'Hovergirls' - yet another contemporary western Magical GirlTM comic that mixes its fantasy and sci-fi elements with real life issues, such as the struggles of growing up and being an adult in the economy of the 2020s. It's a coming-of-age journey of two magical girls - who just get their water-based (and flight) powers by chance one day, and they could not be more different from each other. Their outlooks and attitudes on being "magical girls" differ tremendously.
'Hovergirls' is set in an alternate earth, in an alternate LA (Los Aguaceros), and with alternate social media platforms. Meet Kimmonique "Kim" and Jalissa Vasquez, young cousins (teens at or around fifteen? Then what's their school situation? If Jalissa is expelled, how did Kim get out it?) who move to rainy Los Aguaceros. For Kim this is a chance to make her dream of being a famous model and fashion designer a reality, and she brings along Jalissa to help her cousin start a new life and manage her serious anger issues. On the same day they move in they suddenly receive mysterious water powers at a beach, and later on, monster fish made of water appear and begin threatening LA. The girls defeat them, for now, and Kim excitedly declares that they must be magical girls, destined to save the city from monsters, wear cute outfits, and be internet famous!They are the Hovergirls!, so says Kim. Jalissa reluctantly and nonchalantly goes along with it, and for her beating up creatures is a vent, a release for her pent-up rage. She draws the line on fame and cute outfits.
They also work at a café to pay the bills.
Naturally this becomes a world-saving endeavour by the end of this part sci-fi/part slice-of-life magical girl superhero comic.
'Hovergirls' is a very funny and oddly relatable and realistic comic. There are laugh-out-loud, clever moments and dialogue. It also deals with darker issues, such as complex family dynamics.
Kim is an extrovert to a T. Small and plump, she loves talking, creating, expressing herself, cute things, and cute fashion. She is warm, bubbly, ambitious, shallow, sensitive, genre-savvy, and may have ADHD. Jalissa is an introvert. Tall and skinny, she never smiles, almost never asks questions (she observes, makes statements, and takes things in stride), and tries to repress her cartoonish rage and violent tendencies by building a rigid wall around her emotions to an unhealthy degree. She is stoic, cold, no-nonsense, smart but unappreciated for it, and seems to only care about watching her soaps on TV. She may be on the low-to-no empathy scale on the autism spectrum. She's a "I missed the part where that's my problem" kind of person.
From what is revealed about their family, sporadically in dialogue, Jalissa's side is rich, and her parents cut off Kim's side; the two sides hate each other, and Jalissa's parents don't know how to deal with her - and don't want to, judging by how, in a flashback set several months before, they dumped her in a house arrest apartment and didn't visit. Kim's parents don't seem to care much about their daughter, either. It's implied they threw a party as soon as she left for Los Aguaceros.
So the girls, practically abandoned, only have each other. They are proof that money isn't everything and it cannot buy happiness. Privilege isn't all it's cracked up to be, and it comes in many facets, and with its own set of problems, especially when it comes to maintaining a stable family and community. Money changes people, and more often than not, it is not for the better. It warps them.
With the duo's polar opposite personalities, they should clash (they do), and they shouldn't work well together (oftentimes they don't). Their relationship can be read as codependent on both sides (both are alone in the world, and only Kim overtly cares), and even abusive, given Jalissa's violent and destructive temper when pushed over the edge, and both are selfish in their own way. They don't seem to care about helping people as magical girls, or they don't care as much as they should; it's about their own self-interests and psychological issues.
And yet, they do kind of work together, if in a dysfunctional, oddball couple sense. They bounce off of one another fluidly and naturally, and help bring out the healthy, positive aspects of the other. Kim enthusiastically nurtures Jalissa, trying to help her grow and be nice (succeeding 15% of the time), and Jalissa states common sense to Kim, and brings her back down to earth when she needs to. For example: Kim's love life, consisting of abusive and/or neglectful boyfriends.
The titular Hovergirls' complicated relational dynamic is reflected and enhanced, literally and symbolically, in how they fight monsters as "magical girls" - Kim is wishy-washy (pun unintended), airy, showy, and wants to look and sound like a proper magical girl - meaning, a successful heroine, idol, celebrity and influencer - and Jalissa is aggressive, blunt, straightforward, practical and quick, no BS - and this is mirrored on a smaller stakes scale in their new everyday life in a new rainy city (water is a major theme in the comic).
Besides, I don't want to believe in lost causes and hopeless cases when it comes to teenagers. We should listen to young people. Jalissa needs help, love and support, and deep down, she does care for her "annoying", scatterbrained cousin. She isn't really a sociopath (which is what she calls Kim's string of bad boyfriends). She's seen to feed the homeless, after all. Plus, she's on her way to getting a girlfriend. Hooray for her!
Who cares about female characters' "likeability", anyway? F%*&! that. Give them their human flaws.
The pretty, cute, colourful, watercolour palette and art suits the book perfectly. It is also manga-esque, and the rainy scenes - wow, and there are a lot of them! And the cute, beautiful outfits and fashion choices! It's all gorgeous and lovely. I love it.
In conclusion, 'Hovergirls', hmm, let's see:
I would like to see more. I would like to see more of these girls, and what adventures might come next for them. It gets seriously, rushed-up mad and bonkers near the end, at the climax, and there's a weirdly-placed-but-not-really environmental and eco-friendly message. But it's a fun kind of silly. The character development for Kim and Jalissa remains.
Geneva Bowers is clearly very talented, and I would like to continue showing support.
So for rainy days, beachy fun, satirical magical girls, pretty colours and clothes, economic teachings, both obvious and subtle, and a dark edge, like in the dysfunctional family content and theme, as well as an understated poverty theme - and if you like 'A Magical Girl Retires', 'Flavor Girls' and 'Magic Girls: Kira and the (Maybe) Space Princess' - then read and enjoy 'Hovergirls'!
It's a water beauty!
Final Score: 3.5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment