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People of a certain age may remember a harmless romantic
comedy that came out in the early nineties called Dave. In the film
the President of the USA has a stroke and to prevent a scandal the Chief of
Staff decides to put a lookalike in his place. A regular guy called Dave
is picked for the task and has to learn how to act like the president, and
predictable social faux pas and drama ensue. |
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Well, you can probably guess the answer to that, but with all these kinds of triumph over adversity style stories it's not so much the final outcome but how the characters get there that counts. Magical X Miracle doesn't exactly do anything that you haven't seen before, but it's a nice fun story nonetheless. Yuzu Mizutani aims the series squarely at a young female audience, with cute artwork and stunningly handsome male characters populating a European-style fantasy world. Merleawe may be a stereotypical manga heroine but she is |
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likeable and easy for the target audience to identify with, and the similarly stereotypical supporting cast are pretty good too, particularly the 'older brother' figure that is Vaith. The art is decent, and both comedy and drama are handled well, but there were things that could have been done better. The story is
incredibly character driven, and the focus is so strongly on
Merleawe and her struggles with her Sylthfarn role that it neglects
her normal life. Pretty much the whole book is spent with her
acting as Sylthfarn, learning to act as Sylthfarn or worrying about
acting as Sylthfarn, and it misses the opportunity to show how she
is getting on at school or what she does at home. There are a
couple of truncated shopping trips with completely two-dimensional
school friends and some shots of her falling asleep in class, but
where's the rest of her life? Her sense of struggle loses
something when you only see one side of her, and there's no sense of
how it is affecting her in school. The setting is
underdeveloped and there is a huge lack of originality throughout
too. As mentioned the plot is very similar to existing
stories, the characters are straight out of the Big Book of Fantasy
Stereotypes (gentlemanly priest, rowdy swordsman, aloof wizard,
ditzy princess etc...) and the most of the comedy scenes and
dramatic twists have been done before. |
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Despite all this it is somehow still enjoyable though. A lot of that is down to the amount of effort Mizutani puts in to get under the skin of Merleawe, she may be stereotypical and one-sided but her fears and struggles are laid bare by the author. You want her to succeed, and in a story like this that's the most important thing for an author to get across. The comedy may be predictable but it's still fun and the punchlines and visual gags are delivered well. There are some moments when it gets a little darker than you may expect too - particularly when Merleawe meets a seriously ill woman and doesn't have the power to help her. It's |
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times like this when it shows signs of being a little more interesting, even if it doesn't quite have the emotional impact it should do, but at the moment it's just fun but unremarkable. Magical X Miracle vol 1 is an enjoyable tale of social readjustment and personal struggle which suffers from a lack of originality. Only the main character has any real depth, and even with her we only see one side of the story. It may do nothing new but it's fun and it has some good moments - particularly Vaith's tactics for getting Merleawe into the castle unseen (they include putting her in a sack!). It has plenty of room for improvement, but if you like rags-to-riches fantasy with a touch of magic and gorgeous guys then give it a go. If not, turn your attention elsewhere. Extras: The usual ads and next volume preview are bulked out with a couple of entertaining short manga strips about the author and some bonus artwork. Now, if only I could work out why she draws herself as a penguin I'd be happy... Ratings Feature:
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