FEATURE-Taste of heaven: Manga spreads 'Drops of God' in Asia
TOKYO, June 4 (Reuters) - The aroma is like a rock concert, with notes of butterflies dancing over a pond and an aftertaste of Jesus Christ and his disciples.
Wine reviews with a twist are a speciality of "Kami no Shizuku" ("The Drops of God"), a manga comic series that has taken Japan by storm, is conquering Korea and China and has boosted European wine sales along the way.
Written by a brother-and-sister duo of wine enthusiasts, the manga comic combines a mystery plot with a playful introduction to European wines. Think "The Da Vinci Code" set in a Tokyo bar.
"The minute it was translated into Korean, we had calls from three importers," said Basaline Granger Despagne, whose family has grown wine near France's Dordogne river for 250 years. Their Chateau Mont Perat 2001 Bordeaux appears early on in the manga.
"When it was translated into Chinese, people called us from Taiwan saying, 'I bought some Mont Perat and sold 50 cases in two days because of the manga'," she said in a phone interview.
In Korea, businessmen drop names from the serialised book into chats with reporters and shops display "Drops of God" signs.
Wine industry experts believe part of the manga's appeal is that it teaches readers enough about wine to understand the drink and impress their friends, but does so in an entertaining way.
The main character of the manga, a young man called Shizuku Kanzaki, discovers the beauty of wine after his father, a famous wine critic, dies and leaves an unusual will: a description of 12 wines he considers to be the best in the world, comparing them to Jesus Christ's disciples.
The first person to find these "disciples" will inherit the father's wine collection, a contest that pits Shizuku against his adoptive brother, Issey Tomine, who works as a sommelier.
QUEEN!
Their quest to find the "Drops of God" is illustrated by double-page manga graphics visualising the heavenly wines. A dark, dark forest with a pond and the aforementioned butterflies depicts the taste of one "disciple".
Shizuku's first sip of Mont Perat, on the other hand, triggers a vision of blurred faces, guitar-strumming musicians and raving fans.
"I know what you mean -- it's like Queen!" Shizuku's friend, a barman, exclaims, referring to Freddie Mercury's rock band. They go on to compare the wine's acidity to Mercury's voice, wrapped in the thick sound of guitars and drums.
Yuko Kibayashi, who writes the scenario for the manga with her brother Shin under a pen name, told Reuters the idea for the series came to them when they tasted a Burgundy wine that impressed them so much they turned into wine aficionados. Continued...
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