リーゼロッテと魔女の森 3

リーゼロッテと魔女の森 [Liselotte to Majo no Mori] #3

by Natsuki Takaya

Liselotte, daughter of a feudal lord, has been exiled to the lands east of the east of the east, now living with her servants Anna and Alto, the mysterious Engetsu, and the impertinent familiar Yomi at the edge of the witch's forest. Despite Alto's objections, Lise's new family somehow continues to grow. But her troublesome past has caught up to them and Engetsu is seriously injured. Can Lise save him and also continue to live as optimistically as her heart desires...?

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Romance, Shojo, Young Adult, Teen, Graphic Novels

208 pages, Comic

First published November 20, 2012

About the author

Natsuki Takaya (高屋奈月, real name Naka Hatake) is the penname of a Japanese manga artist best-known for creating the series Fruits Basket. She was born on July 7, 1973; (Tanabata). Takaya is left-handed and once revealed that she wanted to be a mangaka since first grade, when her sister started drawing.

She was born in Shizuoka, Japan, but was raised in Tokyo, where she made her debut in 1992. She enjoys video games such as the Final Fantasy series or Sakura Wars, or working on her different manga series, such as Fruits Basket, which is the second best-selling shōjo manga ever in Japan, and the top selling shōjo manga in North America. Fruits Basket has also been adapted into a twenty-six-episode anime series.

In 2001, Takaya received a Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo manga for Fruits Basket.

According to Takaya (in a sidebar of a Fruits Basket manga volume), she enjoys drawing girls (girly ones) more than she does boys. Takaya also enjoys electronics and music, but dislikes talking about herself. Also revealed in a sidebar of Fruits Basket, Takaya broke her drawing arm (left) after Fruits Basket volume six was published. She had to go into surgery, and as a result, had put Fruits Basket on a brief hiatus. Takaya made a full recovery, but complains that her handwriting had gotten uglier, due to the surgery. During her hospital stay, she gained an interest in baseball.

Reviews

[KelceyTheLibrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the story and the setting and there are some pretty interesting elements, but it's starting to seem more and more like Fruits Basket. Hilde is Ritsu, Myrte is Kisa, Liselotte is definitely Tohru, Engetsu and Alto form Kyo, and Anna is definitely Hana.

I mean I am definitely curious to find more about Liselotte's brother, the witches and what will happen with Engetsu, but I am little more "eh" than I was before.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This manga nearly perfectly rides the line between heartwarming and melodramatic, and I'm liking the wood magic that we see here and there, such as the tree spirit who helps Lise and Engetsu at the beginning of this volume--for a price, of course.

Main character Liselotte is trying to create a life that reconciles her past and an unknown future, and while it's obvious that all of her needs are provided for, there are many dangers in the Witch's Forest. It's inevitable to compare her to Tohru, the lead of Takaya's other, much more famous series Fruits Basket. She has angry outbursts that you'd never see from Tohru, and her inner steel is more self-aware and frantic. I'm curious about how she got to where she is today. Did she actually commit the crime (whatever it might have been) that led to her exile?

We don't find out in this volume! This manga has the minor issue that many ongoing manga series do: a feeling that the story could end with one more chapter, or that it could go on for twenty or thirty more volumes. That said, Takaya's work is comfort reading for me, and despite any grumping about its being a treadmill... well, it's a nice treadmill. The art is so pretty!

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who are all these people, and are you really sure you want them in your house? Are you that lonely?

[Judyth · Rating 3 out of 5]

~3.5/5

I love all of the colored pages in this series. They are just so pretty.

After that last volume, we see Liselotte pleading for the tree to save Engetsu. She makes a deal for him to be saved, only Liselotte doesn't know what she has to lose to get him back. It's a surprise for her, though it does make sense—given the tree spirit's personality. It's interesting to see how it affects them both—how uncaring Engetsu acts at first, and how Liselotte changes her view and becomes determined to start new. Liselotte is rather optimistic, and straightforward in her wishes. She's unbothered by how other people react.

I like seeing how Liselotte affects the people around her, like the step that Alto takes in getting closer to her. There's a glimpse of, I believe, her brother at the end of the volume. I'm intrigued to see what happens next there.

This is a rather good series so far. I'm intrigued by the story, what happened to Liselotte before all this and what's going to happen with Engetsu next.

[Read more at my blog, Geeky Reading!]

[ayanami · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a lot more sadness and angst in this volume as Lise deals with the plot twist from the last volume. Some more characters are also added into Lise's "family", making for a rowdy household. We also learn a lot more about her feelings for Engetsu and she shows a wider range of emotions than previously seen, which is a lot more interesting than just her being cheery all the time. Still, I find Lise's character pretty boring. She is basically a generic "genki" shoujo protagonist, and her sad past seems almost tacked on as an afterthought. There is also the problem of much of the comedy relying on characters having ridiculous, over-the-top reactions to things.. which means most of the characters become more and more silly in personality, which takes away from some of the seriousness in the story (particularly the developments in the last volume). Overall, this is kind of entertaining still, and I'll read on because there's only 2 volumes left, but my initial enthusiasm about this series from the first volume has dampened considerably.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actually explaining what is going on helps the book a lot. The habitual use of word balloons and captions that contain only two words and an inordinate number of ellipses so a single sentence is strung across two or three pages continues to hinder. I guess this fantasy fluff needs to really stretch things out since it really doesn't have much substance to offer.

[Marguerite · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars.

Ahhhhhhh, the story is starting to make more sense now. I'm actually getting more and more invested with this series as I work my way through the volumes (although it stops after volume 5, because the series has been on hiatus for a few years with no signs of starting again... just my luck!)

[Eyla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really cute!! Man, this volume really caught my attention. The character interactions and the relationships they have with each other are really cute. Liselotte and Engetsu are adorable, especially in this volume. I must admit, it really took this volume for me to actually get into shipping it, but I got there. As usual, looking forward to reading the next volume!

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I keep reading even though the plot is super slow and kind of boring. I completely agree with another review, this series is suspiciously similar to Furuba... But the art's so pretty, so I've been suckered into continuing the series, sigh.

For the art alone this volume gets a 4 from me.

[Pink · Rating 3 out of 5]

while the story is very intriguing, i'm starting to realize how similar a lot of the characters are to characters in fruits basket. not that it's the worst thing ever, just that i keep confusing liz for tohru, etc.

[Veronica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is fun but not super memorable. Nice art, very stylized. I'm not invested in all the characters but I do enjoy Liselotte and Engetsu, and I'll keep reading to find out what happens to them.

[Usagi Tsukino · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is for the Italian edition.

(I'm not crying you're crying). #feels

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Artwork is stellar. Enjoying the storyline, but sad to know that after 5 volumes it went on hiatus with no continuation in sight.

[Isel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like En more now. He makes me laugh.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is wild

[Kiara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gasped. Out loud. 😭

[Ya Boi Be Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love what this volume has done for the direction of the series. We get Engetsu and Liselotte's backstory revealed and its genuinely interesting and intriguing as the exact details of the royalty drama and hints of Liselotte's "prone to misdeeds" are left for further speculation. We also get Engetsu back but he has lost his memory! I enjoy this as I find Liselotte's mixed emotions of having to essentially restart a relationship with someone she spends so much time with is a more interesting story than the essentially resolved romance of Liselotte and Engetsu prior to it. Both characters go through a range of emotions as Liselotte handles loving Engetstu but dealing with his loss of memory of her (and now having Engetsu at square one of their relationship, emotions, and personality) and Engetsu deals with learning the parts of his past he forgot and piecing it with that which he does remember.
We also get character development most notably for Alto and Anna as we see there devotion and appreciation of Liselotte. I'm really glad Alto and Anna are being used as heavily as they are. I sorta feared they would be throwaway maid servant characters. But its clear Takaya carefully chooses who is in the main cast and ensures they each add something to the story. Especially as the family household grows as the witch decides to stay.

[AltLovesBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

We get a bit of Engetsu backstory in this volume, bringing the entire melodrama level up another ten notches or so. Liselotte has to deal with Engetsu's change in personality and not get caught up in it herself, and the house gains a few new unexpected residents (how large of a house is this, anyway?).

I'm starting to get a little bored with the constant melodrama with not a lot of payoff. We're still left wondering whether or not Liselotte was exiled for real reasons, and what the connection is, exactly, between Liselotte, Engetsu, and her brother. It seems like every volume sort of hints at the same series of events, but then pulls away right when things might become more clear. Rather than encouraging me to continue, I almost feel a little annoyed by it.

I'm also not in love with Liselotte as a character. She's very....bland as a stand alone character. All her personality comes from the people she interacts with. Like the tofu of personalities, I guess.

I don't know, maybe I'll grab the next volume eventually, but certainly it's fallen a bit on the priority list for me.

[Pinky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enrich has been turned into a doll and is now called Engetsu. In order to save Engetsu, Liselotte is willing to give her hair, voice, and eye. But the Eiche take something worse than that she takes Engetsu's memory of her. Eiche erased all of Engetsu's memories of being Enrich, so he longer remembers Liselotte and everyone else at the house. Engetsu only remembers one person Wilhel, the assassin sent to kill Liselotte.

[Martina · Rating 5 out of 5]

WHAT THE HECK! I LOVE THIS! This was so good! I was surprised because the first two volumes were okay for me but this volume got the story rolling and was so good! The author always does a great job making characters you’ll love and writing and drawing emotional scenes! I’m so sad that the series stops after volume five because I’m so invested 😭😭

[Raechel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liselotte and her friends are struggling with new information about a certain person. There's still so much that is unknown about her back story and how she ended up in her current situation. The story plot is picking up and I feel like there's going to be a big reveal soon.

[Jenika Ioffreda · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[May · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
The story is now more interesting than the beginning.

[Liselotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I'm already interested in you."

EXCUSE ME I'm yelling

[-moonprismpower- · Rating 3 out of 5]

I see potential…
I do like the idea of creating your own little family.. Blood doesn’t always make a family.

[C.R. Hogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

the romance isn’t romancing for me and i’m sad

[alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite volume. It got very convoluted. Not sure I’m going to continue reading, plus I just learned this series is on an indefinite hiatus. :/ Sorry Takaya-sensei.

[Jacqueline Frasca · Rating 5 out of 5]

TAKAYA IS HERE TO HURT MY FEELINGS WORSE THAN SHE EVER DID IN FRUITS BASKET

I DIDNT THINK IT WAS POSSIBLE

WHAT A FOOL I AM

[Marianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed it 😊 I am sad to say that there are some some scenes that are too much for me. But this is Natsuki Takaya we are talking about and knowing her storytelling and art, I have to admit this book is getting somewhere (getting to the heart and meat despite the series being incomplete). I like the twist in this volume and can't wait to read more!

I am so sad that this series is put on hold or hiatus 😩. I love seeing Takaya-sensei's artwork of cute little girls and I love the coloured artwork in this volume! They are too adorable😁! It also makes me want to stick to the shojo genre of animé. I like reading shojo manga where cupcakes, tea sets, and frilly dresses are worn by cute girls 😊

Also, reading Liselotte reminds me of my childhood --- I grew up on shows like Midori Days, K-On, Nodame Cantabile, and Cardcaptor Sakura 😊. And perhaps, that is something I am looking for in Liselotte & the Witch's Forest. Such good memories!

[Ambre ✩ · Rating 5 out of 5]

J'ai eu les larmes est-ce que c'est bon pour vous ?????