魔法少女ダンデライオン 3

魔法少女ダンデライオン [Mahou Shoujo Dandelion] #3

by Kaeru Mizuho, 水帆かえる

魔法少女と人外のバディに大きな試練が!?

怪人殺しの怪人シェイドと共に戦う、常識破りの魔法少女、魔法少女ダンデライオン。
光と影のバディは、人々の悲劇をコレクションしている双子・【劇場の怪人】との戦いに挑むことに。

双子の怪人から旧知の仲の俳優・瑠璃彦を守るため、仲間となった魔法少女ピオニーも、2人と共に剣を振るう。

しかし、戦いの裏には、シェイドと深い因縁を持ち、人間を怪人化させる≪核≫を操る氷の怪人・アイシーの思惑があり……!?


少女まんがとしては異例の速さで、英語版・紙単行本の刊行も決定!
世界が熱狂するネオ・ダーク・ファンタジーは、ますます絶好調。

絶望と新たな希望が交錯する、美しくも不穏な第3巻!

【編集担当からのおすすめ情報】
全話クライマックス!
ダンデライオンとシェイドの絆が試される【劇場の怪人】編は、息もつかせぬ展開に加え、魅力的なキャラクターが新たに多数登場します。

楽しそうに大暴れする怪人たちと、泥臭くも懸命に抗う魔法少女たち。
そして、なんと言っても、本誌掲載時に大反響だった「ある見開き」を絶対にご覧いただきたい第3巻です。

あまりに熱い戦いを、ぜひ美麗な絵と圧巻の筆致でご堪能ください!

Genres: Manga, Fantasy

160 pages, Paperback

Published November 26, 2025

Reviews

[Laura A. Grace]

“Even if it’s hopeless, I’ll still fight! Otherwise, nothing will ever change!”

I can’t get enough of this series! Rereading it in physical form has me cheering, wanting to read faster, and wishing I could hug these characters!

I honestly forgot how cool Prima and Stella are, despite that I’m so upset with what they did to Shade! THAT was heartbreaking, and I admired how our magical girl refused to stop fighting even for a second!

Ice is still a character I SUPER dislike! He’s so selfish, and I hate how Shade’s smile was nothing like the past! Even before that, it’s horrifying to see Shade so on edge because he is always his cocky self, but this volume definitely (briefly) showed him differently.

The final two pages have me SO desperate for the next volume!! What a way to end, and I can’t wait to see more action unfold because it continues to be fantastic!

Now for volume four to hurry up and release!!

[Mark]

When I say that Magical Girl Dandelion has an image problem, I’m obviously not suggesting that a PR firm needs to step in and do crisis management because our hero looked at a boy.

No, it goes a bit deeper than that and I will make my usual upfronts (as I know I am bad at doing the downside first) and say that this is a pretty strong volume in terms of having an engaging and focused story arc.

I’m also down for the big bad, Ice, who Shade naturally has history with. Ice seems to be a little invested in rekindling that relationship in a way that probably has doujinshi writers sharpening their pencils. His emaciated design is pretty slick too.

Once we get to design, however, we reach the crux of the matter. This series really goes for style over substance. The mangaka can draw the ever loving heck out of a character and make it all look cool, but putting that into action is a whole other thing.

And there’s history here; Sailor Moon isn’t exactly Attack on Titan itself. A lot of this feels like static shots from a show that does not yet exist, however. It’s one of those cases where I suspect an anime adaptation could outdo the source material.

The great bulk of the volume is given over to Dandelion and Peony defending Rurihiko, an up and coming young actor who definitely isn’t sweet on Peony. Any more than she is on him, of course. I really liked Rurihiko’s arc in particular, jammed into the chaos of combat and dire straits and such. I was quite pleased how they raised the stakes for Dandelion too.

I know a lot of manga gets written kind of ‘seat of pants’ and that does feel close to the creative process here, however. The cinema fiends that the girls throw down with have a sort-of defined power, but there are a lot of inconsistencies that could use a bit more explanation.

Again, I think it’s down to the desire to look awesome on the page rather than be especially consistent. It’s not like this is the first manga to go there, but I wish it had a little more action with its action. Sure the people with film strips drooling from their mouths are cool, but the way it’s deployed is so dang vague at times (immediately at certain points, when it would be most dramatic at others).

And I’d be lying if I said the big moment at the end, which I expected was coming but was no less happy to see happen, didn’t shoot itself clear in its gender equality foot by tossing out one of the dumbest names in existence. Yes, it fits with the series’ conventions, but that doesn’t mean it automatically works. It really took me out of the moment, character appropriate or not.

But it all moves along at such a brisk clip that unless you stop and think about it you wouldn’t even notice. This has definite flaws, but I really got caught up in it all the same. My complaints are because I want it to be great, rather than good. Especially since we don’t have enough heroes using umbrellas these days.

As far as magical girl books go, we’re kind of in a lull right now, and as a genre it can be quite enjoyable. In that respect, this is, indeed, enjoyable, but it stands out to me because of a general paucity of choice versus its particular merits.

3.5 stars - reads real good, but this is way more interested in posing its individual shots and character poses than transitioning between them and I think that hurts it a bit.

[Maddie]

Once I finished this volume I opened up GoodReads, and couldn’t decide if I wanted to give it 4 or 5 stars for the longest time. I was wavering because the volume left me so stressed with all the happenings—we have major events happening to both Shade and Rurihiko, the actor we met in the previous volume. We also learn a huge piece of lore behind the world of magical girls, and the big bad introduced in the previous volume is revealed to be quite a bit more evil than I could have ever guessed.

There was just so much happening in one volume it left my head spinning. I ended up giving it 5 stars in the end — I think I was just upset that I’m now going to have to wait months for potential answers to all of my questions.

I have been eating up the concept behind this manga since day one. I’ve always loved the magical girl stories that favoured darker plotlines, and having our lead Tanpopo be best friends with a villainous character gives a perfect setup. If you’re also a fan of the more dark and gritty magical girl stories, I have a feeling you will especially enjoy this volume.

With this volume however, I have begun noticing that Tanpopo really hasn’t been able to save the day all by herself just yet. As I love how she and Shade work together as a team it hasn’t bothered me all that much. Plus, she shouldn’t have to be forced to do everything all by herself — that’s exactly what friends and teammates are there for!

That being said, this brings me to a small complaint: with how things went in this volume, I get the sense that there will be another boy coming to rescue Tanpopo and…I really am not sure how I feel about it. When it was Shade always coming to help her, it just felt right. Now that there’s a new boy potentially in the picture, I found myself thinking why won’t the mangaka let the girls win the fight by themselves? Peony is depicted to be an incredibly clever magical girl with amazing fighting skills. Why is she so quickly discarded time and time again? I was hoping the two girls would finally be able to make a least a bit of headway now that they were truly on their own for the first time, but I am doubting that will happen.

To be fair, the fight was started in a completely evil way. Tanpopo was caught off guard, Shade was caught completely off guard, and Peony couldn’t have ever guessed what was about to happen. I can’t be too upset about the girls being taken out of commission so easily. I was just hoping to finally see Tanpopo take over Shades role as protector for a change, even if for just a brief moment.

[Cassandra]

6/6 stars

I don't think the world building is complete yet (I still have questions from the first volume) but I am so engaged. Shade is my favorite character still, they have so much depth and I want to know more about how they got to this point. There is a twist at the end that is so exciting to me, I want the next volume ASAP.

In this volume we finish up part 1 of Ice and are introduced to new villains that have an interesting power. It gets a bit more violent and bloody than I expected but I really want to know where this series is going. The author has improved the story telling and pacing so much in just 3 volumes.

[Aaron Meyer]

Talk about a wild ride. I am enjoying seeing Tanpopo develop in her abilities and resolve here. The Ice fiend is quite the character and I think with his history with Shade, is going to be an epic villain. I do like the two other fiends abilities with the cinema. Rather specific powers considering their target but it is making for an interesting story. The thing that threw me though was the magical boy transformation at the end. I was like huh?!? No please not like this lol. The fashion show at the end though was probably my favorite part. Shade could be quite the stud muffin lol.

[Susanna]

This series keeps getting better. In vol. 3, Dandelion and Peony have to protect an emerging movie star who happens to be Peony’s childhood friend. He’s come across ice fiend Ice and Peony fears Ice will attack him again. Ice has a past connection with Shade. He wants to reconnect and will do anything for it, even attack Dandelion. The ending has a good twist. I can’t wait to read more.

I received a free copy from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

[Jackie]

I’m so freaking upset and pissed but also, I need volume 4 now. I was too greedy and devoured this. And I need to know what the heck happens next. Cause what a ride I went on in the last couple pages.

[Cee]

You don't usually see this much blood with classic magical girl manga. I like that the hits are given the weight they should. These girls are so strong -- physically and mentally-- I can't wait to see how they overcome the challenges.

[Raaven💖]

This series gets better and this one hit so hard! I love Tampopo and Shade. Interested to see what happened with Shade and Ice and hopefully Shade snaps out of the spell he’s under. Also the magical boy reveal is sick even if his name is funny.

[Aubrey]

I can’t get enough of this series 😭😭 when volume 4 at library

[Kelli]

a magical boy?!?!

[mykittyquest17]

5 stars

Some of the best art I’ve ever had the pleasure of interacting with