Review: Rai Rai Rai Vol. 1
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," goes the old saying, but imitating a superior idea does not make yours better purely by association. Such is the problem with Rai Rai Rai Volume 1, a horror comedy manga written and illustrated by Yoshiaki.
Join us today on Anime Atelier as we review Rai Rai Rai, Volume 1, by Yoshiaki, published by VIZ Media and available August 12, 2025.
Rai Rai Rai
Yoshiaki
From the publisher:
Sumire Ichigaya’s got it tough. She’s drowning in debt, surrounded by noisy neighbors, fighting for discount supermarket meals, and working a dead-end job exterminating space vermin left over from a failed alien invasion. It seems like things just can’t get any worse—until she’s abducted by aliens and wakes up with a monstrous new arm and a voice in her head urging her to kill all of humanity!
Clearly inspired by the recent success of alien and occult series like Kaiju No. 8 and Dandadan, Rai Rai Rai quickly establishes a world infested with the leftover remains of a successful war against invading aliens. Our main character — the 18-year-old Sumire Ichigaya — is a lowly cleaner for a vermin exterminator, where she works to clean up extraterrestrial fungi.
A few dozen pages into Volume 1, Sumire wakes to find herself fused to a possessed alien arm with prodigious strength and a warmongering personality. The setup is nearly identical to Kaiju No. 8, and with the visual design looking more monstrous than alien, you'd be forgiven for a raised eyebrow.
A Xerox of a Xerox
Almost everything about Rai Rai Rai has been done better by other manga, and there's little on offer to distinguish the series from those it's mimicking. Sumire is the beating heart (and best part) of Rai Rai Rai; her backstory and motivations are fully-formed and relatable. With her family indebted and abandoned by her father, Sumire ignored high school in favor of odd jobs and vermin extermination. Simply put, Sumire deserves to be in a different, better story.
Visually, Rai Rai Rai is messy, lacking much substance or style. The alien designs are surprisingly horror-inspired, and make us wonder if the story could have benefited from a demonic theme — it would've been more interesting, at least. The comedy is loud and mostly slapstick; it's serviceable, but not particularly noteworthy, which is a real shame.
Why You Should Read Rai Rai Rai:
As a character, Sumire Ichigaya is the standout from Rai Rai Rai Volume 1. She's easy to empathize with, and her troubled family life humanizes her against a chaotic backdrop of alien threats and mega-corporations.
Why You Should Skip Rai Rai Rai:
As we've mentioned, Rai Rai Rai is outclassed by its competing manga. Its alien abductions and slapstick comedy falter compared to Dandadan, and its monstrous battles and dystopian corporations are paltry compared to Kaiju No. 8. Even a series like Semelparous offers more compelling world-building, along with some yuri fan service to boot. Sumire alone is not enough to carry the patchwork threads of the setup and visuals.
Final Thoughts
Rai Rai Rai Volume 1 isn't bad, but it's not off to a promising start. Readers looking for more creepy aliens or kaiju battles are likely to be disappointed by the uninspired world-building and pedestrian setup.
Rai Rai Rai Volume 1 will release on August 12, 2025, via VIZ Media.
Anime Atelier received a copy of this manga for review.
