brothel to get drunk and fulfill their lustful fantasies; however, the stipulation was that they had to write a detailed report of everything they had experienced. What seemed like a fun night out on the town was actually an exercise about coming up with uncomfortable scenarios/situations for characters through their personal experiences. This would help them create better story plots because she felt that there isn’t a way to convey emotion and tension unless you, yourself, have experienced it firsthand.
Her methods were very unorthodox; however, Wonder let it slide because they considered them all private affairs. As long as the manuscripts came in on time and the quality didn’t suffer, they didn’t care about what would happen… that is, until her second series ended and she couldn’t accept it. That’s when she decided to hatch a plan to pilfer Wonder’s mangaka so that their series could continue to flourish in her magazine. In an odd way, she has a passion for manga… much like Garyo… which is why she’s so interested in him. While her love of manga is fine, her tactics, her authoritarian rule, and the fear she instills into others are all unconventional, but it’s working for her and her magazine… for now.
As for Garyo, I was a bit surprised when he agreed to join Orochi. Then again, he used to call her Master when they worked at Wonder together. Perhaps it is because he knows that she has the same passion for manga as he does, or maybe he feels that because of the blacklist, this would be his only option, but I was expecting him to turn her down and try to do things on his own. This seems like a shortcut that someone like him wouldn’t entertain, but alas, here we are. Maybe it’s because they understand one another, he believes that this could work out. We’ll have to see, but the fact that he joined Wonder’s only permanently banned artist might have burned a bridge with them should he need them in the future!
Final Thoughts
In my last review, I have a bit of an issue with the blacklist rule. Now that I have more context, my issues with it are still there, but not as much. I still don’t think it was smart of them to blacklist someone who could have ended up becoming one of their greatest mangaka. One of the worries I had was that they threw away a perfectly good talent who could end up signing with the competition, and… guess what happened in this very volume? That just speaks to the level of foolishness and irresponsibility that Wonder has as a company, but then again, what is this intended for? Were they painted in that light on purpose so we could root for Garyo and Orochi? If so, then I guess that was masterfully done because that is exactly what I am doing. I hope that Garyo ends up besting Doragon Land and putting Miyami in his place, all while making Wonder feel like a bunch of idiots, so… mission accomplished?
Now, the question is… if Garyo does succeed in taking down Doragon Land, what happens after that? Either this series comes to an end and they swap bodies back or Garyo fails, once again, and we’re back to square one. Either scenario is kind of jinxed because if Garyo wins (and who knows how long it will take the series to determine this), then the rivalry is over. The only way it could continue without swapping bodies back would be to have Miyami come up with an even better series to prove he’s not just a Chameleon. If Garyo loses, then that completely kills his credibility as a manga genius. If he can’t beat the very series he created and is being continued by a copycat, then was he all that great to begin with? It’s going to be hard to root for him after a loss like this.
So, there is a very fine line this series is walking with very little outs… but the promising allure of this arc is that this series has pulled a lot of unconventional twists and turns in the three volumes that it has produced and all of them have worked out. We could see another down the road, and the potential of that happening, whatever it may be, is quite exciting.
Needless to say, this is shaping up to be quite a good series!
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