[DeepL Translation - needs review] Volume 1: ●Synopsis: Super Mario, the world's most popular video game hero, has finally made his way into the world of manga! Mario and Luigi are a pair of misfits who have lost Princess Peach to the new Koopa Army while she was playing in Dinosaur Land. The two immediately set off on a journey to rescue Princess Peach. On their journey, they are joined by Yoshi, the famous foodie! Can they save Princess Peach now that they have finally become a big, blunde...
Well now that the JLPT is over I can finally get back to actually reading manga to distract myself from the agonizing wait for the results. Every now and then you get a volume of Super Mario Kun that's even more ribald than usual and this is easily Mario Kun at its most South Park-esque.
As with some other volumes, the book is split into two halves, each adapting a different game. The first half is devoted to Yoshi's Island and the second half is devoted to the first Donkey Kong Country (though Dixie makes appearances in the between-chapter yon-komas so I guess the second one was out by then).
The Yoshi's Island adaptation has a fairly neat conceit. Since the Picross mini-arc introduced time machines, they keep that theme going and have adult Mario and Luigi travel back in time to save Baby Mario and Luigi from being kidnapped by Bowser and Kamek (who have also gone back in time). It's neat that the manga had that idea years before Partners in Time and the Three Men and a Baby setup with Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi having to take care of their infant selves is a solid sitcom premise. It's fruequently amusing but also easily the most deranged this series has been. Most of the gags involve the absolutely horrifying danger the Baby Mario Bros get into.
Chapter two of this volume alone has:
Luigi attempting to strangle Baby Mario because he realizes if Mario dies he'll become the new main character
Baby Mario wanting to breastfeed so Yoshi walks up holding two literal melons on his chest
And last but most deranged... Burt the Bashful's actual penis. Like you know that literal circle that's the first boss of the game? His tiny dong is on screen, uncensored. Amazing
Later on Baby Luigi finally shows up and apparantly he was trapped in Bowser's refrigerator for several months and is drawn absolutely emaciated and shriveled. I dunno what demon possessed Sawada this volume but it's actually insane something that dark made it into an official Mario product even if it's played for humor rather than horror. The rest of the Yoshi's Island chapters are chock full of all the pissing, shitting and farting you'd expect from a plotline about babies in this manga. I don't know if I'd call it "Good" in the traditional sense, but the audaciousness of it is certainly fascinating. Beyond that there are some other interesting moments. They do a Momotarou parody one chapter which is kind of cool because there was actually a Mario themed Momotarou adaptation done as a 20 minute Anime OVA by a group called Amada. It's a lot more... normal but still strange and worth seeking out. I liked all the moments with Shy Guys (who apparantly have visible hands) and it's kinda cool and creepy that the Shy Guys actually smile in places.
The Donkey Kong Country adaptation in the second half is a lot more traditional and reminded me a bit of the Super Mario Land 2 arc in terms of being comparatively sane and straightforward for this series. I find it interesting how Super Mario Kun manages to weave Mario and Luigi into the spinoff games that don't even acknowledge their or the Mushroom Kingdom's existence. Sometimes it can overshadow the protagonist of those games, like how Mario really became the main character of the Wario Land 1 arc, but Donkey and Diddy solidly feel like part of the group here and I think this arc does a better job of integrating Mario and Luigi into the plot than Wario Land did. Everyone's still constantly sniping at each other and everyone gets their moments to shine, but this is clearly Donkey Kong's turf and he uses his knowledge of things to pull one over on the bros every now and then. It's fun stuff and feels like a proper adventure rather than a series of debauched gags. I like that they explicitly state Cranky is the original DK (and poke fun at the fact that Mario himself hasn't aged any which is a valid point) and Donkey even says "Ohhhhhhh banana" before it became a DK64 catchphrase. It's the more traditional adaptation of the two stories in this volume and I like it so far.
I kinda put this volume off because Yoshi's Island was never a favorite of mine (it is good, I just never got into the "catch baby mario" mechanic, Yoshi's Story always felt more straightforward), but next volume apparently begins the Super Mario 64 arc which is probably what I've been most excited to experience. I suppose we'll see what madness lies within soon enough.