Crystal fighters

a fast read, finished it in one sitting. the art was alright, i liked the character designs and colors (although some pages did look dark / slightly blurry, probably a toning issue [which i've noticed with some print versions of webcomics]). Some of the faces/expressions come off a bit weird though, and the fact everyone seems to be wearing lipstick at all times doesn't help.

the plot/concept had potential, and it's a shame it seemingly never got the chance to develop (more on that later). it also felt rushed at times? some of the dialogue did feel a bit stilted, and the relationship between stella and oliva progressed too unnaturally fast for me to feel anything.

the protag is..... lousy tbh. she didn't really develop as a person at the end of the story (though tbf seeing as the ending hinted at a second volume, it would've been nice to see her become less angry and vindictive). If anything, i think the comic would've been improved by having jessica as the protag (bright and bubbly teen girl gets dragged into the gritty realm of underground virtual magical girl fights) and have stella as her mentor alongside olivia.

it's a shame we'll never most likely get to see where this comic could've gone, seeing as this was originally a webcomic published on the app stela in 2016, which has since been taken off the app store and google play. it doesn't help the company has not posted on social media since july 2020, and the security certificates on their website have expired. the links on the site are either kaput or lead to entirely different, unrelated websites.

as for the author, i checked her tumblr blog (jenbartel) for any possible updates on the comic, and the last thing she posted related to crystal fighters is an announcement for the dark horse comics publication. no mentions of any new chapters past ch. 5. jen herself has not posted to her tumblr since 2018. so either the subsequent chapters are now lost media or were never written, and it's safe to say she's given up on crystal fighters entirely.

overall, it's a mid comic if you're looking for something substantial. this is something you could hand off to a 10-14 year old who doesn't know any better and they'd probably be ok with it.

personally, i picked this up at my favorite indie bookstore for a discount. i wouldn't say i wasted 7 dollars on this, but i'm considering donating this to my local little free library lol.