Goodbye, Battle Princess Peony

by Mira Ong Chua

An ETERNAL RIVALRY blossoms into FORBIDDEN LOVE!

Battle Princess Peony's royal destiny is simple: defend her planet from the evil Divine Lady Silkrose. But everything changes when she's accidentally warped into Silkrose's private academy for villains-in-training, where graduation is the only way out!

Peony throws her heroic heart aside and starts becoming the villain of her nightmares in her bid to return home, but the dark side is full of secrets that could change her world forever. Will Peony escape Silkrose's clutches? Or will she succumb to Silkrose's dark charms for good?

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comics, Romance, Queer, Lesbian, LGBT

First published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[gloria .☆ﾟ.]

this was soooo cute 🥹 a bit fast paced but so fun and i loved the art!

[Jia]

Mira just gets it. I laughed and I cried while reading this book, and I'm going to read it at least 100 more times. Just like ROADQUEEN, Goodbye Battle Princess Peony gave me butterflies and made my heart swell. I adore the shoujo aesthetics with a sapphic twist — the use of simple storytelling to express powerful themes about love and loss. I could not stop reading once I'd started. Just a beautiful story! So glad that it exists!

[Oriana]

Oh this is very sweet, very fun, and very, very, very queer. I do really love my job so much because it's precisely on Kickstarter that someone like Mira can find an audience willing to shell out tens of thousands of dollars for a sapphic high fantasy story involving dark-moon planets, intergalactic charm schools, Battle Princesses and Divine Ladies, and as many fight scenes as high-fashion costume changes. Just a delight.

[Cecille]

It doesn't do a lot outside of what I typically expect from Yuri/Lesbian romance fiction (including the odd exclusion of any non-female characters), but the story it tells and the way it's told is so cute and classy. Not a very substantial read all in all, but a very enjoyable and snappy one filled with great art.

[Loz]

Cute, fun, so so so gay

[Tan✨]

SCREAMS SO LOUD I LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT IM SO GAY SOBBING

[Cameron]

Very cute.

[LaurenAlexandra]

I thought this book was fun! It was exactly what I wanted and it felt like I could have seen it as an anime short. Some fun, some drama, some twists but nothing crazy. Everything was drawn well.

[Rusteen Honardoost]

Not quite as cute/funny as Road Queen but then again what is?

[Christina Gardner]

This was so cute and nostalgic! Feels like it would fit in perfectly with alongside the magical girl/shoujos of my childhood; Utena, Sailormoon, Princess Tutu, Saint Tail, etc!

[L]

Not enough romance! >:(
But still, beautiful art, a touching story. Mira Ong Chua does it again!!

[poet]

Another fantastic gay story by a fantastic creator. Excellent art and a great read. I perhaps prefer the less fantasy setting of Roadqueen but that's a purely personal preference. Can't go wrong with this.

[A.E. Bross]

As someone who has been reading this particular graphic novelist since one of their first releases ("ROADQUEEN: Eternal Roadtrip to Love"), I'm always excited when another project is announced. They have an amazing way of telling a story that's both sweet and filled with gravity, and this tale is no different.

The reader is brought into a realm where Battle Princess and their Loyal Knight must protect their world from the evil Divine Ladies, who come to attack them.

Battle Princess Peony vows she will find her way to the lair of the Divine Ladies and destroy them once and for all. By some twist of fate, SHE DOES, but in order to escape, she must learn from the Divine Ladies and bide her time until she can return to her own world.

As a character, I really enjoyed Peony. She's headstrong and maybe a bit naive in the beginning, but when she becomes dedicated to something or someone, she goes for it 100%. It was lovely to watch her grow and learn and eventually come to understand that everything she perceived had more than one side to it.

Silkrose was also a treat to watch. She is broody, sure of herself, smug, and strong... until she's not. Seeing her as vulnerable and hurting gives the whole perspective of a sometimes conflicted antagonist, rather than the usually flat portrayal of a 2-dimensional villain.

Honestly, this has been Mira Ong Chua's best graphic novel to date, and I look forward to what else the author/artist has planned for their future works!

[Rhys]

Mira Ong Chua's comics bring me such pure joy.

Chua's work often takes the familiar tropes and stories of my childhood spent reading shoujo manga - and makes it sapphic.

There was always so much teasing and alluding to w/w relationships in the manga and anime of my childhood, and there's just something so satisfying and fun about getting to see similar stories that had teased me with subtext but with that love made textual.

I've always been a huge fan of magical girl stories, with their cutesy, frilly aesthetics and constant refrain of hope and love in the face of darkness, and I was a big fan of Goodbye, Battle Princess Peony. It was cute, it was funny, and it was so sweet - though it had some darker moments, which I enjoyed as well. I felt giddy while reading it and I just had such a good time that I couldn't not give it 5 stars.

Thank you to Mira Ong Chua for giving me the queer stories that were absent from my childhood.

[Bentgaidin]

'Goodbye, Battle Princess Peony' is a very cute graphic novel about a magical girl who accidentally follows her nemesis back to their hidden academy for villains, and discovers that she'll have to win the approval of the four dark headmistresses before she can return home to protect her planet again - but the secrets she uncovers, to say nothing of a budding romance, could change her world forever. I loved the light and charming style this story had, and all the teasing/flirting that the villains had with Peony was really amusing. I'd highly recommend this for a quick afternoon read.

[Zoe S]

AAAAAAAA OK Do you want a fun flirty romance dripping in shoujo manga tropes and filled to the brim with fantastic art? This is that GN! The entire time I was reading I was just blushing over how cute it all was. (Full disclosure, I did back the Kickstarter for this book but like, I paid money for it so I am telling you what I honestly think.) Mira Ong Chua is incredible at writing these kinds of books, and I hope to see more from her in the future!

[Meridel Newton]

I loved this book! It is absolutely perfect for adult readers who unironically love magical girls. It's dark and romantic, and it feels subversive without deconstructing the genre. I only wish it were longer - when Peony passed her first class and I understood the pacing, I was already sad that we wouldn't be able to live in this book's world longer.

Reminded me alternately of Miyuki-chan in Wonderland and Pretear.

[Bird]

This was a fun subversion* of the magical girl/villain dynamic!

The digital Kickstarter rewards have only just dropped, and here I am being greedy and wishing there'd be more stories about the characters available, ahaha. Loved the Divine Ladies a lot.

*or well, I guess a textual example of popular subtext, really!

[KriemhildGretchen]

super cute.... all the divine ladies have my heart. wait that might sound weird. theyre actually called the divine ladies. really good naming gimmicks in this one actually!! like all the spells and character names... peony amaryllis aria sounds like the wonderfullest thing anyones ever wondefulled. id go to this academy 100%.

[Amber]

Every single story I read from Mira Ong Chua is absolute perfection. At this point I know I will pick up and read anything this author creates. Goodbye, Battle Princess Peony was so sweet and discussed such wonderful topics. The art is of course beautiful and the relationship is absolutely lovely. Funny and adorable story as always.

[liz]

i love Mira Ong Chua’s graphic novels so much 🥺 they’re always so cute and soft and beautiful. i loved the magical girl theme so much, with all the magic and outfits and power of friendship and love 😌

[Kat]

SO GOOD....SO, SO GAY <3 <3 <3

another winner from mira ong chua. she does sapphic graphic novels so well! I cannot get enough of her art style, and this was such a fun take at the magical girl genre.

[Haley Elise]

This book made my heart so warm and it’s been warm for days!! I love this story so much and the characters are so beautiful. Mira Ong Chua is an amazing artist and storyteller and never fails to disappoint.

[Jena]

Super cute! A must-read for magical girl fans and fans of enemies to lovers romance.

[Nicole]

I need more sapphic magical girl media in my life!

[Dee]

An energetic and sugar sweet romp that is well aware of its genre. Get ready for lots of costume changes!

[Millie]

Wonderfully cute story. A perfect magical girl take, with the lesbian ending they all should have. Very charming and sweet too.

[Emily]

It was fluffy but it was cute.

[Bobb]

I was a big sucker for this book, every trope was something I personally really enjoy. I blasted through this very fast in all the best ways.

[jo ੈ♡˳]

mira is quite literally my favorite graphic novel author. her characters are always stunning and her storylines never fail to tug at your heart :,)