Graphic Novel Review - 'Magical Boy Volume 1' by The Kao

2026 EDIT: I've reread both this and the second volume within an afternoon, and I can confidently say this story is better, and more magical, than I remember. It is certainly more important now more than ever.

'Magical Boy' is a story that needs to be told. It needs to be read by absolutely everybody.

Magical girls (and boys), gender, LBGTQ+ pride and normalisation, mental and emotional health and wellbeing, happiness in being yourself, family drama, the true meaning of friendship and community, the true meaning of faith, the lesson of how worship (and receiving devotion) does not equal love, the lesson of how love is a strength and superpower, bringing forth light towards toxicity and hate, awesome fights, awesome magical costumes, and rainbows - it is all here and queer. The substance is thriving and glowing, and written, drawn and coloured from a place of passion and heart.

Just a few things that bug me (pun unintended, given the monsters of darkness), with the holes in the plot and the lore:

What do Max's parents do for a living? What are their jobs? We hardly ever see Max's dad Kai leave the house. Have none of the previous descendants of the light goddess Aurora been queer? Or were the LBGTQA+ "goddesses" before Max forced to hide who they really were? I wish that could have been made clearer. I also find it hard to believe that every one of them wanted a child - a child to carry on the bloodline, and all dangerous responsibilities that come with it, at that. None of them saw their goddess power as a burden, or like a curse? On that note, did none of the descendants die in battle? Did any of them have siblings? Siblings who could possibly take their place should anything happened to them? Why would they "come into their power" during puberty? And it's implied that they lose their powers and stop being magical girls when they become mothers - their destiny is done, and it's been passed down to their newborn progeny. That's awfully inconvenient. How often do the monsters come to earth through portals, anyway?

Finally, I don't like how Max's deadname is censored in speech bubbles, but nowhere else. We know it from where it is written down, and in manga-styled background thoughts. 'Magical Boy' contains one of the few instances where media censorship is necessary, because deadnaming is obviously wrong and a violent attack towards trans people...but it is inconsistent, and I don't understand why.

But apart from that, I adore this short but wonderful webtoon series. I wish we could get more of it.

Read my original review below for further analysis, and read my review of the second volume.

Final Score: 4.5/5





Original Review:



My 850th review.

I've decided to use this occasion to highlight a Magical Girl--no, it's 'Magical Boy', the graphic novel, which is a colourful, fantastic, fantastical, magical tale, about a trans Magical Boy. He is a descendent of the Goddess of Light, Aurora, and comes from a very long line of transforming, sparkly, dress-wearing, amulet-wearing, staff-wielding, darkness-fighting girls.

Well, this time it's a guy defending the world from evil using Magical Girl motifs. And as it turns out, there's no need to be ultrafeminine and "ladylike" to do it.

Some traditions need to be broken.

'Magical Boy' has the best art, the best characters, the best premise, and as well as being outrageously fun and funny, and subversive as all hell, it is a moving and empowering coming-of-age story about Max Owen, a trans highschooler.

Max is struggling, in slowly and surely coming out to people, and coming into his own identity. He knows exactly who he is, and it's hard, standing his ground whenever he is met with ignorant and unaccepting people. The world is already so dark and hateful towards people like him, but it'll be made worse by the supernatural dark god forces that feed off of that loathing, those insecurities, and which, he discovers, he must banish! (He could also see people's "light energy" or auras, before he could transform into his magical self.)

Max knows himself. He wants nothing to do with the whole sparkly and frilly Magical Girl/ Goddess of Light nonsense that's making his life even more difficult! Yet, as his magical hero identity develops with him and starts meeting his needs and preferences, his reluctance wanes, and he learns and grows further, into his own hero. This hero's journey of self-acceptance will extend to others in life changing ways, too.

In a surprising turn of events (as if the goddess light powers and dark deity bugs and sealing leaks into other realms weren't enough of a shock!), more people will come to accept him, in time, on his path to self-discovery, and saving (and changing) the world.

Max the Magical Boy will make friends with the most unlikely of people, who will happily help him fight evil.

'Magical Boy' was clearly made with such love and care by its author, The Kao. This is not only to be judged by the anime style artwork and anime influences, done meticulously and in a tongue-and-cheek fashion. Max and the other characters are loved, and are handled with sensitivity; they are nurtured and cherished, not to mention highly interesting, so the readers will come to care for them in equal measure.

The comic does right what so many other LBGTQ+ stories, particularly trans stories, do not. Basically, it is the opposite of stories like 'Galaxy: The Prettiest Star', another LGBTQ+ "superhero" comic. There is positivity, and sympathy for the victimised trans lead throughout, with nary any serious meanspiritedness and cruelty which permeates all else. The conflict isn't so nasty and toxic as to be triggering. Also dissimilar to 'Galaxy', 'Magical Boy''s protagonist really is trans, it isn't an allegory or a metaphor, and they never apologise to their abusers, who don't deserve sympathy, and who are hardly sorry. There is no triggering hateful rhetoric, nor hate crimes, that overwhelm everything, happening with no accountability, nor repercussions for the perpetrators, whatsoever. No bigot gets away with it in 'Magical Boy'. Any "metaphor" present in it doesn't take over the story and character development, either.

In other words, what I'd feared I'd get from 'Magical Boy' because of 'Galaxy' didn't manifest. It is everything I'd hoped 'Galaxy' would be before reading that.

Kudos.

(One last thing concerning 'Galaxy' is that, as far as I know, no existing edition of it comes with a content advisory or warning at the beginning. 'Magical Boy' does.)

Additional notes on the character love and respect:

Max is a gay transman in high school who is frustrated and fed up with it all. Being a "magical girl" is among his worst nightmares, but overtime, he might make it work for him, in his own way, on his own terms. Screw convention. Jen, his cool lesbian best friend, is awesome, like many others in the colourful cast. She is super supportive. New friends that Max unexpectedly makes along the way are: the tough cisman Sean, who actually loves cute, sparkly Magical Girl things (he's such a dear, plus he's like the Tomoyo to Max's Cardcaptor Sakura, in the filming-him-in-his-magical-fighting-monsters-glory sense); and, another surprise, and slight spoiler... the blonde, blue-eyed, typical mean church girl, Pyper, who is of course closeted and suffering from intense internalised homophobia.

Hell, even Max's mother, Hikari, who is the most resistant and unaccepting of who he is out of everyone else, and is his biggest obstacle in navigating the world of transphobia (she constantly deadnames him, which is blurred in the text of her speech bubbles; the same treatment is given to anyone who does the same, thank goodness), she is miraculously made likeable by how over-the-top, and cartoonishly pomp and enthusiastic, she is. We're clearly not meant to take her seriously - her conservatism and her ironically aggressive banging on and on about being "ladylike" - and everybody but her knows she's in the wrong. Max's few interactions with his softhearted father, Kai, are sweet and touching by contrast, at any rate.

I hate to mention this, but I feel I have to: A slight imperfection - a legitimate, objective flaw - in 'Magical Boy' is the editing, panelling, and speech bubble placements. It does get messy a few times, leading to confusion as to who is talking and when, in following an interaction. One example of a mistake is when a speech bubble is designed to look as though it's coming directly from... an unconscious person, when it should have come from the person standing right next to them, who is shown to be the one talking. Oops.

There are loads more things - details big and small - I could talk about when it comes to 'Magical Boy', which is overall, in fact, a lovely, lively, hilarious, yet simple and fun fighting-evil-type anime and manga story. But I've prattled on long enough, and I can't do the comic justice. Especially seeing as I'm a ciswoman reading and reviewing it.

Just read this great, modern graphic novel, whoever you are. The world is made better, pleasanter, and lighter, by its existence.

I'll sign off by saying that 'Magical Boy' made me feel good, and it filled me with joy and positivity, after reading it; after experiencing it. Unlike a lot of stories of its ilk (*cough* 'Galaxy' *cough* 'The Prettiest Star' *cough* my arse *cough*). My hypersensitive and hyperempathetic self approves.

And that cliffhanger. Oh! Oh no! I will definitely read the sequel, the conclusion to this landmark duology, this opus. I can't wait!

Final Score: 4.5/5