Pixie Pop

Written and Drawn by: Ema Toyama
English publisher: Tokyopop

The back of the volume one reads:
"Mayu, the daughter of a cafe owner, is down-in-the-dumps and unlucky in love...until she meets Pucho, the magical fairy of beverages. Now, whenever Mayu drinks something, she transforms! But there's a catch--milk makes her grow, water makes her invisible, and pork soup turns her into a cute little piglet. But what will help her win the man of her dreams?"

Mayu Kousaka


Mayu is twelve years-old and just starting middle school. She has a mother and a younger brother, and her family owns and runs a café called Clover. Her father, though mentioned, never appears. After drinking the magical seven-color drink, Mayu gains the special ability to transform. She has a long-lasting elementary school crush on Shinya Amamiya, and is unsure if he feels the same way. She is the only one who can see Pucho because of the 7-colored drink. Mayu especially enjoys soda pop, though she is known to like anything with flavor.

Plot:
When Mayu goes to her first day of middle school, she finds that she must sit next to her former elementary school crush, Shinya Amamiya. The memory of when he turned her down on the day of elementary school graduation still plagues Mayu's mind, and she cannot bring herself to speak to him.

When she arrives home she spends a long time in the cafe drowning her misery in soda pop. She begins to reminisce about the first time she met Shinya, when he helped her find her mother. A single teardrop falls into her soda, turning it seven different colors. Figuring it was one of her mother's "experiments", she drinks the strange liquid, and finds it to be disgusting. This is when she sees Pucho, who suddenly appears. As it turns out, Pucho is a magical drink spirit, who had gotten the recipe for the seven-color drink (which is supposed to transform drink fairies into adults). Bitter that Mayu drank it instead of her, Pucho proceeds to terrorize Mayu, who thinks that she's merely dreaming and drinks some cold milk to wake herself up. In all actuality, it turns her into a giant. From that point on, anything Mayu drinks (with the exception of water although it did turn her invisible one time) will cause her to transform. Many times, Mayu has no control over what she does or says during her transformations, and the only way to undo them is with the magic words spoken by Pucho: "Puppuku Pucho!".

The rest of the series centers around Mayu and Pucho's adventures to uncover the colors of the seven-color drink in order to assemble it again, as it is said that the feelings of love create them. Thusly, Pucho vows to make Shinya fall in love with Mayu.

The series is three volumes long and has been rated ages 13+ for romance. Although the story's theme mainly focuses on the romance that ensues between the Mayu and Shinya, Pixie Pop also contains fantasy elements, such as the existence of drink fairies and magical abilities.

Thoughts/Review:

I absolutely adored this series! It's definitely one of my favorite's and I love the storyline! The artwork is very cute and the characters are too. (n_n) The cover art on all three volumes really makes you feel excited about the story. The transformations are hilarious and add a good dose of fun to the "magical girl" mix. Mayu's reactions and Pucho's jokes are SO funny! (n_n) The outfits are very kawaii and I wish I had them for myself! ;p This particular manga is great for first-time readers because it is very easy to relate to and it's length keeps you focused on the story rather than trailing off into a lot of side stories like other longer some other manga. I'd highly recommend it for anyone who loves a good awkward love story.