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Before You Go Extinct is not an ordinary manga. Takashi Ushiroyato (Story) and Kanato Abiko (Art) have created a work that defies any simple classification.
The manga was released in Japan in May 2024 in Comic Days and was brought to the U.S. market by Kodansha in the Vertical imprint in October 2025. For both creators, it is their first major publication in Japan after a oneshot.
How was it?
At first glance, one might think it’s an animal tale about penguins, otters, or crows. But anyone who reads the first pages quickly realizes that this is not a cute animal story, but a painful meditation on life, meaning, reproduction, and the inevitable downfall.
The manga consists of six loosely connected chapters, each focusing on a pair of animals—mostly species that are, in fact, endangered. From penguins to sea otters to the Hawaiian crow, we encounter creatures standing at the brink of disappearance, grappling—in strange, tragic, and often brutal ways—with their own finiteness.
Each chapter poses the same questions in different ways: What does it mean to live when the end is unavoidable? What remains of culture when no one is left to remember it? And is reproduction truly the purpose of all life?
In the opening story, a penguin tries to save his species from “slow extinction” by wiping it out—an absurd yet shockingly consistent form of salvation. In other episodes, we see animals attempting to break records to find meaning, or discovering the value of play to escape the pressure of survival. A crow colony mourns its dead and debates the loss of traditions, while an otter cracks his last shell in a lonely river.
A simple stone appears as a recurring motif. Sometimes it is guarded like an egg, sometimes used as a microphone, sometimes simply left lying around. It represents what remains when everything else fades.
Behind these scenes lies a parable about human society. The manga reflects life in a world where production, reproduction, and efficiency have become ends in themselves. Like the animals, we too seem to run in circles, chasing a sense of meaning that continually slips away.
Despite the dark themes, Before You Go Extinct remains surprisingly vibrant. Ushiroyato and Abiko manage to translate philosophy into emotion. The tone shifts between comedy and tragedy, between absurd humor and deep melancholy. The dialogue is precise, at times almost literary, inviting the reader to pause. Kanato Abiko’s artwork initially appears playful and almost cute, yet this childlike aesthetic amplifies the weight of the themes. When penguins threaten their own kind or crows discuss the loss of their culture, the narrative tips into the surreal. The contrast between childlike visuals and existential themes creates an unsettling tension that lingers.
The work does not lean on easy solutions. It offers no hope, no moral, no salvation. It asks questions without answering them. It shows that the meaning of life does not have to lie in reproduction or achievement, but perhaps in simple play, in the moment, in existence itself.
Is Before You Go Extinct worth reading?
Before You Go Extinct is an unusual tale about the end of species and the end of culture—perhaps also the end of meaning. At times it is difficult to read, occasionally confusing, but always compelling.
Anyone expecting a clear plot will be disappointed. Before You Go Extinct is a work that offers fewer answers, yet still encourages reflection.
Before You Go Extinct
€11,89
€13,95
A darkly comic look at the meaning and meaninglessness of life, through the eyes of various adorable and occasionaly psychopathic species facing extinction.A humble rock is at the center of this transmigratory tale of two souls who take the form… read more
