Rai Rai Rai Volume One is set in a world where humanity triumphed over aliens, but space pests still remain. The series follows a young woman named Sumire Ichigaya who works as a space pest exterminator.

Rai Rai Rai Volume One
Written by: Yoshiaki
Publisher: Shogakukan
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: August 12, 2025

At the beginning of the volume, we learn that while the aliens had been defeated 50 years earlier, there were two extraterrestrial organisms that the aliens left behind: space vermin and space varmints. We also see that our protagonist, Sumire Ichigaya, has been abducted by the aliens. When she wakes up, she’s back on Earth, and she’s unsure if her otherworldly encounter was real. She rushes to work, where she tries to explain to her boss about being abducted by aliens… but he isn’t buying it.

Just a quick observation before I go on. The character design for Sumire Ichigaya looks an awful lot like it was inspired by female-type Ranma from Ranma 1/2, between the face and the fact that her hair is in a very similar type of braid. And it turns out that the space pest extermination company she works for is named Saotome Busters. This just feels a little too deliberate to be a coincidence. Is this the author trying to have an homage to Ranma 1/2 in this series?

We get some background on Sumire in this volume. When she was a child, her parents fought about money a lot. Her father invested all of their money in a company and the company went bankrupt a year later. When that happened, he walked out on the family, leaving Sumire’s mother to care for her and her little brother. I do need to give a content warning here, because during one of Sumire’s flashbacks, we do see depiction of child abuse. Sumire decided to not go on to high school and went into the workforce instead in order to earn money to help her mother pay off debuts and to make sure her younger brother has food to eat. She’s worked at various jobs, with her current employer being the aforementioned Saotome Busters.

One night, Sumire has a dream of when she was abducted by the aliens, and when she wakes up, she sees that one of her arms has transformed into a buff-looking otherworldly appendage. It turns out that when the aliens abducted her, they implanted her with a foul-mouthed extraterrestrial entity who is bound and determined to kill all humans. It turns out, though, that Sumire’s consciousness is still intact after the implantation, which frustrates the entity. The entity acts on its own through the transformed arm, but it turns out that Sumire’s determination to stop the entity from doing what it wants can temporarily stop the arm.

When a varmint sighting is reported and residents are told to shelter in place, Sumire panics and thinks she’s the varmint being referred to. She tries to hide the arm by tying a sheet around her neck and decides to return to where the aliens dropped her off in the hopes of finding them again and getting them to undo the implantation. But they end up encountering the varmint that the warning was put out for. The entity tries to fight it, but it’s weakened because it’s joined with Sumire. The entity picks up on Sumire’s emotions that connect with her past and convinces her to let him take over her body so he can release her from all of her shackles. But before she agrees, she makes the entity swear that it won’t kill any humans. The entity agrees, and with taking over Sumire’s body, the varmint is defeated.

We see that the entity intends to violate that promise, but its head is cut off by an exterminator from another extermination company. This exterminator gets quite the shock when it sees Sumire’s head where the entity’s had been.

Sumire in the entity’s body, along with the entity’s severed head, are taken to the lab of the company that the exterminator works for, the Raiden Corporation. The rest of the volume focuses on what happens here, and how this experiences changes Sumire’s life. Unfortunately, going into more detail than this would be providing too much in the way of spoilers.

After finishing Rai Rai Rai Volume One, I felt that the volume did a great job of establishing Sumire and the world she lives in, as well as setting the foundation for how the series will progress going forward. Sumire is a character that a reader ends up feeling for once her full backstory is revealed. The entity (who is given a name by the end of the volume, but I’m not revealing it here) is despicable. The storytelling here also utilizes humor where appropriate to help add some levity to the story when it’s needed.

As I mentioned earlier, for a lot of this volume, Sumire has a very similar look to female-type Ranma from Ranma 1/2, although this similarity isn’t nearly as prevalent by the end of the volume. When it comes to the rest of the character designs, I have to give Yoshiaki credit for giving each character their own distinct look. The overall art style is a little on the simpler side, although the varmint that Sumire and the entity fight has an impressive look to it. Some of the action panels in this volume also stand out in the volume. Yoshiaki’s art style isn’t bad, but it definitely looks a little simpler and doesn’t contain a lot of strong details.

Even with the simpler look to the art, I still enjoyed reading Rai Rai Rai Volume One. The series shows a lot of promise, and it’s one I’d be willing to continue if I come across the next volume.

In an alternate world where humanity has defeated alien invaders, Sumire Ichigaya is working an awful job as a space pest exterminator trying to get her family out of debt. After a few events have Sumire feeling like life couldn't get any worse, she is abducted by a UFO and implanted with a grumpy extraterrestrial being that is focused on destroying humanity.

This was a pretty good introduction to a newly translated manga series. I feel like we are given enough background to understand what this world is like and information regarding the aliens to understand what is happening to Sumire. It ends on just enough of a cliffhanger to make you want to continue to the next volume. I feel like the artwork was engaging and well done also.

Thank you to NetGalley, VIZ Media, and Yoskiaki for providing an advanced reading copy!

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," goes the old saying, but imitating a superior idea does not make yours better purely by association. Such is the problem with Rai Rai Rai Volume 1, a horror comedy manga written and illustrated by Yoshiaki.

Clearly inspired by the recent success of alien and occult series like Kaiju No. 8 and Dandadan, Rai Rai Rai quickly establishes a world infested with the leftover remains of a successful war against invading aliens. Our main character — the 18-year-old Sumire Ichigaya — is a lowly cleaner for a vermin exterminator, where she works to clean up extraterrestrial fungi.

A few dozen pages into Volume 1, Sumire wakes to find herself fused to a possessed alien arm with prodigious strength and a warmongering personality. The setup is nearly identical to Kaiju No. 8, and with the visual design looking more monstrous than alien, you'd be forgiven for a raised eyebrow.

Almost everything about Rai Rai Rai has been done better by other manga, and there's little on offer to distinguish the series from those it's mimicking. Sumire is the beating heart (and best part) of Rai Rai Rai; her backstory and motivations are fully-formed and relatable. With her family indebted and abandoned by her father, Sumire ignored high school in favor of odd jobs and vermin extermination. Simply put, Sumire deserves to be in a different, better story.

Visually, Rai Rai Rai is messy, lacking much substance or style. The alien designs are surprisingly horror-inspired, and make us wonder if the story could have benefited from a demonic theme — it would've been more interesting, at least. The comedy is loud and mostly slapstick; it's serviceable, but not particularly noteworthy, which is a real shame.

As a character, Sumire Ichigaya is the standout from Rai Rai Rai Volume 1. She's easy to empathize with, and her troubled family life humanizes her against a chaotic backdrop of alien threats and mega-corporations.

As we've mentioned, Rai Rai Rai is outclassed by its competing manga. Its alien abductions and slapstick comedy falter compared to Dandadan, and its monstrous battles and dystopian corporations are paltry compared to Kaiju No. 8. Even a series like Semelparous offers more compelling world-building, along with some yuri fan service to boot. Sumire alone is not enough to carry the patchwork threads of the setup and visuals.

Rai Rai Rai Volume 1 isn't bad, but it's not off to a promising start. Readers looking for more creepy aliens or kaiju battles are likely to be disappointed by the uninspired world-building and pedestrian setup.

After the war against aliens was won and the aliens were completely annihilated (according to the government), there is a lot of clean up needed- space varmints attack people and space vermin are invasive and destroy ecosystems. Instead of continuing school, Sumire works for an extraterrestrial extermination company and sends money to her poor abusive family to protect her brother. When Sumire is abducted by aliens, no one believes her… until the extraterrestrial she was infected with starts taking over her body. The foul-mouthed alien begins as a gigantic powerful arm that has a desire to kill humans. Sumire and the alien fight for control of her body. As the alien takes over more of her, she may be destined to spend the rest of her life as a test subject.
Panels maintain a clean layout with lines focusing on people and action. Fast paced with high energy fight scenes. Yoshiaki embeds humor with the conversations between naive Sumire and the hot headed invasive alien. This action horror blend delves into financial and fear, the pull between good and evil, and corporate control. Many science elements to explore including ecology, pests, species extermination, and symbiosis.
Fab addition for middle school and high school libraries.

I loved this! I love sci-fi manga and this one was so much fun. It reminded me of several other manga I love. I absolute can not wait for the next volumes!

Rai Rai Rai is a funny sci fi action manga that is great for fans of Dorohedoro and Dandadan. Body takeovers, wacky action scenes, and mysterious alien influence all set the tone for this manga. I would recommend this for fans of sci fi shonen manga.