Manga Review - 'Little Witch Academia, Vol. 1' by Yoh Yoshinari and TRIGGER (Story), Keisuke Sato (Artist)

I decided to reread this manga, after many years now.

It's been even longer since I saw the first season of the 'Little Witch Academia' anime (I should get around to rewatching the whole series), and the first volume of the manga is similarly magical, cute and funny. The characters are especially funny, memorable, and stand out as unique, daring and endearing individuals. Look at these witch girls: Akko Kagari is just like a female version of a Shōnen Jump hero - headstrong, determined, one-track minded and obnoxious - and Sucy Manbavaran is like Wednesday Addams fused with a poison-type Pokémon, and the regal, sophisticated rival Diana Cavendish, who is secretly a fangirl, in actuality isn't a mean girl at all!

How I'm reminded of how similar 'The Owl House' is to 'Little Witch Academia'.

However, the volume is a mess. Narratively, thematically, and in planning in general. It starts out well, and exciting, in how it adapts the anime introduction to the series. But after the second chapter, 'Little Witch Academia, Vol. 1' practically abandons its main plotline and becomes serialised and anecdotal. It includes stories episodes that are not that interesting, and that matter very little by the end. It should be too early for filler content already! It glosses over and brushes aside side characters, such as the entire Luna Nova Magical Academy staff (apart from Ursula Callistis and one or two bit-part professors, their names are not even revealed). Poor Ursula is underutilised, and then plain forgotten after the third chapter. MacGuffins, props and motifs are similarly discarded. I mean, seriously, what happened to Chariot's Shiny Rod after Akko used it to portal to Luna Nova? It's never mentioned again, as is Akko's living Alcor bird plushie, and her Shiny Chariot card.

Stuff that happens in the anime are referenced, but they are not included in the manga itself; such as Lotte Jansson being able to communicate with spirits, which apparently everyone somehow knows about. Why is there suddenly a dragon at the end, and what the heck is the Sorcerer's Stone and why is it so important? Very confusing and frustrating. The introductory volume has too many details missing from it. It's an adaptation that does not competently stand on its own.

Akko can be a selfish, inconsiderate and thoughtless pain in the backside, too. And sometimes her stupidity can be too much, too puzzling, too baffling. Not to mention that she is at fault for a lot of trouble, as in she starts her own problems, and doesn't end up resolving them - it's usually one of her friends who have to bail her out and fix the messes she caused in the first place.

At least Lotte and Sucy receive stories that reveal their backstories and develop their characters.

There are so many witch boarding school stories and franchises out there, it can be hard to find one that stands out. That strikes the eye, and is slightly more original than the last (and the next). I think what makes 'Little Witch Academia' distinct is its emphasis on humour. It's a comedy, while retaining its magic, and magical, shining heart. Plus it's cute! A cute all-ages anime. We're barely shown any actual schoolwork and themes of an academic nature - ironic, given its title!

Sadly, the manga version is too scatterbrained, confused and random (and surprisingly mundane with little stakes) for me to enjoy, despite liking the characters and comedy. I'm sure others will really fancy it, hold it to high esteem, and be entertained by it, toad warts and all. But I'm afraid I am not one of them.

Oh dear.

Oh well, maybe the anime will fully replenish my witch-loving heart. My magical girl child heart.

Final Score: 3/5

Book Review - 'Cinder & Ella' by Barbara Slade (Writer), Lucia Soto (Illustrator)

It's an LBGTQ+ retelling of 'Cinderella', that's diverse, and where there are stepbrothers instead of stepsisters, the fairy godmother role is given to a magical, midnight-blue horse, and of course, the "prince", who ran off at midnight and lost a shoe that won't fit any man in the kingdom, is a girl - a poor girl who loves the princess... and her feelings are reciprocated.

Cinder is a poor ragamuffin girl who is not conventionally attractive, but she is a courageous, determined and heroic dreamer; and Ella is a sad princess who yearns for more than the traditional life of marrying a prince.

Together, they will be each other's happiness.

That's true love.

Basically, if you like 'Princess Princess Ever After' and 'Maiden & Princess', then you should check out the 2023 UK picture book, 'Cinder & Ella'. I can't believe I only stumbled across it today in a big bookshop on my trip to Brighton. The art is spectacularly pretty, colourful, soft, sparkly, lovely, and beautiful. As well as a magical horse, there's a mouse who's all about the pride flag!

It is a short story, and some parts are rushed, and the ending will leave you wanting more. And seriously, near the end, why did Cinder's stepmother nail the stable doors shut while Cinder was inside? There is no indication whatsoever that she ever knew the missing 'handsome young "PRINCE-ESS"' who danced with the princess was her stepdaughter. Did she just want her out of the way during the shoe fitting with her sons at the palace? Why?

But 'Cinder & Ella' is still a nice, wonderful addition to the ever expanding sea of LBGTQ+ content for children, in picture books and other media. I'm glad for effortless diversity and inclusivity. I'm glad that stories like these are being normalised now more than ever, thus LBGTQ+ kids can see themselves in them, and know they are normal, and they can be accepted, and happy.

Live happily ever after, that is, in any fairy tale.

Final Score: 3.5/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Age 16' by Rosena Fung

Full of honesty, pain, spirit and hope, 'Age 16' is a beautiful graphic novel about coming of age, and generational trauma.

Sort-of autobiographical, it is about three generations of women, and their stories - there's our main girl Rosalind in Toronto, Canada, in 2000; her mother Lydia from Hong Kong in 1972; and her mother Mei Laan from Guangdong in 1954. They all reach a critical change in their lives at the tender, vulnerable age of sixteen. It is also all about cultural and societal misogyny throughout the ages, and how internalised misogyny, the obsession with weight, dieting and impossible beauty standards, and eating disorders, are linked to it.

It is all about women, and mothers and daughters, and female friendships. There is nary an important male figure in sight; most are MIA, or misogynistic POS's not worth the time and space in this graphic novel.

It is a tragic universal truth that a girl's first hater is too often her own mother. As Rosena Fung says at the end in her Author's Note:


'This book is about all the ways we are taught to deny our bodies tenderness, and mothers can be especially critical of their daughters' bodies. They hold the ways the world has been cruel to them as girls and women and pass it on. I recognise now that my mom wanted to protect me from our society's hatred of fatness but in doing so ended up reinforcing it. It's taken a lifetime for me to figure out that I can accept her love but reject this inheritance.'


Overprotection or not, this kind of upbringing is cruel and inexcusable.

Between 'Age 16', and 'The Joy Luck Club' and 'Turning Red' (also set in Toronto in the early 2000s!) and many others, mother-to-daughter generational trauma stories do predominately resonate with Chinese people and their culture. Although, again, this topic is universal, thanks to the rampant misogyny in every fundamental culture in the entire world.

In 'Age 16', I like the use of colouring - a purple palette for Rosalind's time, and orange for Lydia's time, and green for Mei Laan's time. In the end, beautiful-as-she-is Rosalind will come to wear all these colours. The art is round, bouncy, manga-esque, simple, and expressive.

The book doesn't ever compromise and betray its own morals - f*&$! beauty standards and dieting, eat what you want! Be big! Take up as much space as you want! And I love the scene where Rosalind starts to embrace her geeky side when she stumbles upon a con by accident. So much copyright-friendly pop culture stuff and fun! She will love this side of herself, too. F!$£*! what anyone else thinks. She's a photographer, and Lydia is a dancer, or she wishes she were, if only Mei Laan would ever let her be herself, and love herself in her own skin.

Cat treat/meow mix inclusion: Rosalind has a fat cat named Millie. So cute!

'Age 16' is light and somewhat hand-wavey and dismissive of the LBGTQ+ community, but that could be reflective of its timelines, especially in 2000 (a new age of deeply shallow and sexist marketing strategies, like in magazines and advertising everywhere, and things would only get far worse from there...)

Anyway, 'Age 16' - highly recommended. It is a raw mother-and-daughter, generational trauma story that I can stomach, without hating the older generation. Well, not too much. I really like 'Living with Viola' by Rosena Fung, and I like this too. Also recommended if you like graphic novels such as 'Persepolis', 'Huda F Are You?', and 'Anya's Ghost'.

Remember: 'A girl like you... Maybe you're already... Who you're supposed to be.'

Extra quote from the Author's Note:


'Being a girl can feel like you're hauling this psychic pain with you every day, the pain of the world telling you you're too much and not enough. I wrote Age 16 to give voice to that pain but also to show all the ways we can unlearn it. To help us realize we're already who we're supposed to be.'


Final Score: 4/5

Scribble #130

To everyone who has ever suffered, who has ever been oppressed, marginalised, mistreated, disrespected, and/or abused, simply for being who you are:

You matter. You are important. You are amazing. You are loved. Someone does care for you.

Everyone has a voice. A story to tell. Every human is equal.

All are equal. All are unique, beautiful, exciting individuals, whose differences should be embraced and lauded.

There is no limit, no barrier, no restriction, to the human experience.

Being human is about freedom, to be who you are.

Let us, please, always treat each other with kindness and empathy. Never, ever dismiss empathy.

And remember compassion and giving, charity.

Create, build, connect. Commune.

Listen.

Love.

Love can save us. Love can save the world.

Scribble #129

I am beautiful.

Or I try to tell myself that.

You don't know my mind,

and how much I suffer in it.

Book Review - 'magnifiqueNOIR Book One: I Am Magical'' by Briana Lawrence (Writer, Artist, Creator), Various Artists

I should have loved this. After all, it's about Black queer AF magical girls - it aims to break every tradition, convention and expectation in terms of rep in the genre - and for the most part, it's charming and well written. Included in the novel are illustrations of each of the four magical girls of magnifiqueNOIR (plus their mentor who's a former magical girl) by different, prominent artists, and their bios, and one-page comic panels, furthering its adorable, independently-made charm. Each magical girls' place on the LBGTQ+ spectrum is reflected in their colour schemes; in their hair and fabulously fashionable outfits.

'magnifiqueNOIR Book One: I Am Magical''s geeky heart is in the right place.

Sadly, there is one problem. Wait--more accurately, it's the first problem: The confusedly-placed flashbacks at the beginning, which become too long and overstay their welcome, and which also create a nonlinear style of storytelling that doesn't continue or flow well with the rest of the book. Add in the inconsistencies between the flashbacks, and what happens and what is said between the past and the present day scenes, inadvertently giving the impression of an unreliable narrative device, and I was having a jarring reading experience. The "This is how I got here"/superhero origin flashback scenes should not leave me scratching my head and flipping back pages, to see if I'd missed something, only to find I hadn't; there are contradictory and nonsensical details and dialogue, in need of proofreading.

Other flaws include: Some of the characters, as well realised and well developed as they are, had their sudden selfish arsehole moments that made me want to tear my hair out. Or some other (or the same, actually) characters are just arseholes and are never called out on it. It annoys me.

While I'm on the point of inconsistencies and characters, one of the magical girls of magnifiqueNOIR 

(always in bold in the book) once refers to an ordinary civilian character as one of the most important people in her life (page 152)... when she'd only met him three times by then (that we know of), and each time very briefly. And the last time she met him he was screaming at her and being suddenly and frighteningly hysterical - an out-of-character moment that is never remarked on again. WTF?

There's also the changing of POVs being given new characters later on in the book, which might have been okay and acceptable if we'd met and gotten to know these people a bit more earlier on.

The monsters that the magical girls fight are generic, often slimy and oozing things that are easily and quickly defeated. Some fights even happen off-page - they are skipped over; not helping the impression that the monsters are an afterthought and nonthreat overall. Nothing about their origins, what they are, where they come from, and why they are attacking this specific (nameless) city now, after a generation ago, is explained. The origins of magnifiqueNOIR's existence and powers are not revealed, either. I've heard everything will be clarified in the sequel, though. I guess I'll have to take the blurb's and book reviewers' word for it. A lot of info is left out, to be explained and explored in the sequel, in fact.

Aaaaannnnd to point out another inconsistency, although this time it's due to a miscommunication between writer and artist, one of the comic panels (Page 161) has one of the girls fighting a female-in-appearance monster that is designed to look like a spider with horns on her head, but in the prose, in that same chapter, the monster is not described as anything like that - she's just a hideous, leaky, pimply, pus-filled mess of a creature ('pus' is incorrectly spelled as 'puss' every time it is mentioned in the book). It's a shame because a lady arachnoid, a giant black widow spider, sounds like an awesome monster for the magical girls to battle.

The chapters get increasingly, overly long, to boot. There are many typos - more editing and proofreading was needed - but then again, these days I've seen more typos in books from renowned publishing houses; this isn't only a problem in self-published works.

Yet, in spite of these flaws...

'magnifiqueNOIR Book One' is a geek girl's dream, and is full of heart and style. It is brimming with pop culture references, especially those of the video game and anime communities, and most of them are charming and cute instead of annoying and forced. It's like a better, feminist, more-loving-and-enthusiastic version of 'Ready Player One'. However, a few of the references, and the political and social climate of 'magnifiqueNOIR Book One', like in the attitudes towards queer people existing (wow are a lot of the older generation bafflingly ignorant and irritating), do give away that it came out in 2017.

How sad is it that nowadays I consider 2017 to be a long time ago? These last several years have been long, heavy, exhausting, regressive, worrying, dreary and deeply depressing, haven't they?

Oh look, positivity! And 'magnifiqueNOIR Book One: I Am Magical' is bursting with glittery, explosive positivity.

There's the wonderful inclusivity, the memorable, bright, literally colourful characters, and baking and cupcakes, and 8-bit pixels, as well as magical girl awesomeness! The magnifiqueNOIR girls' names are Galactic Purple, Cosmic Green, Radical Rainbow, and Prism Pink (who appears much later on and whose identity is a mystery)! They're great, vibrant, kaleidoscopic, magical Black queer heroines!

Maybe it would have been better if the whole thing had been a comic book instead of a prose novel.

I wish it could have been a bit more careful and thoughtful in its editing and characterisations and character consistencies (not to mention how it handles its flashbacks at the start).

But the passion, the commitment, the love for the characters, it's on every page. I don't know, maybe my love for the magical girl genre and diverse representation is clouding my judgement, but I think I might like 'magnifiqueNOIR Book One: I Am Magical' after all, when it is far from a masterpiece.

I've decided I will keep it. It's cool, cute and charming. And totally unlike anything you'll find in your average bookshop.

'magnifiqueNOIR Book One: I Am Magical' - A fangirl-made, western Magical GirlTM hidden gem.

Add this to the list of (legit) Magical GirlTM books I read and enjoyed in 2024. Others on the list are 'A Magical Girl Retires', 'Hovergirls', 'Flavor Girls', 'Save Yourself!', 'Sleepless Domain', 'Magic Girls: Kira and the (Maybe) Space Princess', and 'Winx Club' and 'W.I.T.C.H.' stuff.

Final Score: 3/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Pilu of the Woods' by Mai K. Nguyen

A lovely, sweet, sad, raw and heartfelt little all-ages graphic novel.

'Pilu of the Woods' could easily be a Cartoon Saloon film - there is a lot here that reminds me of 'The Secret of Kells', especially. A bit of 'Where the Wild Things Are', 'Bridge to Terabithia', and 'A Monster Calls' also come to mind.

It's the coming-of-age story of a young, grief-stricken tomboy named Willow, who goes to her favourite place, her escape - the woods near her home - after a fight at school, and a fight with her older sister at her house. It's in these woods where she meets a lost child forest spirit named Pilu. Willow sets out to take Pilu back home, determined to save her - and herself, from her own inner monsters. This symbolises Willow projecting her own feelings of loss and loneliness, and trying to fix her broken family and home, on her own.

'Pilu' explores themes and issues of grief, dealing with emotions in a healthy way, emotional instability, family connection and love, appreciating your loved ones, friendship, the woods and the wonders of nature, and how hard life is for a child - a lonely child, burdened with, and internalising, so much.

You'll learn a lot from reading 'Pilu of the Woods', and not only about plants, flowers, trees, mushrooms, fairy rings, and recipes (like mushroom rice!).

Mother Nature has more than one meaning in this story.

The art is gorgeous, adorable, rustic, dramatic, and suits the graphic novel brilliantly.

I had read and liked Mai K. Nguyen's latest work, 'Anzu and the Realm of Darkness', and I'm glad I finally checked out her previous book, which has made its mark in the graphic novel world.

The moral of 'Pilu of the Woods' is:

Bottling up your emotions, like anger and sadness, and grief and guilt, and trying to ignore them and keep them to yourself, never makes them go away. It makes them worse. It will make you miserable, irritable, and lost and helpless; even lash out eventually, like a stoppered volcano. You can't run from your feelings, for they are a part of you. It is not being kind to yourself, nor is it forgiving yourself, if you avoid confronting them. Calm down, and listen to them. Being a child who is carrying all this weight, all this pain, all these memories and broken promises, all by their lonesome, is especially harmful.

Be kind to yourself and others. Open up to your loved ones, and trust that they will understand you and what you are going through. That they love you. And the people you love and have lost are never really gone, as long as you remember them, and keep on loving them.

It's difficult, seemingly impossible. But it will get better. For life moves on, moves forward. You should never be alone in your suffering.

Plus, 'Pilu' has a cute dog in it!

It is iconic, as well as very sad and harrowing, yet uplifting and hopeful by the end.

What a woodsy, flowery, shroomy (not a word, I know), rainy, beautiful, pygmy-mole's-star-nose of a comic.

Final Score: 3.5/5