Make A Wish – If You Dare!

‘It’s easy,’ proclaims the blurb. ‘Just send a text to a certain address and a dark angel will appear and grant you a wish – but only one! You can wish for you crush to fall in love with you, for revenge against those who have wronged you, or even for the dead to be brought back to life. But choose your wish carefully – sometimes a dream come true can be a nightmare!’

Four short stories, each with the linking theme of ‘Only One Wish’ make up this volume. The first deals with the theme of the frailty of friendship – in this case, amongst three schoolgirls. Each story is framed by the appearance of the ‘dark angel’ who here looks just like a schoolgirl witch, complete with wide-brimmed hat, broomstick and black kitten. The second story asks if love can overcome death. The third shows how a crush on a classmate can lead to a foolish wish with unforeseen magical complications. And the fourth delivers the delicious – and romantic – complications of a mix-up over cell-phones.

Ok, so this is not the most original of fantasy themes, or treatments. Indeed, one of the girls in the first story declares, ‘Sounds like your typical horror story’ when hearing how to make the titular magical wish. The set-up has echoes of another Kodansha/Del Rey series ‘Hell Girl’ which is a much darker exploration of the ‘be careful what you wish for’ scenario, played out in contemporary Japan. But the stories are skilfully told and attractively drawn, even if they don’t linger long in the mind after reading. They’d be ideal for younger shojo manga fans and I have no hesitation in recommending this volume to readers who’ve enjoyed ‘Shugo Chara,’ ‘Mamotte Lollipop!’ and ‘Sugar Sugar Rune.’

Mia Ikumi is best known for the fluffy magic girl shojo series ‘Tokyo Mew Mew.’ Fans of that series will be delighted to find a bonus one shot featuring some of the characters at the end of this volume. And, as always, Del Rey offer an attractively packaged volume, complete with their trademark useful ‘Translation Notes.’

In Summary
A light concoction of fantasy shojo stories linked by the theme of ‘be careful what you wish for’ that will particularly appeal to young fans of ‘Tokyo Mew Mew.’