There are two things which I find make the manga, Mao-chan great in comparison with the animated series: First, although the manga retells a story and a few parts from the animation, it otherwise is completely independent. You’re not reading the same material you’ve already watched (not that I have any problem with that in the case of Saint Tail, I must say). Second is that artist Ran used the same art style as Ken Akamatsu’s original artwork for the animated series. Why mess with cute perfection and perfect cuteness?

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My pre-order of Mao-chan Volume 1 arrived today, and it’s a lot bigger than I was expecting.

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Over at Borderline Hikikomori, Crisu writes about attempting a lecture on mahou shoujo. To this, Damien Kellis of Moe Check! responds with a piece on shoujo versus shounen. Considering that I’ve spent over four hours over the past two weekends working on an unfinished, content-light Cardcaptor Sakura post, I’m thoughtful on which magical girl series I’ve seen and enjoyed (or didn’t enjoy), and why.

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