fay

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 some of it is spent on kira's magical girl upgrades? and, considering the end of the book, are kira and catacorn even considered magical girls by the council(s) now? 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