I’m now on volume five, and volume six hasn’t been published yet. I bought volume one on a whim, thinking if I didn’t like it Thumbs might. Recently however I kind of stumbled onto Princess Jellyfish by Akiko Higashimura while browsing (read: methodically scouring every shelf with hawk-like concentration in case something awesome was waiting for me to discover it) at my local book store. I’ve tried out a few, but the only other thing I’ve read through before now is Chobits by CLAMP, and that was a while ago. This focus on surroundings and details draws attention to the importance of the natural world and the seasons to Makoto, and I kept flipping back just to kind of soak in the atmosphere. It is so finely drawn that everyday details like the reflections in a roadway mirror, a view of rooftops and telegraph poles, or a crowd of Morning Glory in a hedgerow get as much loving attention as the adorable characters. The structure is episodic, each chapter a short story loosely connected to those preceding and following it, all told with gentle humour and a ridiculous amount of charm. None of that description captures the complete and utter loveliness of this story and the way it is told, however. She has a broom and she can fly, she has a small plot of land where she plans to grow crops and she has an older sister Akane, also a witch, who pops in occasionally to see how she’s doing and to offer up words of wisdom and new spells to try out. She goes to school as normal, but the rest of her time is spent hanging out with her cousins and friend Nao, and working on her witchiness. She moves to rural Aomori to live with her cousins Kei and Chinastu and their parents. It is about Makoto, a trainee witch, who, just like Kiki in the Studio Ghibli movie Kiki’s Delivery Service, has reached the age at which she must go out into the world and start living independently.
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