Dinosaur Sanctuary author Itaru Kinoshita spoke to a room full of humans and two dinosaurs at Anime Expo 2025. As a graduate of San Francisco State University’s School of Cinema, his experience in film studies and Palau led him to start creating a story about dinosaurs. His first work, Giganto o ute (Attack the Gigante), was published in 2018, but the story and tone are worlds apart from Dinosaur Sanctuary.
© Itaru Kinoshita 2021/SHINCHOSHA PUBLISHING CO.
Joined by Deb Aoki, Rie Takeda (translator), and Tomoka Matsumura (editor), Kinoshita spoke about his experience, his education, and his inner workings when it came to creating the world of Dinosaur Sanctuary. First off, Deb Aoki explained that the Manga International Network Team (MINT) is an initiative sponsored by the Japanese government. The project aims to work with early-career manga artists and have them published in English. MINT also includes anime, filmmaking, etc.
Moving back to dinosaurs, Kinoshita named his favorite dinosaurs: Giganotosaurus and Psittacosaurus. Not only are they very round, but he was also influenced by his supervisor, Shin-ichi Fujiwara. Fujiwara’s love for Psittacosaurus influenced Kinoshita because he spoke about them so fondly. Kinoshita originally wanted to be a movie director, but it was “difficult.” Instead, he pursued the route of becoming a manga artist because the decision-making would be solely on him.
After working on Attack the Gigante, described as samurai vs. dinosaur and “a little grotesque,” he found building that story was difficult because his “ manga skill wasn’t enough at that time, and it was only three volumes.” However, it was a good experience to move on to the next dinosaur manga, Dinosaur Sanctuary. The story follows a group of zookeepers at Enoshima Dinoland and the struggles of keeping it operational while still providing regular care for the dinosaurs. In regard to the characters, Kinoshita felt that putting women in the leading role was natural. “Suzume is very bright and cheerful, but has a strong mind,” said Kinoshita. During the Q&A session afterwards, her character and the story are heavily influenced by the manga, Mobile Police Patlabor. “Kaidou has a heavy past, but after the accident, he became a dark and cynical man. For me, it’s boring as a man, but it can’t be helped since he has a heavy past. I like him too.” He feels most aligned with Katase, a straightforward and serious-minded character. His editor’s favorite happens to be Kaidou because he’s handsome.
© Itaru Kinoshita 2021/SHINCHOSHA PUBLISHING CO.
The zookeepers keep the Enoshima Dinoland going despite being a park with low funding. ”I wanted to show that dinosaurs are not monsters, but animals. It’s different from other dinosaur franchises.” Not only does Dinosaur Sanctuary peel away the pop culture representation of extinct species as hostile, but it also shows the potential real-world problems they would face as animals. “Volume 5 has a scene inspired by rhinos and elephants that are killed in the savannas. I wanted to tell the story about these animals through dinosaurs, like dealing with poachers.”
Kinoshita’s manga has been inspirational to both aspiring paleontologists and current ones. During the Q&A session, a biology teacher mentioned how his manga has influenced one of his students to pursue paleontology. Even children who walk by the MINT booth are enamored by the dinosaur designs. As the panel wrapped up, the manga author bid everyone farewell and hoped they would continue to support his story.
Itaru Kinoshita graduated from San Francisco State University’s School of Cinema in 2012. He made his manga debut with Giganto o ute (Attack the Gigante, Kodansha) in 2018.
His manga about zookeepers working in a dinosaur park, Dinosan (published in English as Dinosaur Sanctuary), is currently being serialized by Shinchosha. It is currently published in 9 languages, and is available in English from Seven Seas Entertainment. Dinosan volumes 1 through 7 are currently on sale in Japanese, with volume 7 of the English edition planned for release in September 2025.
Dinosaurs Sanctuary has been recognized in Japan and abroad, including being mentioned in the Next Manga Awards’ Print Manga category in 2023. In 2024, Dinosaur Sanctuary was nominated for Best Continuing Manga Series at the American Manga Awards and selected as one of School Library Journal’s Best Books of 2024.