The Darwin Incident

The Darwin Incident (ダーウィン事変) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shun Umezawa. It has been serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Monthly Afternoon since June 2020. An anime television series adaptation has been announced.

By May 2024, the manga had over 1.6 million copies in circulation. In 2022, The Darwin Incident won the 15th Manga Taishō, as well as the Excellence Award at the 25th Japan Media Arts Festival.

Plot
During a commando operation carried out by an animal rights organization in a biological research institute, a pregnant chimpanzee is discovered, which will give birth to a "humanzee", a half-human, half-chimpanzee being. Named Charlie, he is raised by human parents for fifteen years. Neither human nor animal, his behavior and his sensitivity will create sparks within the community. But Charlie is unaware that elsewhere, a group of vegan activists seek to make of him their emblem.

When Charlie entered high school, he met Lucy, a girl who was ridiculed as a "nerd" but was a bright girl, and developed friendship with him. However, the ALA (Animal Liberation Alliance), which "repeatedly engages in terrorist activities in search of animal liberation", adds Charlie to its comrades and "plans to lure him into terrorism", taking extreme measures. It causes the townspeople to change their attitude towards Charlie and his family.

Manga
Written and illustrated by Shun Umezawa, The Darwin Incident started in Kodansha's manga magazine Monthly Afternoon on June 25, 2020. Kodansha has collected its chapters into individual volumes. The first volume was released on November 20, 2020. As of May 22, 2024, seven volumes have been released.

During their panel at Anime NYC 2022, Kodansha USA announced that they licensed the manga, with the first volume released on September 5, 2023.

Anime
In May 2024, it was announced that the manga would receive an anime television series adaptation.

Reception
By May 2024, the manga had over 1.6 million copies in circulation. It ranked 10th on Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2022 list of best manga for male readers. The series won the 15th Manga Taishō in 2022. The series ranked second on the Publisher Comics' Recommended Comics of 2022. It won an Excellence Award at the 25th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2022. It was ranked fifth at the 1st Late Night Manga Award hosted by Bungeishunjū's Crea magazine in 2022. It was nominated for the 47th Kodansha Manga Award in the general category in 2023; it was also nominated for the 48th edition in the same category in 2024. The manga was awarded the French 17th ACBD's Prize "Asie de la Critique" in 2023. It has been nominated for the Japan Society and Anime NYC's first American Manga Awards in the Best New Manga category in 2024.