Miracle Girls

Publisher
Tokyopop
Writer
Nami Akimoto
Artist
Nami Akimoto
Country of origin
Japan
Year
1991

Miracle Girls

By David Rasmussen
19th Dec 04

Studio - TOKYOPOP
Age - ?
By Nami Akimoto
TOKYOPOP Staff
Translator - Ray Yoshimoto
Retouch Artist - Wilbert Lacuna and Romualda Viray the II
Editor - Jake Forbes

Before We Begin...
Ah, nostalgia.
This week I'm rolling out two minor treasures you might have overlooked at your last visit to the manga section of your bookstore, or (worse yet) have not had the opportunity to read because it's not available.
Yet I tell you they ARE worth your time to check out, these two minor little treasures hidden in the back of the manga section, and I'll tell you why...

But first I'll tell you why I don't have a rating for these, let alone a GN count!
You see, once upon a time, TOKYOPOP had a brief fling with belting out $3 a pop comics (like Dark Horse, or MARVEL, etc) but eventually gave that up for Graphic Novels only. So, it was during this time that I diligently collected these titles and a few more (Cardcaptor Sakura, Gundam Wing, etc) before TOKYOPOP pulled the plug on their $3 a pop manga franchaise.

That's why I don't have either a Graphic Novel count nor an age rating (there was no age rating on these like there are now on every TOKYOPOP Graphic Novel).
Okay. Nuff said. Let's go.

Shh! Twin sisters Tomomi (Tomo) and Mikage Maatsunaga have a secret, will you promise not to tell?
Identical twins, they share more than just the same looks and bloodline, they also share powers that are like a miracle (hence the name).

But what about the girls? Tomo is the athletic one, her sport of specialty being volleyball. Mikage, meanwhile, is the bookworm whose expertise (and curse) is science... why curse? Well it's her curse because she's a disaster when she's "experimenting", prone to cause the random explosion in class (or at home) at a moment's notice.

Mikage has a boyfriend, who is rather athletic yet is also smart which is a good match for Mikage.
Tomo has... well she WILL have a boyfriend shortly, whether she likes her "choice" or not.
As for their "miracle"?

Power #1 - Teleportation.
When they join their little fingers and concentrate, the two can teleport, either together or separately, but not always flawlessly (if one's focus is not right for instance they may botch a teleport which has happened before).

Power #2 - Telepathy.
They can't read minds, but they can speak (and to an extend) read each other's mind. Whether they are near or far they can communicate with each other, which leads to some awkward moments all it's own.

But how about this thing with Tomo? Apparently when Mikage tricks her into changing places with her to compete in her school's Fall Sports Fair, she runs into -- eh -- I forgot his name.
Eh? How can I forget his name when I have the book in front of me? Well keep in mind this is from the days when TOKYOPOP retooled titles for an American (English) audience and changed EVERYONE's name, so I'm primarily just pulling names from my old memory of the fan subs of the Anime.

He seems to be Mikage's arch-rival, and her "nemesis"... evil incarnate... etc.
But the REAL evil is the school's science teacher, Mr. Kageura, yet another disciple of the School of Mulder (I.e. he believes dammit, he believes)! He seems rather normal, on the outside, but once you get to know the guy you realize he has a serious mad-on with the supernatural, or just the fact he can make a fortune off of the supernatural (or both) and once he finds out about the twin sisters he becomes obsessed with exposing their powers and studying them (probably for profit)!

Then there's their rival, a female student who constantly tries to one-up them, and then later tries to expose their secret powers for her own gain.

As the series progresses you see their relationships grow, or grow distant as Mikage's love interest leaves for the UK and leaves her behind rather shaken up by the departure, wondering where their feelings will go after this separation (the anime does several episodes on this topic alone). They also run into another "miracle" person (in the manga), and new powers become available to them (for brief periods of time mostly) as they grow. And eventually Mikage's love will return -- but has he been changed by his trip, and will their love last that change?

A fine mix of humor, romance, and touching story it is one of those little seen marvels that is worth seeing.
It would probably be too much to ask, but I would love to see TOKYOPOP take this title back to the drawing board and redo the whole thing (reverse it back to original right-to-left reading format, restore the original names and anything else they changed for English reading audiences, etc) and bring it back as it was originally meant to be seen.

Is that asking too much of TOKYOPOP? I don't think so.

Miracle Girls Breakdown
What's Hot? - It's a little reading treasure you probably haven't heard of. A minor gift, and an Essential of your collection even if you don't know it's an essential! If you ever have a chance to check this out for yourself, or (if possible) the Anime series then you should. It's one of those little treats you should check out because it's just too darling to pass up.

What's Not? - I'm not really a fan of the old days of TOKYOPOP, when they meddled in titles and mangled the names (and probably certain situations or events) to fit an English reading audience. You know what? I'm not a complete doof when it comes to pronouncing Japanese names and such, and I think I can grasp Japanese holidays and so forth, so gimme my due here. I don't need you to change thing, I can understand just fine if you give me a chance!

That, if anything, is why I think they MUST roll out a new reprint! They have to go back and change what they did, and set the title right by putting it the way it was originally (and not like this).
I will applaud the day they do this, because it would be a treat for someone like me if they restored this title to it's full original glory. Yes, the changes were cosmetic, but call me a nitpicker -- I want it that way.

Moments to Remember? - Ah, there is tons to remember. A beautiful little title that just enchants and is a wonder to read. But just for the record? All the memories revolve around title girls Mikage/Tomo, and the things they get into.

What to Ignore? - Ah. I wish I could ignore the changes to the names and all, but it's just hard (especially since I can't remember anymore what half the original names were). Darn.

Overall? - While this is most definitely a little gem of a read that people should check out, I would like it just that much more if TOKYOPOP went back to the drawing board and brought it back in it's original format. They went back and reprinted Cardcaptor Sakura (first batch of books) and Magic Knight RayEarth again in right-to-left format, so why can't they do that with Miracle Girls (and fix the whole translation thing so it's back to the original names and so forth)?

Yes, it's going to take abit of work, but for a title like this I feel it's well worth it. It's a good read, and people should have another chance to pick it up. So, in that case, re-releasing it back in it's original format (names and all) is only logical since it's good enough for that kind of treatment... don't you think?

-- David Rasmussen 19th Dec 04