Member Reviews
'Charmed: Magic School' by Katy Rex with art by Jonathan Lau is a manga based on a popular tv show.
The Halliwell Sisters find a young girl named Delia with some pretty strong powers and decide to help her out by enrolling her in a magic school where she can learn to use her powers safely. The only problem is that someone or something wants that power and Delia and her new friends may not be safe.
I am a little familiar with the tv show this is based on, so I can't speak as to how accurate they got things. I was a bit lost getting in to it, but got up to speed pretty quickly. I liked the story and the surprises and the art was decent enough.
I received a review copy of this manga from Diamond Book Distributors, Dynamite Entertainment, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this manga.
Well this was in no way a manga. Not the reading style or the art. It wasn't bad but sadly not what I expected and wanted it to be.
This was a fun read! I've been a fan of Charmed since it first aired on TV, so when I saw there was a manga I was excited to read it.
I loved Charmed when it first came out. I was really sad when it went off the air, so it really made me happy to see a Manga that gave us a new story about the Charmed ones and some of the students in their school. I enjoyed the story and I thought the drawings were well done. I would love to see future stories like this in the original Charmed arc.
I'm always happy to go back into the Charmed universe. While I don't think anything about this was suprising or thrilling. It was a fun way to spend an hour or so. If you have never heard or seen the TV show I don't think this comic is for you.
This was a fun read though I wish the original charmed characters were in it more. This was a fun read! Although I did not like the style.
Although I could see the potential in this text, I was not able to sustain my attention and finish the narrative.
I was a fan of the Charmed TV show when I was younger, so reading this was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it and the storyline. I love seeing some of my old favorites re-written in a fun and exciting form.
I loved the Charmed TV series and have watched it several times from beginning to end. It was easy to see how this book would fit into the chronology of the series and the story reintroduced some of the demons the Charmed Ones had faced.
The focus was very much on Paige, with the main setting being Magic School, which is reminiscent of the TV series where one sister wasn’t often the focus, with the others playing a role in the climax of the story. However although Phoebe and Piper were not the main focus of the story, there were little reminders of their personalities from the series.
I don’t know if I’d look out others in the series. This was a fun visit back into a world I loved as a teenager, but I’d have liked a bit more of the other much loved characters.
The cover art was pretty fantastic. What's inside? Not so much. The mediocre art was making it hard to focus on the storyline so sadly, I gave up.
*Digital review copy provided by NetGalley and the publisher.
This was difficult to get into. I thought this might be based on the reboot on CW due to the timing, but it's set sometime towards the end of the original show I think. Every comic is someone's first comic, this was my introduction to Charmed. I was very lost. There's no real introduction to the world or the characters even though the author had the perfect opportunity to introduce the reader as the new witch entering magic school was introduced. There's no real plot to speak of either, except new witch goes to class and uncovers something bad towards the end.
This was billed as a manga, but the only thing it has in common with manga is that it was black and white. It reads like a typical American comic left to right and the art is definitely American in style as well. Jonathan Lau is a talented artist but in this case black and white worked against him. This was obviously not colored like a black and white comic. It looked like someone took the fully computer colored comic and then switched it to grayscale. The mostly female cast was hard to tell apart due to the heavy use of similar gray tones.
I would only recommend this to die hard fans of the original show.
This was such a fun read! I loved getting to know the characters even more then when watching them on the screen!
This was a great addition to the Charged catalogue. The story was very engaging and I liked the illustrations.
I am a Charmed fan (of the original Charmed), so when I saw this, I had to pick it up. But I have to say, sadly, I was very disappointed in this. This centered more on a student that's new to being a witch rather than the sisters themselves. I would have preferred to see more of the sisters and their families than a newbie.
I enjoyed this comic. I story about a young witch who gets to believe in herself with the help of new friends and the charmed ones. It got me fired up again about charmed. I woild recommend this graphic to others ans my friends. Had a blast reading it!
*I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my my own.*
Before I begin I should mention that I watched all, but the last season of Charmed. I loved the show, but by then it was repetitive and it lost its spark for me. I won't even go into my controversial thoughts on who Phoebe should have been with (they did them so wrong...).
That being said, I was really excited to see what this graphic novel would be like!
Unfortunately, I feel like it fell into the rhythm many comics have of being too choppy--jumping from one scene to the next with little segue or even development. As a manga fan, I'm used to a slow moving story with character development and feeling. Here I felt like the main character, lost and confused when tossed into a new world. (Yet, professors said she was taking like a fish to water???) Calling it "Charmed: THE MANGA" really made me think they would spend time flushing out characters and building up a story.... but no. Also, the art isn't totally to my preference, and knowing what the Halliwell sisters looked like in the TV show made it a bit harder to look at.
There is a pretty diverse cast, which I think is awesome. Love seeing all types of people become witches. What I don't like is calling someone by their name that they no longer identify with (sorry, I can't remember the right term). Honestly, I knew then or slightly prior who the bad person was and wondered why no one else thought the same! It isn't okay to do, especially if it isn't given the weight it deserves. No one should feel slighted because of who they are.
Because of my love for the show I had a hard time rating this. Originally, I gave it three stars, but the more I think about it the more realized I had to give it 2, even though I didn't want to. It was nice to catch up with the characters, it was a little fun seeing the magical school, but when I think about how I would feel about this had I not watched the show, I'd probably rate it lower.
By the way, you have to have watched the show to understand like any of what is talked about in the comic and understand who the characters are.
So, if you've watched the show, I'd maybe recommend this if you are feeling nostalgic, and if you like comics, then you might actually like this, otherwise I think you could skip it just fine.
I wanted to love this but it just wasn't well done. The animation is hard to follow. I had a really difficult time determining which character was which. The Halliwell sisters do not look like their television counterparts. I think that might have made some difference.
The plot was fine but the dialogue was cheesy and didn't add enough to the story.
All in all I didn't love this. It's such an easy, quick read that I would say if you had the opportunity to read it, then do so but I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to get it.
*This Book was generously provided by NetGalley*
I was excited to read this as I am a massive fan of Charmed. The premise was good but the execution was not. It was very short, there was barely any character development and everything was fast paced. I think there could have been more detail in the story and for the pacing to be slower. I also didn’t like the shadows on characters faces, it just looked like they had dirt marks on themselves.
I've been a fan of Charmed for years, so when I saw there was a manga I was really intrigued, unsure if it would live up to the hype of that I think the show is. I'm happy to say it did. The characters are well written, the plot line is solid, and the artwork is absolutely amazing. I couldn't wait to read the next page to see how this would end. 4 out of 5 stars.
I spent a good time with the manga. It brought me back to my young years with the 3 Halliwell sisters. It was nice to follow Delia's new journey into magic. The only one thing that I did not quit like was the drawings but it is up to me. But it was a good read.