Meet the Tanaka brothers, Fuyunosuke and Natsutaro. Little brother Fuyunosuke is friendly, charming, and gregarious. His big brother Natsutaro is clumsy, standoffish, and walks around in a bathrobe. In this first volume of Tokyo Alien Bros. from Viz Manga, they’re learning how to get by in life. And also whether or not they should invade. Because, as the title indicates, the Tanaka brothers are aliens.

While some of the early adult content might turn new readers off, note that this isn’t the constant way of things in the book. There are moments of partial nudity and Fuyunosuke trying out less common “hobbies,” but mostly the manga is about functioning in modern society. It’s a surprisingly fun slice-of-life series that investigates the oddities of dating, work, and other things we take for granted. And as the first volume closes, we learn the real reason why the seemingly incompetent Natsutaro is on this mission.

‘Tokyo Alien Bros’ narrates the life of two aliens looking to colonise earth, One is an already seasoned earthling who has begun to acclimatise to life on earth and his older brother comes to join him although finds the humans who inhabit earth to be particularly confusing. He bumbles through the literal world in the hope of finding some meaning - the reality is a conclusion that maybe we are all just trying to find our way.

I really enjoyed the philosophical and comical elements of the plot. The characters worked really well together in attributing these elements. However, I probably wouldn’t have read this if I would have known it was sexually graphic, my bad.
Thank to netgalley for this arc of #tokyoalienbros

3,5/5 stars

This was fun! The two alien bros are having very different times on this earth observation mission and it's a fun contrast, while still being a worthy slice of life. It's not always a chill time, but it's interesting to see how the bros interact with the people and animals around them. So far, this series knows what it is going for and does it well! It wouldn't shock me if a genre shift happened later, though!

Published by Viz Media and available January 21, 2025, this is the first volume of a series by Keigo Shinzo. I've already reviewed his other series Hirayasumi before on this blog, and I've really enjoyed that. I like his approach to slice-of-life stories so I was interested in how he would take that theme into science fiction. Tokyo Alien Bros. does what it says on the tin, following two alien brothers as they scout out our planet from the vantage point of Japan's capital. As always with Shinzo, the art is charming and the world feels lived in, and there were parts that made me laugh out loud. It is important for fans of Hirayasumi to note that this series is much more explicit. It was a surprise to me when I saw the mature content notice on the cover and again when I read the book. Maybe it's for that reason -- the adult content feels at odds with the chill atmosphere and what I'm used to from this mangaka -- that it feels so jarring. This book will appeal to fans of slice-of-life who don't mind some sexual content and profanity in their manga. While I sound a little negative about this series, I do want to see how it progresses.

This is SUCH a weird manga! I don't know if I'd read any more but I think it's a fun concept. Someone out there will love it.