Manga Review: Magical Girl Incident, Vol. 1

Magical Girl Incident

Publisher: Yen Press

Author and Artist: Zero Akabane

Translator: Caleb Cook

Letterer: Phil Christie

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, LGBTQ

  Magical Girl Incident is a fantasy comedy manga that features a likeable male protagonist and his adventures as a magical girl. The series’ protagonist, Hiromi Sakura, is a corporate drone who used to have dreams of being a superhero as a child. But as Hiromi grew up, he realized that his childhood dream would never come true and became a regular working salaryman at a boring desk job. One day after work, he saves a young girl from being hit by a car while she was chasing after a runaway ball. But the driver of the car turns into a monster and attacks the girl! While trying to save the girl, Hiromi transforms into a magical girl, complete with rabbit ears, a frilly dress, and high heels.   The comedy comes from Hiromi dealing with the revelation that he can turn into a cute girl to save people and his best friend’s reactions. It is hilarious seeing Hiromi’s best friend and work colleague, Yuzuru, abusing his wealth and connections to help Hiromi with his magical girl work. Hiromi’s and Yuzuru’s boss also provide a lot of comedic relief through his interactions with his subordinates. One such scene involves the boss giving a pile of work to Hiromi that he must finish by the end of the day, and then saying that he “forgot to include relevant data, so please redo everything” after Hiromi spent 6 hours nonstop to get the job done.   This first volume is action-packed with snippets of dialogue in between. The pacing is rather light-hearted since humour is plentiful and the manga doesn’t take itself seriously. Magical Girl Incident appears to be a parody of various magical girl series such as Sailor Moon and Tokyo Mew Mew. There is even a transformation scene in the first volume, where Hiromi is surrounded by sparkling ribbons reminiscent of that of Sailor Moon (if you have watched the anime). The writing is very easy to digest and it makes for an enjoyable read. There are some pages where there’s very little dialogue and the characters’ facial expressions do all the talking. The art style involves strong character outlines and clean backgrounds, giving a more Shounen-style feel to the overall manga. The cover art is quite deceiving as it is covered in pink tones, so I thought it was a shoujo manga at first.   This first volume of Magical Girl Incident gives the reader a fantastic introduction to the main characters and general plot of the series. You really feel that Hiromi is very passionate about being a good person and helping people in need. Yuzuru is the ever-faithful friend, whose good intentions are not always in Hiromi’s best interests. I’m excited to see the dynamic between Hiromi and Yuzuru evolve. This first volume has me hooked, and I will be eagerly awaiting the next installment. Magical Girl Incident is a definite must-read for any fans of the magical girl genre and those who like comedy-action with a bit of slice-of-life thrown in.