Have you caught a rather, unusual ailment recently? Have your tears turned to condiments? Are your fingernails a bit spicy these days? Is your johnson looking more edible than usual? If any of the above conditions sound like yours, please stop by the offices of Dr. Ramune, mysterious disease specialist, for a consultation!
Not everything in this world can be easily explained, but the explanation behind the mysterious conditions in Dr. Ramune will be familiar territory for veteran anime and manga fans. Much like how you’re more likely to catch a cold when your immune system is already weak, people are much more susceptible to “supernatural forces” when in a weakened emotional state. How these illnesses manifest varies from person to person and case to case; while the case of the condiment tears seemed to have a clear link to the young girl having to suppress all kinds of emotions, the case of the chikuwa dick seems to have happened because of one off-handed comment and not some deeper folklore. It does seem like every case will be related to food however, they are all patients of Dr. Ramune after all.
For folks who are already a fan of the “solving supernatural cases” genre, such as Mushi-shi or The Morose Mononokean, Dr. Ramune will feel pretty similar. Visually the series teeters on the edge of body horror vs “okay that’s just gross” and I believe deliberately; I can handle a fair amount of body horror myself but for some reason some of these aliments, like having chilis growing out of your fingernails, set me on edge but I believe I’m an outlier and that most folks who can handle mild and worse body horror won’t bat an eye.
Ramune and his apprentice Kuro certainly seem unperturbed by all of the cases they see, although we the readers don’t have any idea what their own background is as of yet. Since we haven’t seen any yokai or other supernatural creatures as of yet, just mentions of “supernatural forces” I do believe they are both humans and there’s an implication that Kuro is dealing with some type of aliment as well but that’s as much as Toro Aho has divulged so far.
The story so far seems much more interested in the variety of ways it can create food-themed body horror than diving into Ramune and Kuro’s backstories which is fine, this is only the first volume after all. However, in a series like this my attention is kept by the returning cast members and so far Ramune and Kuro are the only ones — if I check out volume 2 it will be more to learn their stories than to see what poor patient they have next.
I compared the series to The Morose Mononokean earlier and I can see my reading of the series going the same way: forgetting about the series for months on end and then binging a number of chapters at once (although, Kodansha Comics’ release schedule is at least easier to keep up with than the one for Crunchyroll Manga). “Comfort food” is the wrong phrase for a series where food is certainly not a comfort but Dr. Ramune feels like a staple of the “supernatural cases” sub-genre none the less: a story with a bit of familiarity and a bit of flair in each chapter but ultimately one that is unlikely to live long in people’s memories, even with the currently airing anime around to drum up some interest for it.