In “King Dedede, Magically Turned Into A Toy!,” Dedede gets turned into a toy after denying a powerful wizard shelter in his castle during a blizzard. While his citizens laugh at his predicament, they quickly grow bored with him and move on with their lives. With no one left to turn to, Dedede winds up at Kirby’s doorstep, ironically asking for shelter himself. Kirby accepts, admitting he’s always wanted a Dedede toy, and does a good job taking care of the dejected monarch.
Dedede begins to warm up to Kirby after he graciously shares his dinner and bed. But it wouldn’t be Kirby Manga Mania if something didn’t go wrong.
Instead of tossing and turning in his sleep, it turns out Kirby fights. In fact, he kicks Dedede so hard that he breaks his neck. Luckily he’s a toy, so his neck just springs out. Dedede tries one last time to rest, but is again awakened by Kirby mumbling in his sleep. Turning over to investigate, he finds himself with a direct view down Kirby’s gullet, prompting him to recoil in fear.
Now, how to describe this. The inside of Kirby’s mouth is like a plasma globe. Even though the manga is black and white, Hikawa does a masterful job at drawing the sharp contrast between Kirby’s cutesy sleeping self and the menacing crackle of kinetic energy collapsing onto itself inside the little doughboy.
To make matters more frightful, the sleeping Kirby begins singing “A TOY DEDEDE! DEDEDE THE DEDEDE TOY’’ with distorted lettering and music notes floating above his head. Kirby’s “mouthful mode” in the new Forgotten Lands might have served as a mainstream audience’s introduction to how nightmarish Kirby’s anatomy can be, but the void of Kirby’s mouth looking back into your soul is true torment.
Needless to say, the first volume of Kirby Manga Mania has forever changed how I’ll view Nintendo’s cutest mascot. It’s a really fun read, but you should know going in, if you thought those Kirby feet memes were weird, well, this manga could really blow your mind. Consider yourself warned!