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The Tiger Won’t Eat the Dragon Yet is an interesting manga series, given it is filled with humans who can shape-shift into animal counterparts and a legend that involves the benefits of eating dragons. Much of the first volume focuses on the developing relationship between Hekidou the dragon and the white tiger Hakurei. With the second, we’re learning more about these legends and how much truth there is to them, especially since Hachi Inaba introduces a second dragon named Shinsui and her avian companions Kokuran and Misumi. It ends up being fascinating to compare the two dragons, as well as find out more truths about exactly how much of the legend is real.

Editor’s Note: There are some mild spoilers for the first half of volume 2 of The Tiger Won’t Eat the Dragon Yet manga below. 4j3v5r

Right away, The Tiger Won’t Eat the Dragon Yet volume 2 starts with the other dragon Hekidou is fleeing from and doesn’t want to meet, with the introduction revealing she travels alongside sibling birds named Kokuran and Misumi. We get a better impression of how mercurial Shinsui from the outset, based on her interactions with the snake that Hekidou and Hakurei dealt with at the end of the previous volume. In a flashback, we see how the temperaments of the two dragons compared. It’s then that Misumi and Kokuran appear. While this interlude is brief, it immediately sets the tone for the relationship. 

While the Hakurei and Hekidou get along well, are comfortable with one another, and there’s clear affection, there’s a marked detachment between Shinsui and the two birds. Kokuran and Misumi are deferential to her, referring to her with an honorific “lady.” There’s a hesitation in Misumi’s reply, perhaps out of fear. It’s clearly a relationship in which the dragon is the “superior” and the siblings are under her in some sort of forced commitment, rather than the natural, affectionate, and mutually beneficial partnership between the other duo.

From there, we get more valuable insights into both the lore tied to dragons and interactions between them and other species. Hakurei and Hekidou decide to head off on a journey to find a way to prolong her life. Since he’s a long-lived species, he’s already older than he looks and will outlive her. This brings them to a group of monkeys. 

This leads to the first hint that something is awry and about the myth regarding dragons. From what the head monkey they speak to says, eating a dragon’s heart doesn’t make the person who ate it immortal. There are multiple examples in which doing so seemed to kill whoever consumed it, with the victims appeared to have been poisoned. Of course, there’s no concrete evidence just yet. The monkey is going off of hearsay. However, it’s the first that seems to involve actual examples, rather than rumors or urban legends.

For the sake of avoiding spoilers, I’ll avoid heading further into the revelations found in volume 2, but this latest entry in The Tiger Won’t Eat the Dragon Yet offers many insights into the nature of dragons in the manga. The segments involving Hekidou and Shinsui offer us an opportunity to see how dragon dispositions can vary among individuals, as well as how they may treat those around them. We’re also starting to really see what happens to people who do dare to eat a dragon, and the contradictions between myths and reality. It’s fascinating and left me wondering if there really is some way to grant Hakurei a longer life after all.

Volumes 1 and 2 of The Tiger Won’t Eat the Dragon Yet manga are available via Yen Press, and there’s no release window for the third volume yet. The series is still running in Japan.

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The Tiger Won’t Eat the Dragon Yet is one of those manga series that offers a slow burn. However, its first volume suggests that we’re going to gradually watch a meaningful relationship between two characters grow as we also learn more about their world. We're seeing how a predator and prey situation grows into an actual relationship.

The world of the series is a fascinating one. All animals are also capable of shape shifting into more human (or humanoid) versions of themselves. We begin with a dragon, who appears young despite being older due to the way his species ages, being targeted. This is because of rumors and myths about dragon flesh, which cause other races to want to devour it.

Naturally, this attracts the white tiger. She’s initially interested in getting and feeding upon the dragon’s flesh. However, upon spending time with him, she just… doesn’t. Instead, the two end up getting closer and coexisting. We see this develop into not just a situation where she’s not just protecting her future meal with her immense strength and skill. The dragon looks young and small, due to his age, but he’s much smarter than the tiger is. Due to the nature of tigers being a much shorter-lived species and more reactionary, she’s not as book smart and may not read situations as well, and so he’s helping her as well.

We’re seeing all these situations in which they help each other. It can absolutely feel friendly, but perhaps even familial as well. The tiger is becoming protective of the dragon. She’s looking out for him and we can even see concern. Likewise, she ends up meaning something to him. It becomes more than maybe outsmarting her to use the situation to his advantage. He’s willing to hurt himself to save her, showing how quickly the stakes increase.

I also love the idea of how the lore surrounding the dragon and tiger could end up shaping the story and their relationship going forward in the manga in The Tiger Won’t Eat the Dragon Yet. We’re learning more about the dragon and tiger races bit by bit as the story goes on, due to interactions with other creatures. Moments when other of their species come up also end up proving quite insightful. It lays groundwork for both playing big parts in later volumes.

With The Tiger Won’t Eat the Dragon Yet, we get to see this fascinating dynamic develop between the tiger and the dragon in the first volume of the manga. The two come to understand and even rely upon each other, and what I’m seeing here in the first installment makes me want to see how their relationship progresses. Likewise, the lore that’s building up around them is gradually becoming more fascinating.

The Tiger Won’t Eat the Dragon Yet volume 1 is available now, and Yen Press will release volume 2 of the manga on August 20, 2024. 

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