Title: Miyuki-Chan In Wonderland
Volume(s): 1
Creator(s): CLAMP
Format: Unflipped; Right-to-Left
Publisher: Tokyopop
MSRP: $9.95
Genre(s): Fantasy
Rated: Older Teen (16+)
Before going into this review I would like to talk about a movie I saw recently called “Gerry.” “Gerry” is a movie that is about two guys who go for a walk in the desert, get lost, and spend 90 minutes walking around. Nothing really happens in this movie, yet it has a point to it, and it provokes emotions in you that you don't realize until the movie is over. Then we have CLAMP'S “Miyuki-Chan In Wonderland,” where unlike "Gerry" everything you can think of happens, yet there is no reason for anything TO actually happen. The story revolves around Miyuki, who is probably CLAMP'S cutest character ever, however she might also be CLAMP's most boring character ever created too. In every short story in this book Miyuki is either late for school, watching TV or reading, when a female dressed as an “Alice In Wonderland” character pops up, does weird things to her, and Miyuki wakes up only to discover she has to do the whole thing all over again. And that's it. There are is story development, Miyuki never learns anything, and ultimately FAR too much effort was put into this garbage then this “story” deserved!
There are seven stories in this book. The stories include “Miyuki-Chan In Wonderland,” “Miyuki-Chan In The Looking Glass,” “Miyuki-Chan In TV Land (Hopefully no one will sue over THAT name),” “Miyuki-Chan In Part-Time Job Land,” “Miyuki-Chan In Mah-Jongg Land,” “Miyuki-Chan In Video Game Land,” and finally “Miyuki-Chan In X Land,” which is probably the only story worth reading, and even that story isn't good by any means (And if you haven't read CLAMP's "X/1999" don't even bother trying to figure it out, you just simply won't get it). At the beginning of this book there are seven great looking pictures in full color, and at the end is one of CLAMP'S “self-story” comics, where they draw themselves and explain the history of the series they created (Originally this was only supposed to be a one chapter thing, and boy I would have LOVED it if they had kept it that way). And then finally the artwork for the OVA's are included, and trust me the OVA's are just as bad as this is.
What's also interesting to find out is that these stories were created for the sole purpose so CLAMP could show off their artwork. This confuses me to no end for a variety of reasons. Before they created this they created “X/1999” and “Magic Knight Rayearth,” both of which had excellent artwork and stories. Those comics showcased CLAMP'S great artwork while telling good stories. So can someone tell me what they accomplished by making something without a purpose other then to make this look good? Can you even tell me why they bothered when they were already famous beyond belief? They don't need anymore publicity, and their stories sell, so this creation seems pointless to the fact you'll feel like you were ripped off. Did I mention the size of this book yet? This book is less then 150 pages and costs $9.95. The average graphic novel is 200 pages and costs $9.95 ($7.95 if your buying a “Shone Jump” graphic novel), plus a quarter of the pages in this book are “making of” sections, which makes it feel like your paying for about 120 pages instead.
So essentially your paying full price for half a product, and the half you've just bought isn't particularly interesting or good. In other words, you've bought a useless product. I know people have defended this title by saying things like “This wasn't meant to be a classic” among other things, but that doesn't defend the fact that “Miyuki-Chan In Wonderland” is just plain BORING! It ends far to quickly, there is no purpose, it looks good but you can't figure out what the heck your supposed to be reading sometimes, the story doesn't even exist, and this is basically one big pretty waste of time! The only thing that is really good about this is the artwork, otherwise though I can't recommend this at all. Go read “Chobits” or dig up “X/1999" and skip this title. I know it's CLAMP, and I know it's pretty, but it's also a waste of money. If a comic book is too busy trying to look pretty to bother with a story then it's not worth your time.
- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -