Ikuhara Kaeri is a 28-year-old zookeeper who's the best at what he does, but he longs for the recognition of discovering new species and learning all about them. One night, he walks through a portal to a strange world, with dragons, three-headed dogs, and magic-wielding adventurers. Realizing that these are species unknown to science, he decides to create a zoo there, with the reluctant help of Merou Brand, an adventurer mage who originally saw the creatures as nothing but monsters to be exterminated.
The Keeper Wants to Build a Zoo in Another World, so He Tames Monsters (飼育員さんは異世界で動物園造りたいのでモンスターを手懐ける, Shiikuin-san wa Isekai de Doubutsuen Tsukuritainode Monsutaa wo Tenazukeru) is an Isekai manga by Meiwai Kawasaki, which began serialization in Dengeki Daioh in 2019.
This manga provides examples of the following tropes:
- The Ace: Ikuhara is the best zookeeper at his zoo and has a PhD in biology. He frequently goes on fieldwork expeditions to exotic locations, where he discovers new animal species. He even knows each individual monkey at the zoo well enough that he can tell just by holding them if one has gained weight, and guess if they're sick.
- Animal Lover: Ikuhara loves animals, and refuses to harm them unless there's no other option.
- Artistic License – Biology: Zig-Zagged. As expected of a zoologist, Ikuhara is correct on several topics, like when he explains gynandromorphy or mimicry to Merou. However, he also talks about Alpha and Beta Wolves, which was debunked years ago (it could be true for hellhounds, but he should know it isn't for real wolves).
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Deep underground, Merou and Ikuhara discover giant bugs that try to eat them.
- Blood Magic: Mensh gets cut by a branch hitting his face, and a few drops of blood fall onto the arcane ruins, awakening the skeletons.
- Boys Like Creepy Critters: Even when they're running from a Giant Arthropod, Ikuhara doesn't show any revulsion and even admires it as a fascinating new species. In the first chapter he mentions discovering 10 new insect species in the Amazon.
- Dem Bones: Two kids, Mensh and Gwena, accidentally awaken a bunch of murderous skeleton warriors, only to be saved by Merou, Ikuhara, and Cerberus. According to Merou, they're manifestations of magic rather than animated human bodies.
- Facial Façade: The left and right heads of Cerberi are fully functional, but the middle head is a decoy to expand their apparent field of vision and bite range. Ikuhara recognizes and exploits this to outmanoeuvre one.
- Fantastic Nature Reserve: Ikuhara's ambition is to build the first zoo for "monsters".
- Fluffy Tamer: Ikuhara loves all kinds of animals, and doesn't consider that being afraid of giant three-headed dogs might be a good idea.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: Dryad first appears as a young girl, but when she announces she's putting him under her divine protection, Merou objects to an adult man kissing a little girl. Dryad then turns into a massive dragon.
- Friend to All Living Things: Ikuhara is able to get all kinds of animals to like him, from monsters like Cerberus to cute, fluffy critters like Al-Miraj.
- Gashadokuro: A "skeleton king" that dwarfs even Cerberus manifests with the skeleton warriors, but Ikuhara manages to take it down by leading Cerberus to attack its weak points. According to Merou, the skeletons are all magical conjurations rather than undead.
- Hellhound: The first creature Ikuhara tames is a giant (larger than an elephant) three-headed dog.
- High-Class Glass: The Mayor of Gieg Nowe wears a tiny monocle that clips to the bridge of her nose and is, both literally and figuratively, the highest authority in the town.
- Insect Queen: Ikuhara and Merou, with the help of the Al-Miraj, fight the queen "Killer Bee" that's infesting Yggdrasil.
- Isekai: Ikuhara wanders through a spontaneous Portal Door into another world while daydreaming about discovering new animals, but seems unconcerned about finding a way back to his own world or getting back to his job there.
- Language Barrier: Zig-zagged. People in Merou's world can understand Ikuhara's speech but not his writing.
- A Magic Contract Comes with a Kiss: Dryad kisses Ikuhara to formally give him divine protection. She's in her dragon form, though, so it doesn't look like an inappropriate age gap.
- Magic Staff: Merou's crystal-tipped staff is a magic focus that grants her Simplified Spellcasting and lets her use some spells that would otherwise be beyond her power.
- Meaningful Name: Ikuhara names the right and left heads of the Cerberus Migine and Hidarine, from the Japanese for "right dog" and "left dog".note The middle head is a fake to make enemies think it has a wider field of vision than it does.
- Mi'raj: In Chapter 5, Ikuhara discovers, befriends, and learns to command a full colony of fluffy al-mi'rajs. He realized that the horns of the critters are hollow and that they don't use them for attack, but rather that they have them as a means to communicate. The horn is both an instrument and an antenna and by making the right sounds Ikuhara can make them perform complex maneuvers. The al-mi'rajs are also friendly, so Ikuhara doesn't have to win their trust first either.
- Mr. Fanservice: A panel in Chapter 2 shows the very muscular Ikuhara bathing in a forest pool, with only a branch covering his crotch.
- Nature Spirit: After Ikuhara and Merou weaken the Insect Queen's hold on Yggdrasil, a mysterious girl appears who can direct the tree. It turns out she's Dryad, the spirit of fertility and earth.
- Plant People: Many of Gieg Nowe's inhabitants are Treants, like the chieftain and the two kids Ikuhara and Merou rescue. They seem to be a symbiosis between a humanoid and a plant growing out of their head. The kids only have a few leaves, while the chieftain's head looks like a giant piece of broccoli.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: The Al-Miraj look like fat, fluffy bunnies with unicorn horns.
- Shown Their Work: Ikuhara directs the Al-Miraj to form a ball around the "Killer Bee" queen and overheat it to death, just like how Japanese honey bees kill Asian giant hornets
. - Slow Life Fantasy: The series is about a zookeeper who stumbles into a fantasy world and decides to create a zoo for creatures like hellhounds. He has some adventures in the process, but they're incidental to his goal as an Animal Lover, and he tries to prevent other adventurers from harming the "monsters".
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Ikuhara quickly figures out how the Al-Miraj communicate, and is able to replicate the sounds to direct them where to go.
- Thanks for the Mammary: Ikuhara's first meeting with Merou, combined with Suggestive Collision and Crash-Into Hello. He's too taken with his otherworldly surroundings to notice that he has his hands on her chest.
- Treetop Town: Gieg Nowe is built on the sides and branches of a gigantic tree, with the upper classes living at the top.
- World Tree: The town of Gieg Nowe is built on and in a gigantic tree. Later, Ikuhara houses Cerberus in a second giant tree formerly used as a prison. He and Merou discover a third tree, called Yggdrasil, infested by Big Creepy-Crawlies.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In Chapter 7, Merou tells Ikuhara he probably thinks she's pathetic for relying on him, a Muggle, but he responds that he relies on her to help him, since he knows nothing about magic.
