Vidia and the Fairy Crown

By Haruhi Kato
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: When did Disney add a whole colony of magical fairies to NeverLand?

Vidia is one of the fairies of Neverland, living in Pixie Hollow with the more famous TinkerBell. Unlike most of the other fairies she has seen way too many goth movies and is a bit dark and sarcastic. However, despite her joking on the matter, she insists she would have never stolen the fairy queen's crown the night before a party. Very few fairies believe her, since Vidia wears way too much black, but Prilla, one of the younger fairies believes in Vidia's inherent, well, not goodness but lack of cruelty and together Vidia and Prilla follow the chain of evidence that leads to the missing crown. Despite the temptations, Vidia does the right thing and returns the crown to the queen even as she disses going to the party to celebrate her successful return of the crown.

Silly Disney all ages manga, can't be as cruel to it as I want to, it's like kicking a kitten. And not one of those evil Llolcat kittens. The plot is very linear, which is my main problem with it. We go from scene A to scene B to scene C and there is very little real interpersonal conflict. Sure, no one really likes Vidia , but no one really interferes with her task or even tries to delay her. So yeah, that is about as realistic as most other children's fiction, but once you accept that, it's not that bad. There is only one place that the chain of logic really didn't follow, and Vidia does have a believable moment of weakness, the desire to pay back everyone that had accused her of something she didn't do. Trust me, every kid knows that feeling and the desire to get even. But anyone over the age of ten is just going to find overly linear and not very interesting, while younger readers may find it more engaging.




Vidia and the Fairy Crown is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand