By Tomomi Mizuna
Udon Entertainment, 200 pp.
Rating: Ages 7-12

In this all ages title, Nana opens up a mysterious book to find that it’s actually a portal to the magic world, and a little witch named Majoko jumps out. The two of them become friends and each chapter features a different trip into the magical world. The two of them do things like catch rainbow thieves, hunt up good grade apples, cheer on friends in werewolf races, and accidentally cross over into the world of dark wizards.

This reminded me a lot of Cowa!, which is still one of my favorite all ages manga. This is a little different since its demographic is a slightly younger crowd, and specifically little girls. I don’t really think there’s too much that would interest or be appropriate for a seven-year-old girl in the way of manga in English, so there’s probably a nice audience for something like this. With stories about making friends and doing the right thing and shouting matches with the girl that won’t stop picking on you at school, the content isn’t going to interest girls who are much older than ten, but there’s enough there that not every chapter is preachy, and some of the things the two girls get involved in wind up being fairly exciting. There’s not much continuity between chapters, either, save for the cliffhanger into the next volume, so it’s something that a young reader would be able to read in short sessions.

I really loved Udon’s presentation for this book. There were a bunch of color pages throughout, which is probably a plus for something aimed at this age group. I was a little surprised the artwork wasn’t flipped so that it would be easier to read. I can see young children having some problems getting used to reading a book backwards. Of course, the novelty may also attract them, and perhaps the artists really don’t like having their work printed that way. The artwork itself is serviceable and quite cute. It’s not quite as ornate or cutesy as, say, Sugar Sugar Rune, but little details like the rainbows and the various little animals and stuff involved in the story are all pretty adorable.

I’m pretty sure most people reading this review aren’t really going to want to pick this up for their own enjoyment, but it always makes me happy to see another manga title that’s appropriate for younger kids. This title is especially great since I can imagine little girls eating this up, and there’s not too many other kid-friendly manga that specifically targets little girls like this one.

The “B” letter grade in this case is more of a grade in relation to other manga for children rather than an overall grade of quality. It doesn’t deserve a really low grade, given what it is, but I wouldn’t say it rates a “B” compared to other titles aimed for a more mature audience.

Volume 1 of The Big Adventures of Majoko will be available on May 13th, 2009