Butareba -The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig- (Manga)

A run-of-the-mill otaku collapses from stomach pain after eating raw pig liver and wakes up in a whole new world—as a pig, of all things! He’s helplessly trapped in his pen until Jess, a girl who can read minds, rescues him. Our porcine hero will have to work to keep his boar-ish thoughts to himself. But sweet Jess isn’t deterred. In fact, she wants to spoil this little piggy rotten! By her side, it seems like life as a hog might not be so bad after all! For our pig protagonist to transform back into a human, he must head to the capital and appeal to the king. Jess offers to go with him, kicking off the start of their cutesy, fluffy adventure! But while preparing for their journey, what seems like a harmless shopping trip quickly gets out of hand, revealing the dark side of this world hidden beneath its peaceful facade. What can a mere pig with no special powers do to protect his angelic savior?

One shocking revelation after another strikes our porcine hero, peeling back the seemingly innocuous layers of the world of Mesteria to reveal its hidden cruelty. The Yethma status has more to it than meets the eye, as Mister Pig learns the hard way when Jess is put in grave danger. Luckily, they get a chance for some rest and relaxation during their journey to the capital. At a village, the duo encounters another Yethma girl, Ceres, who possesses gorgeous legs that Mister Pig can’t stop admiring, as well as the handsome huntsman Naut, who makes Mister Pig bristle with catlike wariness. A simple stay in the village turns out to be more trouble than expected, and our hog hero must decide how far he’ll go to protect Jess.

With two new party members in tow—the huntsman Naut and his remarkably clever dog Rossi—Mister Pig and Jess arrive at their next stop: Munires, a bustling and relatively safe city. Their stay is off to a great start, with misunderstandings resolved and a cute bedtime chat. But this peace is shattered when Jess wakes up in the dead of night claiming she can hear a voice in her head. The voice’s owner introduces herself as Blaise and repeatedly cries for help. Deducing that she must be a Yethma, the party of two humans and two beasts set off on a quest to save her. Our porcine hero’s wits have always helped him avoid danger and worm out of tricky predicaments, but will they be enough to change Blaise’s tragic fate?

The royal capital is finally within reach—but to get to their destination, Mister Pig and Jess must cross their final hurdle, the Needle Woods. They enter the forest with the huntsman Naut, his trusty dog Rossi, and the once-captive Yethma Blaise. This final hurdle, however, turns out to be the most perilous, because the forest is a haven for Yethma hunters. Our party is forced to pay a steeper price than they ever imagined—will they arrive at the royal capital or die trying? And even if they do succeed, is it salvation or despair that awaits them in the elusive capital?