Brooke is having a rather bad time of it at her new school. She’s been dubbed a dork by her classmates. Her poor sense of direction leaves her unable to get to school or go home without a guide. And her upstairs neighbor, Jared, turns out to be a total jerk (even if he is good looking) who pretends not to know her whenever they aren’t alone together!
Things get worse when Brooke gets lost on the way home from her first day of school and she winds up in the allegedly haunted forest. Before she knows it, Brooke has stepped into the middle of a magical war between the unicorns and the dragons. Both were slaves to the elves, until they united to fight for freedom. But an exile to our increasingly mundane world has left them fighting over what little magic remains in a bid for survival. The unicorns think Brooke may be the one who can help them… but can Brooke even help herself?
Enchanted is simultaneously a wonderful fantasy comic and a hilarious send-up of the usual Shojo manga stereotypes. Kristen McGuire clearly has a great love for the magical girl genre as well as an amazing sense of humor. The script for Enchanted is full of the usual Shojo comedy tropes about the nerdy girl protagonist being embarrassed about various things as well as fourth-wall breaking jokes about the sudden appearance of Shojo Sparkle whenever a pretty boy appears.
Speaking of Shojo Sparkle, the book conforms to the normal conventions of Shojo Manga, despite being written and drawn by an American manga-ka. McGuire’s style is cutesy, alternating between the standard Big Eyes Small Mouths aesthetic favored by most Shojo artists and Chibi-style characters as needed. The artwork continues the fourth-wall breaking humor, with nudity-concealing bushes labeled with signs that read “Conveniently Placed Bush” and “Yep… STILL A Conveniently Placed Bush.”
Enchanted is unrated, though this critic would suggest that it is a T for Teen equivalent suitable for audiences 13 and up. There is some mild language, with Brooke asking Jared what crawled up his ass and died at one point. There is some suggestion of nudity, with nothing being shown, as the unicorns shift into human forms and discover that most humans have a hang-up about public nudity. There is nothing inappropriate for most teen audiences.
Enchanted
by Kristen McGuire
ISBN: 9781634435291
KrisComics.com, 2013
Publisher Age Rating: (13+)
