Pages

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Manga Review: Ran and the Gray World, Volume 4, by Aki Irie


Rating (Out of 5): ~3
Publisher: VIZ Signature (VIZ Media)
Release Date: August 2019
Volumes: 7.
Spoilers?: No.
Volume: 1. 3. 5.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A young sorceress transforms into an adult and sets out on magical adventures full of charm and wonder!

Ran Uruma can’t wait to grow up and become a sorceress like her mother, so with the help of a magical pair of sneakers, she transforms into an adult and sets off! Her father and older brother Jin try to keep her home safe, but Ran is determined to advance her powers and have adventures of her own!

Knowing that Makoto Hibi witnessed her magical transformation, Ran is now desperate to erase his memory. But if she gets her way, she might lose a friend in the process. Later, a powerful sorceress in training named Nio Gekkoin shows up and challenges Ran to a duel! Which novice will emerge the victor in this supernatural showdown?

Review:

Starting this volume, it felt like I'd missed something.
We find Sango is staying at some kind of inn, with her sisters and helping out. Ran is still dealing with the boy from her class who discovered her witchcraft. This leads to her acknowledging she only has one friends, and she would like more, but doesn't know how to approach that.
Ran meets another little witch in this volume, and she's competing with Ran for their mentors attention. She's jealous before even meeting Ran, and while she might seem to have a better hang on her witchcraft than Ran, it quickly becomes clear that they're basically equal, but Ran might have more natural luck with magic whereas she has more knowledge.
When we see Otaro next, we discover that he's under some kind of spell that is doing serious harm to himself and causing some real deadly chaos in the world. It's intriguing to see how this is affecting Otaro, physically and mentally. It also leads to an interesting change in plot, which I'm intrigued by.
There are some major issues with this series—mainly that it stars a middle-schooler, and yet it's very sexualized. But also the artwork is so, so pretty, and I'm actually interested in some of the relationships. I really don't mind reading this one.


A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

No comments:

Post a Comment