Review: Lonely Castle in the Mirror, Vol.1
I received this book from the publisher / edelweiss in exchange of a honest review.
In this gorgeous manga we meet a girl named Kokoro, she has stopped going to school (and we learn more and more on the why as the volume continues), then one day her mirror glows and she can enter a new world, a castle filled with secrets. But she is not the only one, there are many other kids who also got the chance. In this castle you can find a room locked, if you find the key to it you can have your one wish desire be fulfilled, there is a deadline but it is months away. Sounds awesome right? Well, everyone wants it of course! But instead of immediately hunting or going into it extensively, they also see the use of a castle. A place to hide. A place to just be themselves. A place to have fun. I would have definitely done the same. I am sure in a castle that size there must be a library stocked to the brim with books, I need to read read read!
We do learn there are rules. The castle is open certain hours. There are hungry wolves outside. And those wolves will also devour you if you stay inside… but break the rules. Red riding hood, anyone? Oh, and btw, if you are there breaking the rules, everyone who was in the castle during the correct hours will also be punished. Yep. Fun right?
But while we get plenty of hints that something is terribly wrong in this castle and that we should be more careful I did miss a bit more tension, I think for me I would have liked if at least something dark happened. A betrayal. The wolves. A child disappearing/getting lost. More tension between the characters. Now it felt pretty tame, sometimes even boring, and I just kept waiting for poop to hit the fan. I hope that in the next volume something scary/terrifying will happen and the kids will get that this is not just a fun playground.
Next to the castle we also dive into the whys of Kokoro. What happened at the school. How did the bullying start and how did everything escalate to the point that Kokoro is afraid of going outside. Things were already pretty WTF at the start with the ringleader girl making up names and saying bad things about Kokoro + isolating her from the class, but as the story continues we see how far this girl is really going and HOLY SHIT. I can imagine that Kokoro would collapse, it amazes me that she choose to hole up in her room instead of just ending it all. I can also imagine her not telling her mom, though we do see that she wishes with all her might that she could have told her mom. But she just couldn’t. Was worried for the consequences, didn’t want to worry her mom too much.
Ureshino was the most horrible character of the group in the castle. He just went from one girl to the other and he was very creepy. If he doesn’t change his ways I can see him go to jail for how far he wants to go to get the girl. shivers
The art was just absolutely stunning though, WOW, I loved it so much. It was so pretty.
All in all, despite the lack of tension I did like this first volume and I am definitely going to be reading on because I need to know who will survive, who will get their wish, and if all of them will stay friends… or not. Recommended!