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Nina has accidentally swallowed a magic pearl (no sniggering
at the back), which forms part of the wizards exam. Zero and
Ichi have been sent to earth to guard her, so what's a girl
going to do with two boys (I said no sniggering). The gang
is enlarged by Sun, who is occasionally frightening, and her
friend Forte, who likes to cross dress. To complicate the
romantic side of the story, Rokka is in love with Ichi, even
though she is only five years old. She, in turn, is supported
by Go, her servant who will apparently do anything for her.
And so the story continues...
Mamotte!
Lollipop by Michiyo Kikuta is a manga that is so sweet
that it will have your teeth falling out of your mouth just
reading it. Its very loose plot is little more than an excuse
for love and romance and, lets face it, there is nothing wrong
with either of those.
Volume
Three contains a set of stories so sweet that they are
positively mawkish. One of the things that I really loved
about the book were all the little asides, which creates an
intimacy between reader and creator. Kikuta drops in random
and personal panels to tell the reader a little more about
each character and even what she felt about individual covers.
She even pops in sections in which she answers some of the
fans questions, and some joke cartoons which I'm sure were
funnier before translation.
The
plot, well lets not get ahead of ourselves... The book is
a relatively innocent slice of love fest, so don't look for
any deeper meanings or the sudden death of any of the characters.
The first story in the book illustrates the point. The gang
are all having a meal when a love potion is dropped into the
food, letting all the wrong people fall in love with each
other, all very light and fluffy. Of course there is the ongoing
plot of Ichi and Zero trying to protect Nina and the pearl
she swallowed. You'd think that she would have passed the
thing by now. Haven't these people heard of laxatives?
If
I had to put forward a criticism of the book it would be in
the area of character design, which is not so diverse that
you can really tell a lot of the characters apart. A lot of
the designs are very androgynous, making even telling the
sex of some of the characters difficult.
Even
if the story isn't for you, you can't deny that the publisher,
Tanoshimi, has put out a class product. The book includes
sections on honorifics, translation notes and a preview of
Volume Four.
Charles
Packer
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