I shall be turning my attention towards a manga from illustrator Hanokage, a name that those familiar with the Puella Magi Madoka Magica manga adaptation might just be familiar with.
However, the manga I shall be looking at is an entirely original work, called Cosmo Familia. Hanokage knows their way around magical girl art, which was why this caught my interest in the first place.
This first volume contains chapters one through to seven, and the English release is licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment.
Front cover of the first volume of Cosmo Familia, featuring Alice Amakawa
Alien invasions have never been this cute!
It’s been six years since Amakawa Alice’s family disappeared, and the cute but destructive creatures called Cosmofs invaded her world. Alice has been holding down the fort, fighting wild Cosmofs and protecting the few humans who have survived, in the hopes that her family will someday return. She refuses to give up on them… even when everyone believes her mother, Raika, caused the Cosmof invasion.
The heroine of this story is Alice Amakawa, who spent six years just waiting for her mother and Amakawa family servant to return. Of course, as it happens, the wheels of fate begin to turn on her sixteenth birthday. When else?
Though saying that, perhaps the wheels had actually been turning for quite a while before that: things get quite interesting after a tumble down a well.
Even before that point, Alice has had it rough. She isolated herself from society, and yet society kept barging into her house to blame her for the invasion of the Cosmofs. That was something she had to endure ever since the age of ten.
On top of that, she fights the Cosmofs, which have committed huge amounts of property damage.
The Amakawa family are blamed for the Cosmofs, and there is definitely a connection there. This volume begins to explore that connection, though it doesn’t give too much away. Withholding some secrets keeps things compelling.
Of course Alice isn’t the only character introduced in this volume. She meets another girl around the same age as her, who is sympathetic towards her plight. There is also the intergalactic police force who oppose the Cosmofs. You’d think they’d share common ground with Alice, but that’s where the connection between the Amakawa family and the Cosmofs comes up again.
As for the Cosmofs themselves, they are cutesy aliens from outer space. Or at least, that is the story volume one of Cosmo Familia is painting for the time being. Their crimes might go a little beyond property destruction, though.
Mysterious beings to be sure. I’m sure that more of their secrets will be revealed as the story continues.
Any magical girl series worth its salt tends to throw in some yuri, whether it be subtext or just out there. In Cosmo Familia‘s case, we’re getting light subtext for the time being. Alice notes that a certain member of the intergalactic police force always looks good, and I’m convinced that there is something between Raika and Imori.
Cosmo Familia has a strong start, and this is one magical girl tale that I am eager to follow along with. If you liked the art from various Puella Magi Madoka Magica manga adaptations and spinoffs, then Hanokage’s Cosmo Familia is definitely worth taking a look at. It is interesting to see what they can come up with when they are free to come up with their own world.
Rory Muses 