Ahhhh

My thoughts on your Webmanga Gyoko Shoujo

((This is a personal review and the following will contain potential spoilers and other things. You've been warned.))

Well that was nearly an hour plus half worth of read and what can I say?

Brief pause

I guess that's a bit early to rate early, so before I move on with the comic itself, I have a confession or two to make: As a heterosexual male I am normally attracted to, well you know, the opposite gender. What others doesn't know is that I do have a few soft spots which normally the big men would find weird. Yes I do like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, but that's pretty much a mixed feeling to the majority of both genders regardless of age. What many many others don't know is that I have a hidden fascination with...

Cue drumrolls

Guys!

In girls clothing!

In all seriousness, yes I find myself not minding one's appearance dressed up in opposite gender's outfit... as long either he or she looked convincing enough that my semi-functioning brain cannot read upon first glance. Basically I'm talking about trap characters in their witty disguise. Yeah I don't mind that at all... to a certain extent.

So the question here is, what's the point of this review? Well by now you saw that itty bitty title, you know what to expect... sort of. First of all, what the heck is Gyoko and Shoujo!? I can only briefly explain as fallows... Shoujo is a Japanese genre mainly targeted for girls, though boys can still join in the fun (which believe it or not is just as popular to Shoen anime/manga novels). As for Gyoku... eeeeeeeeeeeeh. I tried for Wiki and all I got is nothing. Well don't worry, the com- *Ahem* manga should answer the questions you curious readers questioned. There is a fair bit of warning though... this manga does contain controversial topics, but if you're ready to accept what this manga has to offer. In all fairness, the Internet has no borders so we just need to *Ahem!* educate ourselves so let's get to er!

Also... *Gleeful smile*

So the prologue sets up the stage pretty nicely, seeing Shintaru enjoying his favorite past-time story, Gyoko Shoujo, which means "Peasant Girl". I can take that's what Gyoko meant, in Japanese I think. Come to think of it, this whole manga clearly took place in Japan, but I cannot confirm that because this review was based on my first impression... right. That book was his favorite and his father reads for him. The story was pretty... sweet!

So yeah his father was something to Shintaru, now dead. Three years has passed and he had consistent nightmares, realizing that being older in a real world that's not filled with fantasy is not always sweet-and-pretty. Ahhh, but don't you worry, we only covered the beginning.
He's accompanied by his best friend (and potential love), Meirin. So the two go to school on a daily basis, and the two are quite different. Meirin is a type of girl who will do anything to help others out and wants equal rights, and also to have fun. Shintaru is pretty much a total opposite nowadays, he refused to do whatever she does... and for that reason.

So when it came to the classroom part, the first part is worth to discuss with your friends, so why? Right away the priest(?) lectured that "girls should never dress up like this or that because it's bad", I mean okay, I have nothing against it, but uh... since when did this part of the class placed that for discussion? I could only think and just let it slide for now... again, nothing touchy.

Shortly we got to meet Yuyia, a girl who has a crush towards Shintaru and... I don't want to sound offensive, but a bit on a chubby side. Let me just say that she's quite a good character and it's not often to see these girls around. She's a lot more important than you think, so keep on reading.
Despite being nice, she was often mocked for her appearance, then we start to see Shintaru's feelings come into play but couldn't. This is one of the theme's we're learning here today folks. Don't leave good people in the hands of bullies. If you're going to help them, please do!

Back at the class with a different teacher was doing a lecture about a woman who I cannot pronounce here was ruled in the politics, yet, cannot acce- oh dear... I think we're heading towards somewhere aren't we? Meirin made a very good point, but the teacher fired back with the most sexist thing I have ever heard coming from a teacher! A first shocker for me and... what an asshole! I like her return-fire response, that was actually pretty smart move in writing.
It doesn't end with the school scene, we saw Yuyia being bullied to a pulp! Reading that part gave me mixed emotions of what's happening. You would think hating a main character isn't normal, right? Well you'll be tested here. Instead of helping her out (even letting Meirin save her), Shintaru just took her arm and left the scene, leaving Yuiya suffering further! Again what have we learned so far? Oh but don't you worry, there's still more to come!

We cut to his home to learn that his mother works, leaving Shintaru pretty much... alone. He also had a desire to be happy with everyone of his friends, like all good friends want. In a cry for plea, something magical came to him. HE SUDDENLY TRANSFROMS INTO A SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE MAGICAL GIRL! This is by far my favorite part in my humble opinion since we got to see... a pretty decent transform scene. I also like the costume provided for his her. Then a fairy, Kazu, appeared from nowhere explained that Shintaru was in fact a reincarnation of a princess from his favorite stor- PLOT TWIST! Yeah so he now has an ability to become a magical girl, annnnnnnnd for a good reason too. The demons are coming back from the wishing well and they want the souls of the people. With no other choice, Shintaru does what all magically girls do best: just do it in S-T-Y-L-E!
There's a bit of fighting, but for now Shintaru fought the demon wolves with ease... through trail-and-error.

Then the story takes a nosedive to discover that Yuyia is going to commit suicide over the fact that she was heavily bullied to heck! Of course at first glance I didn't know what would happen to her until... well pretty much a whole chapter is devoted to her sad fate. Meirin and Shintaru expressed their sadness in such a way I think there's a good character development happening. This was pretty touchy for me since we only got to know Yuiya for a small bit, yet, her impact wasn't all too huge in all honesty. I would not mind getting to see her more and who knows, her role and influence may change should she remain alive longer. I do respect this artist's approach and I will say that her death did enough to change Shintaru's attitude... only to fight back at that very bully who was responsible for the cause of Yuiya's death... then got into trouble. Ouch!

We learned more about her through the written note, the biggest is that she had a crush on Shintaru, which is pretty cute. Then the whole funeral chapter further shows the effects of both characters, even Meirin wasn't herself and just wants to starve. This causes Shintaru to do what Meirin does to him, which is an interesting turnaround if you get what I mean.
Then comes the funeral to respect the dead and got to her Yuiya's family, and a quick trip to see his father...

... this in turn made a new resolve for himself, to protect and save the innocent with the powers of... you guessed it, MAGICAL GIRL!

This is as far as completed chapters go, keep in mind that the sixth chapter is still in WIP, so I only cover the first five. Those five chapters I find help summarize the whole manga is going for. As far as writing goes, I really do think this is very well written. The story is, in a way, engages you to keep reading to wonder what will happen next. It's not too long as far as pacing goes but never a short moment to keep that structure from losing itself, say potential plot holes. I also find this mange tackles some interesting topics about equality rights, sexism, bullying, and consequences for not taking appropriate actions. This manga also contains LGBTQIA, which is... I dunno if that's correct, a lot! The artist did her best to send these awareness in a meaningful, yet, effective means through words and art.

Speaking of art...... well...

As great as story writing goes, the art department is  okay to good. It doesn't take much skill for any artist to start a comic, but sometimes I find some parts of the pages turned out more weird or freaky, even unintentionally. The whole manga isn't terrible looking, but I do think there's a lot of room to grow from here. I don't mind the black n' white look, but again, the manga could use improvement in several areas such as anatomy, perspective, head and facial structure. I can see improvements keep that in mind, at least I think you're heading towards the right direction.

I will give points for some cute scenes, cause how could I not? ^w^

So there, that's all I could cover, and my thoughts on your webcomic *AHEM!!* manga is a very good in writing, and with more practice in the art department, your story will flourish astronomically! I genuinely enjoyed your comic all the way to the current page and I hope to read more from you in the future! I wish you the best of luck and keep er going!