Dinosaur Sanctuary by mangaka Itaru Kinoshita (and basically co-written with paleontologist and lecturer at the Nagoya University Museum Shin-ichi Fujiwara as a research consultant) is a very little-known manga here in NA region. Which is a crying shame, because it’s such a good one. The manga basically depicts a Jurassic Park-like dinosaur attraction, but if the staff were running it as a realistic and responsibly managed zoo. All with that staff working as actual zookeepers with very well-researched and depicted dinosaurs to boot. It produces a story that focuses more on the behavior of dinosaurs when they relaxed, and doesn’t treat them as movie monsters the way a certain other franchise does.
It’s this unique story combined with the human and dinosaur drama and comedy that’s why Dinosaur Sanctuary really deserves more attention. Fortunately, it got that attention at Anime Expo 2025 with a booth all to itself. Complete with the mangaka himself present in-person.
Dinosaur Sanctuary Booth at Anime Expo 2025
The Dinosaur Sanctuary booth at Anime Expo 2025 is surprisingly large, and just as surprisingly complex. The first thing you notice is the massive piece of art featuring main character Suma Suzume leading a parade of dinosaurs. In fact, the dinos in question are all the animals of Enoshima Dinoland: the main setting of the manga. There’s even a highly detailed map of the fictional zoo in another part of the booth, complete with amenities and even the names of the most famous dinos at this place.
The booth even contains a display case full of actual Dinosaur Sanctuary merch. Alas, none of these are on sale. These were merch that only saw release in their home nation of Japan. All we can do is hope that the manga becomes popular enough here in NA to warrant that merch making it overseas.
Of course, the Dinosaur Sanctuary booth also has copies of the manga on display. In fact, they have both the English versions and the original Japanese versions shown off on the shelves. Alas, they were not on sale though. However, the nearby Kinokuniya booth did in fact have all six currently available volumes on the manga on sale.
And of course, what better way to educate the public about Dinosaur Sanctuary than to have an information board all about the manga series?
Finally, we have the mangaka of Dinosaur Sanctuary himself: Itaru Kinoshita. Sadly, he did not allow photos of himself. However, he did conduct a live drawing of one of the dinosaurs in his manga. Specifically: Masaru the Triceratops.
Dinosaur Sanctuary Making Big Push into NA Region
Honestly, I’m rather hyped about Dinosaur Sanctuary having such a big showing at Anime Expo 2025. And especially right in front of the entrance to boot. Itaru Kinoshita’s and Shin-ichi Fujiwara’s manga really deserves a lot more attention, and hopefully an anime adaptation. Alas, there is no anime adaptation planned anytime soon from what I was able to find out. All we can do is hope that anime happens in the future.
Fortunately, you can still obtain copies of all six currently available volumes of Dinosaur Sanctuary from your local comic book shop, or from online retailers like Amazon and Kinokuniya.
What do you all think? Are you now interested in checking out Dinosaur Sanctuary and seeing what Jurassic Park could’ve been? Tell us what your thoughts are in the comments section below.
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