Pixie Pop: Gokkun Pucho, Vol. 2

Pixie Pop: Gokkun Pucho #2

by Ema Tōyama, Aska Yoshizu (Translator), Hope Donovan (English Adaptation)

Meet the perfect new girl in school, Konoha. She's gorgeous, kind, and good at everything--including trying to steal Amamiya-kun away from Mayu! That is, unless Mayu has something to say about it! But will any drink be enough to give her the advantage in this tug-of-war of love?

Genres: Manga, Shojo, Romance, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Manga Romance

208 pages, Paperback

First published March 4, 2005

About the author

Japanese Name: 遠山 えま

She made her debut in September 2003 in the monthly manga magazine Nakayoshi with her story, Tenshi no Tamago ("Angel's Egg", no relation to the anime movie of the same name). Gokkun! Pūcho is considered her best representative work. Tokyopop has licenced it under the title Pixie Pop. All of her works are published by Kodansha, and they are enjoyed mainly by preteen and teen girls. None of her series have yet become anime.

Reviews

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite in the series especially due to the introduction of the rival love interest.

[Bibliothecat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for complete series



Mayu finally finds the courage to tell her long-term crush Amamiya that she likes him - unfortunately, it seems he doesn't even know who she is! Trying to tell herself to get over him, Mayu heads off for a drink at her parents' café where the drink fairy Pucho appears. It seems Mayu drank a fairy potion by accident which now transforms her depending on what she drinks.

If you are looking for a deep and meaningful manga - this is not it. But that doesn't mean it isn't a good one! It is unapologetically soaked in cuteness and uses it to its advantage. I found that many cutesy manga take themselves too seriously which is often awkward in the face of all the sugar. One look at Pixie Pop will tell you it's a cutesy manga: it screams pink, has hearts and glitter and extremely pronounced eyes. But if you're willing to go along with the ride, it is simply fun. It pokes fun at its over the top cuteness, it is silly but most importantly it intends to be silly.

There are lots of clichés but I feel as though Touyama knew what she was doing. They're not there because she couldn't think of anything better, they are there because they're such commonplace in this genre and Pixie Pop both embraces and makes fun of it. If you've read a couple of manga by Touyama, you'll know that she dabbles in all sorts of genres and they definitely don't all suit the same reader. If you have enjoyed other works of hers, it doesn't mean you'll like this one, nor should you read it with the expectation that it has a similar feel to her other works - it won't, unless you're picking up Mamacolle.

I think Pixie Pop receives a lot of undeserved criticism from people who are either not the target audience or simply had different expectations based on the author's other works. The protagonists are very young and this is definitely for the younger manga readers. Where others have found this perhaps shallow and lacking, I thought it was absolutely hilarious. Mayu is a fun protagonist whose reactions to all the silly situations she gets herself into are just to laugh for. It's pretty unrealistic such as Mayu staying away all night without so much as a word to or from her parents, Amamiya's past crush simply dragging him off to the USA and so on. But let me repeat, this manga is not trying to be serious or realistic.

Although I said that this is not the right manga if you are looking for depth, at times, I was surprised by some of the more thoughtful moments. Amamiya is pretty down to earth with how he explains he doesn't want to go out with someone he doesn't even know - shoujo female characters can be quite obsessive and it's one of the things that

Pixie Pop likes to poke fun at. I also like that when it comes down to it, Mayu seems to give her friendship with Pucho at least the same value as her feelings for Amamiya.

One of my personal main downsides to this manga is that Amamiya is ultimately a pretty boring male character. He may be down to earth but he's also pretty cold and the story only briefly touches on the reasons why. Beyond that, we don't ever really get to know anything about him. But hey, this is Mayu's story and she's so hilarious and enthusiastic about winning Amamiya's affections that I can root for her regardless of how little we know about him.

The art is cute although I know that quite a few people no longer like this style of shoujo eyes. I'm perfectly happy with it, though I do prefer Touyama's more recent style. It's not everyone's manga and I do think it'll be harder to read the older one is. But I stand by what I said: this manga receives a lot of undeserved backlash for something that is so good at deliberately being over the top.

[Rereader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great second volume! While Mayu's obsession towards Amamiya is still kinda annoying, I have to say I like how Pucho recognizes the determination behind Mayu's feelings. I also really liked how the idea of rushing into things can do more harm than good and Mayu realizing this by seeing how her actions affect others. But my favorite thing about this volume is the difference between Konoha's love for Amamiya vs. Mayu's. While both of their feelings are rooted in the past, Mayu loves Amamiya for who he is, not just who he was. Contrastly, Konoha's feelings are centered around a promise she and Amamiya made in the past and seems only interested in dating him to fulfill that promise, not because she loves him.

The next volume's the last and I'm super curious to see where this goes! Let's wrap this up!

[Audrey (Warped Shelves) · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I had the energy to waste complaining about this story, I would spent hours doing just that. I know there’s only one book left, but I won’t be finishing this series. I just can’t. No more.

I hate Pucho, Mayu is annoying, and Amamiya is a dick. I don’t want to read any more about any of them. Bye.

[Bjärkê · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such and adorable yet purely romantic (in a shoujo kinda way) manga. It's your typical girl meets school boy Japanese style manga, which makes the girl lust over a guy that pays no attention to her. But she soon confides in a pixie that helps her collect all the (emotions I think) by using pop (or juice or liquid drinks) to give her a temporary boost. All those potions are flawed but its really hilarious. My favourite part would have to be the "floating hand" which came from the disappearing potion. All in all if you like cute whimsical manga's then you'll love this. It's very comical, sweet and touching especially the ending.

[Rebekah]

This book is the second in the series for this first time author. The story of Mayu's infatuation with her classmate since grade school continues. Ever since Mayu accidentally drank the seven-color drink in her family's cafe, she transforms into other beings when taking in other beverages. The drink fairy, Pucho, can undo Mayu's transformations. The book is intended for middle school audiences with it's friendships and love crushes. Each character has dreams and aspirations that they want to reach.

[Soobie has fog in her brain · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had the feeling that this volume was way more disjointed than the first one. I could get the overall story but, I don't know, it was as if the story told in the panels didn't flow in the right way. There were tons of bumps in the reading.

It's kind of sad because the story, albeit way simple, it nice and fluffy.

OK, one more volume and then I'm done with it as well.

[Maud · Rating 3 out of 5]

Check out my short series review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfo_m...

Love the art style and all the different transformations whenever Mayu drinks something. Wasn't crazy about the love interest though, he was a bit too cold for me. But other than that it is a fun, cute and short manga series that I definitely recommend!

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3 or more is good for comics, manga or graphic novels. I never really know how to rate some of these. There are some where I'm totally in love, know automatically it is a 5 star, but then some I am just not sure about in the first couple volumes.*

Cute.

[Helena · Rating 5 out of 5]

in lala land :D

[Antoinette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This makes me thirsty! I like the descriptions of drinks, and can't wait to finish the series. I wish that cider was included.

[Sara]

luv it

[Beep]

blah its cute blah

[The Third Place A Teen Library]

F TOY pp v.2

[Mara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read/rated in grade school.

[Lorrainne Moralejo]

I wanna read it

[Oreo22 Cream · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was cute and quirky! I loved Pucho!

[Samantha Ewasiuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very childish sweet cute lovely pretty nice simple easy going manga great for kids/teens/preteens really. I did enjoy the art/story/characters. I found it to be really short and fast sadly. I wish it was longer and had more to the story/characters really. I did like her. I did not find it to be really a magic/transforming magic girl manga at all really.

She did not really do much with her transformig at all but really stalk her crush. I found her too be really too childish for love/married/relationship. It did not seem like it should have been a romantic manga at all or have romantic between the characters at all.

Her friend did not seem helpful at all for helping her gain her crush at all. I felt they rush into the marriage part at the ending too fast/soon it did not make sence at all. It did not fit with the story at all.