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MAKE 5 WISHES (VOL. 1) [ADVANCE REVIEW] |
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Saturday, 07 April 2007 |
 | | ▪ | PUBLISHED BY: | | DEL REY | | | ▪ | ART/AUTHOR: | | CAMILLA D’ERRICO / CAMILLA D’ERRICO AND JOSHUA DYSART | | | | ▪ | FORMAT/COLOR: | | WESTERN FORMAT/ COLOR | | | ▪ | PAGES: | | 152 | | | ▪ | RATED: | | T | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 04/10/2007 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 04/08/2007 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | HOLLY ELLINGWOOD |
Marking Del Rey’s first foray into its first original English language manga style publication, Make 5 Wishes is a dramatic and at times disturbing series about a girl, a demon, and trying to find your own worth in the world.
Hana lives life in self-imposed isolation which she now feels trapped in. Not fitting in at school, hearing her parents fight constantly, she feels alone. To interact with others, she creates several online personas, none of them her, to get to know her classmates without them ever knowing her. She never lets them know the real her, and her self-isolation becomes a suffocating prison she doesn’t know how to escape from. She even has an imaginary friend in pop star Avril Lavigne (the real-life Canadian born pop-star is an actual contributor to this short series). When Hana is mysteriously drawn to a website called make5wishes.com, she orders her wishes, and suddenly she has a demon in her home. Nervous and despite her and imaginary Avril’s misgivings, Hana makes her first wish…
This first volume of an American written and drawn manga-homage series gets off to a bit of a bumpy start. The story has a slightly fragmented pace and much more narration than an actual manga would have. It is a very intriguing story, but at times contains disturbing and even horrific elements to it as Hana’s wishes start to go terribly, frighteningly wrong. The story doesn’t give a definite feel as to whether it is striving to be a drama, a horror, or something else. On one hand, it seems to be a cautionary tale about self-imposed isolation and lying, and the age old story of being careful what you wish for. The demon is adorably cute yet discomfiting as it is unclear if he is evil or merely the tool of Fate. It is a bit disquieting to see the girl have to snap off one of his horns every time she makes a wish, as if to say for every desire, there is a painful cost. The more mature subject matter is more suitable for older teens and adults.
This book boasts full color art work with a unique and appealing style. It does strive to be an homage to the manga art style while still being its own unique and very glossy art form. Bonus features of the manga include an Artist Sketchbook with Camilla D’Errico’s original character sketches and notes.
IN SUMMARY:
Make 5 Wishes is an interesting original English manga homage publication that still feels uncertain as to whether it will be a poignant drama or go a more disturbing horror bent regarding a lonely girl and five wishes that so far lead to tragedy. It is an intriguing read and being a short series, should be interesting to see where the story chooses to go. |
