fay

got influenced to check out this book by frankie's shelf on youtube (whose channel you should check out if you're into weird, diverse books). i have a vague memory of this book being popular in the early 2010s, but never bothered to read it as my tastes were geared towards fantasy/science fiction at the time. however, after reading this, i can say with 100% certainty middle school me would have eaten this thing up.

i can kiiiinda see why this book was so hyped up back then, but ultimately i wouldn't say it's a memorable read. the whole thing is ultimately just a bunch of flashbacks juxtaposed against mia watching loved ones and nurses talk to her unconscious body, and their actions + her memories influencing her decisions. also, while i don't find the romance elements to be unnecessary in any way, i just.... don't care that much for mia and adam's relationship?? it's a good thing mia's world doesn't revolve around her boyfriend (and i like that this is lampshaded in one of mia's flashbacks with kim), i just don't think adam should have had a hand in mia's decision to stay, in the way he did it.

which, speaking of... that ending was such a huge cop out imo. literally chekov's gun with the headphones. you could tell the last few pages were rushed after the last flashback. i think it would have made for a much more interesting ending if despite the music affecting mia's emotions, she felt the pain of staying was stronger and decided to leave. based on the cover i saw for the sequel, i thought "where she went" would be about her wandering around as an untethered soul, trying to find the means to join her family in the afterlife. but no, it's [spoilers for the sequel] just about how their lives are like 3 years after the accident. apparently mia resents adam for making her stay? interesting. i mention the sequel despite not having read it, because after this ending, i'm not too emotionally invested in these two to find out what happens 3 years later.

other things that prevent me from giving this book a higher rating are much better explained in frankie's shelf video review of if i stay (namely, the weirdly insensitive comments some characters make towards POC, an ableist slur used by kim, mia's weird fixation on teddy forever being a virgin [not in an incestious way!]). i highly recommend giving that video a watch, they have a wonderfully cohesive way of explaining things

overall, it's an okay read. not a terrible one, but it does have its flaws. i do kinda get the message the author was trying to out out, though.

partially copying the review i posted on storygraph

right off the bat the art looks better due to volume 2 being printed on proper manga paper this time. the grey tones are much more visible here. i feel like there was a bit of an art evolution as well (line weights are sometimes thicker, and the faces are mostly more... proportional? idk if that's the right word for it), which i like. there is the occasional weird face/expression (fynn's gaze looks "dead" at times, though that could just be due to the artstyle), but it's not a major issue in my book.

volume 2 still has the same issues i had with volume one (rough fast pacing, stilted dialogue, and even a translation error) the writing does start to somewhat improve in chapter 8, which is a shame bc the manga ends literally 2 chapters later. a little too late i suppose?

both fynn and niko kinda pissed me off in this volume.

fynn seems to not understand why niko (understandably) doesn't want to be open with their relationship until they're finished with school. i find it baffling and honestly unrealistic that a teenage boy does not know about the concept of homophobia.

niko's refusal to tell fynn about why he's always so late to their meetings, and by extension, his family life, confuses and annoys me. it's not as if family members having dementia and all the emotional and mental turmoil that comes with that is a taboo topic? i kiiiiiinda get his reasoning (maybe he didn't want fynn to get involved with his dad and possibly make a messy situation even messier), but maybe he should've waited longer before he deciding he wanted to be with fynn if trust issues would get in the way of their relationship so very often? just a thought.

actually, both boys should've waited longer before getting together. i know the relationships in numerous yaoi/bl are not, for the most part, healthy, and honestly this one isn't much different. fynn is always lowkey pressuring niko into doing couple things, and gets upset when niko turns him down. niko is not fully communicative with his boyfriend. not exactly what i'd call a great match.

chapter 9 was pretty cute though, getting to see niko spend time with his grandpa and seeing how strong and loving their bond is. even though this is the last volume, i hope they still get to spend time together considering niko's relationship with his dad may have gotten rockier after the former's reveal to the latter in chapter 8.

chapter 10 and the story itself ended with a whimper, with a bland sex scene and a somewhat cliched "i love you" on the last page. it wasn't horrible, just... ok.

the q&a and the fanart section afterwards was pretty cute, and the 4koma at the very end got a slight chuckle out of me.

kinda bummed we didn't see more of zoe in this volume. i do like that she seemed to have moved on past her resentment towards fynn and chilled out. however, i kinda wish we got to see more of her relationship with niko, as it's something we really only get glimpses of.

overall, i ended up liking this volume more than the first, but even then i was still disappointed with it. it's a shame, since the art is beautiful. it's safe to say i won't be keeping this series on my shelf.

if there was one word to describe this book, i suppose it would either be "confusing" or "half-baked".

let's start off with my main issues with this graphic novel. the pacing. oh my god. the first conflict kira and catacorn have is 1/4 into the book, and even that is way too early into the story for me.

second, the characterization (especially that of the protagonist) seems to flip flop around the place. kira goes from buying into catacorn's gambit to calling her out (rightfully) about her actions, and then goes back to being chummy with her a couple of pages later. i get that kira is young and naive, but her hot-cold attitudes towards catacorn kinda turned me off her character.

speaking of kira, i can't exactly say i find her likeable and/or sympathetic. her aspirations of wanting be noticed and liked by her peers at school isn't exactly an unreasonable one, but the brash way she treats others and acts because of it annoys me. i get this is a graphic novel for middle schoolers, but i'm not sure if this spiteful, mopey 7th grader is a character that kids would want to be like.

also, her one-sided rivalry with tulip makes NO sense at all, especially when we've been shown nothing that gives kira objective reason to dislike her. yes, it's mentioned several times that kira is most likely jealous of her, but i find it laughable that kira somehow "correctly identified her lifelong rival in the second grade", with tulip seemingly doing nothing to earn her ire. although...... i suppose her feelings make more sense if one looks at it through a lens of "actually has a crush on tulip she either hasn't realized yet or denies and masks it through a veneer of resentment". would be interesting if the author takes this route in the subsequent volumes.

and speaking of tulip, she's... alright, i guess. nothing too noteworthy about her, although i do like we get to see her anxieties with the whole magical girl thing and feeling smothered by her familiar. i feel like her brief moment of standing up to frog during the classroom battle with mystical mysticeti was cut short by the plot/literally mysticeti herself (who, by the way, is an actual queen. i love her and her charisma. she and oceanmon were one of the few characters i actually liked, which may not be a good thing if the "villian" is the most likeable character in your story.) i do hope we get to see her grow as a character and stand up for herself more.

now, to address the elephant- or, rather, catacorn- in the room. i would NOT want her to be my familiar/cute mascot if i was a magical girl. i can see why she's ranked 23rd in the princess listings. aside from being annoyingly scatterbrained and honestly self serving at times, she seemingly never considers the consequences of her actions. not once does she apologize to kira about lying to her about her actual plans, although she does acknowledge it towards the end of the book. i guess it comes with being pampered royalty and all that, but if her mother, a literal SPACE EMPRESS, is looking for Her future replacement, maybe Her Majesty ought to consider other qualifications than how much sparkle energy a princess has.

also, the way catacorn is drawn in some panels is somewhat offputting at times, especially when her teeth are visible. i kiiinda get the vibe the author was going for her, but it only adds to my not so fluffy feelings towards the character. i find the anime-esque rendition of her in the flashback sequence more appealing. wish she was drawn that way instead tbh. maybe crashlanding on neo-earth into a trashcan zapped her kawaii energy lol

another glaring issue that kept me from thoroughly enjoying this book is the subpar worldbuilding. i had so many questions after finishing the novel. why are the land and sea kingdoms feuding? why are magical girls sent to fight their "battles?" (i say in quotes bc they're more like theatre plays than anything lol) heck, how the hell does the magic system work? we kinda get glimpses at how it works (tulip dreamt about her familiar), but even there are inconsistencies (baleen has to actually change clothes to turn into mysticeti, but then tulip gets a proper transformation into fairytale fighter). also, what even is sparkle energy? how does it work? does it have a hand in the whole magical girl system (considering that earth supposedly has immense reserves of it, according to catacorn)? how would catacorn have harvested it for her horn, considering a good chunk of it is spent on kira's magical girl upgrades? all questions which i hope are answered in future entries in the series. the confusion i have about the first two questions is even lampshaded on page 57, which i find unintentionally ironic and even a tad hilarious.

i picked this up from the local library, hoping it would be an entertaining lighthearted jab at the magical girl genre. i can't really say it delivered on its promise. maybe it would be amusing to someone from its target demographic, but as someone who is familiar with mahou shoujo works and some of its tropes, i closed this book feeling somewhat disappointed. not exactly how i wanted to spend 3 hours of my saturday afternoon.

i don't want this review to entirely be negative, so here's my positives. the art is alright, i like the coloring, especially during the flashback sequences. maybe the art style myself isn't my cup of tea, but for a graphic novel about magical girls for a middle school demographic, it was fitting. the character designs are really cool and unique, i loved that the author included a little "who's who" at the end of the book! honestly, i wouldn't mind reading a spinoff involving just kira's schoolmates.

oh, and mystical mysticeti. i mentioned her before, but i have to bring her up again. she absolutely slayed in every one of her appearances. i really hope she appears more in future volumes, because she is just too good not to pop up again.

all that being said, i am aware this is the author's debut graphic novel. i do understand that this craft takes time and effort, and i certainly am not bashing on her first foray into this media. i just wish she had let it cook for a bit longer, especially regarding the pacing and characterization. hopefully she improves with the years, i wish her luck.

TL;DR kind of a mediocre read, characterization and pacing are all over the place, worldbuilding is kinda sloppy, art style is mostly alright, mystical mysticeti is MOTHER

the manga has an interesting premise, however the fast pacing squanders it. i wish the progression of niko and fynn's relationship was given more time to develop (they have their first kiss about 70 pages in, ffs!) i would have loved to see some chapters of niko teaching fynn about astronomy, different constellations, and whatnot. maybe have fynn actually take an interest in stargazing, and not just use it as a reason to go see niko. i think their relationship would be more intriguing if the authors had gone for a slow burn a la sasaki and miyano.

speaking of which, it feels like fynn doesn't really take his bond with niko seriously? he constantly mispronounces perseids and makes no effort to correct it, despite niko telling him the proper pronunciation multiple times. he also interrupts niko's infodumping about stars and science, subjects he's clearly passionate about, and idk, shouldn't a good friend respect their buddy's interests and be willing to listen to their ramblings? fynn is also shown to kinda want to isolate niko from his friends, which is lowkey a red flag for me. a good friend wouldn't want to keep their buddy all to themselves, right?

fynn's thought process is also confusing at times (on page 82 he claims to be worried about niko but on the very same page he rhetorically asks why "a guy like him even [has] friends", and even mentions not wanting his other friends to have fun with him on the previous page). might be the translation, but the writing kinda falls flat here and there.

chapter 3 and the conflict it introduces feels lowkey shoehorned in, like it was written just for the third act breakup that's common in sooo many romance stories. i rolled my eyes soooo hard when fynn told niko "i thought we understood each other just fine! i thought you liked it when i stuck my tongue in your mouth!" as if he hadn't been rudely dismissive of niko's hobby and called him a freak shortly before this. i know he's a teen and still doesn't have a grasp on what a good relationship is (if zoe breaking up with him is anything to go by), but this line was just ridiculous.

i couldn't make heads or tails of what fynn was ranting about either. as i mentioned before, it read like fodder for a third act breakup which honestly should have happened later on in the story, which could've been a good cliffhanger to lead into the next volume if the authors had gone through a slow burn route as i suggested previously.

zoe... i like her, and i feel she kinda gets the short end of the stick in the story. i know it's a common thing for people to say "women characters get in the way of my yaoi which is why i don't like them!!1" (which i have yet to actually see), but i think the reverse is true here. her relationship/friendship with fynn takes a backseat to his attraction to niko, which, when combined with the fact she's deeply distressed about breaking up with fynn, makes me feel so bad for her. i'm hoping she receives better treatment by both the characters and the narrative in volume 2.

as for the art, i liked it! the authors have great attention to detail in terms of environments and clothing. not fond of how the faces are drawn sometimes though. it kinda reminds me of early 2010s deviantart anime-esque artists? not that it's a bad thing at all, just a personal artstyle nitpick. i also really like the two watercolor pieces in the first two pages. i love zoe's character design the most tbh.

the manga is printed on this weird semi-waxy white paper that makes the toning of the pages look weird? idk why the publisher went with it, but for me it somewhat hampers the gorgeous illustrations.

star collector isn't the worst BL manga i've read, but much could be improved by giving more time to niko and fynn's relationship and characterization. i would say it wouldn't be a bad pick for baby's first foray into BL, but even then i feel like they would deserve a better title.

perhaps volume 2 will be better. we'll see. i can't say i have high hopes though.

TL;DR don't pick this up if you're looking for a substantial read. pacing is way too fast, characterization is muddy, however the art is beautiful

as the other review states, i second the notion this should have gone the sapphic route lol.

this was passable for a YA/teen novel, though some of the writing did feel a bit bland/cliche. sabine's naivety hurt to read sometimes, but it did keep the plot moving i guess.

also chris and mari (and grant, to a degree) weren't as fleshed out as i liked them to be. i wanted to know chris's character and backstory more, i can imagine the kind of following he'd have in-universe haha. mari did come off as that certain brand of quirky that gets stale and annoying quick, but considering she's from LA i kinda expected it LOL.

i feel like it's a 50/50 over whether yoona and mari's friendship would last after the ending, considering sabine mentions in the last chapter it's getting harder to find space in their schedules to video chat. though, considering the trials and tribulations they experienced together, i doubt their bond would fizzle that easily.