The Bottom Line
Take one gloomy, painfully shy teen, add an outspoken animated stuffed doll and mix well with a dash of cuteness, fantasy, comedy and teen drama, and you have Minima! – a shojo manga twist on Toy Story. While it's a quirky mix, Minima! has enough emotional complexity to keep it interesting and enough laughs to keep it from getting too heavy.
While the artwork is not remarkable, it does manage to tell this modern fable clearly and simply. There's some scary spots and a slightly violent cliffhanger that make it better suited for teens than kids, but overall, Minima! is a cute, fun, and likeable story.
Pros
- Shy heroine Ame has real, relatable problems that many teens can understand
- Spunky Nicori is a funny and interesting character who challenges Ame
- A likeable mix of comedy, fantasy and high school drama
- Simple, cute and clean artwork that tells the story effectively
- Story takes a slightly scary turn at the end – a real cliffhanger!
Cons
- Nicori looks oddly flat and Ame generally looks shellshocked in almost every scene
- Other than Ame, Nicori,and Midori, not a whole lot of character development here
- Slightly scary, dark turn at the end makes it better suited for readers age 13 and up
Description
- Original Title: Minima! (Japan)
- Author & Artist: Machiko Sakurai
- Publishers:
Del Rey Manga (US)
Kodansha (Japan) - ISBN: 978-0345501820
- Cover price: $10.95 US / $12.50 CANADA
- Age Rating:
T – Teens Age 13+
for teenage crushes, mild violence
More about content ratings. - Manga Genres:
- Shojo (Girls') Manga
- Comedy
- Teen / High School Romance
- Fantasy
- US Publication Date: February 2008
Japan Publication Date: 2006 - Book Description: 192 pages, black and white illustrations
Guide Review - Minima! Volume 1
Ame is a painfully shy, borderline clinically depressed young teen. Her so-called girlfriends are cruel, and she finds it hard to speak up for herself. But a trip to an amusement park changes her life in a wildly wonderful way. She picks up a stuffed doll that comes to life and starts walking, talking and acting out in ways that Ame would never dream of doing.
Naturally, the appearance of a talking doll incites media hysteria and Nicori the doll takes the opportunity to speak up about how poorly humans treat their playthings. This "heartbroken toys" theme should be bittersweetly familiar to fans of Toy Story and The Velveteen Rabbit. Even Sakurai-sensei acknowledges that the Pixar tale was one of the inspirations for Minima! The difference here is that Nicori has broken the toys' unspoken law of silence and he's saying what's on his mind, whether Ame likes it or not.
What saves this story from being an inconsequential bit of fluff is how Sakurai mixes together humor, fantasy, and real, relatable teen drama. You never wonder why Ame doesn't stand up for herself or find the courage to confess her feelings to her crush. It's clear that it'll take more than a few convenient plot twists to turn her outlook on life around. With the help of spunky, outspoken Nicori and her real friends, Ame is challenged to stop being just a passive observer, and become an active participant in her life instead.
The artwork, while not remarkable, is simple and manages to tell the story clearly. Nicori looks flat, and Ame generally looks shell-shocked most of the time, but the contrast works well to symbolize Nicori's simple, yet honorable intentions and Ame's complex emotional hang-ups.
Minima! falls short from being as clever as Toy Story but I have to give it points for being a fun, likeable read that teen readers will enjoy.
