Miriam by Kyoko Hikawa

Well, I made it to 500+ page views! I don't know how I rambled and fangirled my way this far but I plan to stick with it! I started My Manga Malady with the hope that I can help someone like myself to avoid those manga that suck your soul away when you read them, or help to find a manga that will stay with you for the rest of your life. Maybe I haven't succeeded, but I've been having a lot of fun reading things I'd normally skip just to see how they'd turn out.  In commemoration, I went and found one of my favorites to share, an oldie but a goodie so to speak. This manga is something I've read happily over and over during the last five years or so, but I don't think would have normally caught my attention due to its synopsis, yet, spoiler alert, is just as enjoyable each time I read it.


Miriam by Kyoko Hikawa

Art and story (c) Kyoko Hikawa

Genre: Shojo
Length: 7 Volumes – (I'm not hand counting so I'll just leave this blank for lazy reasons)


             The art is of an older style, I always enjoy finding an older manga that’s good by the way, with big giant eyes with sparkles in them. This particular manga has lots of things that may be distracting, especially at first, like when a character doesn't have bangs so their hairline looks a little wide, or a face in three quarters profile might look a little off scale, but these things pass for the most part. Truthfully I could nit pick a lot about it, but I like it too much to do so. You see, Miriam also has very strong art, it looks confident and the faces are nicely expressive. The backgrounds, for the most part, are there or are tones, and the clothes look like they are pulled from every western TV show or movie I've ever seen and with a whole lot of variety to them. The animals are little cartoony, even compared to the rest of the art, but they improve. The hair is flowy and fluffy, and though the body shapes initially only seem slender and long limbed (and they mostly are), there is lots of differences there, too. I suppose if you don't like the way an older shojo looks anyway

you won't like Miriam, but, even if you don't, you should give it a try.
            Douglas, Card, and Joel are all young men who roam here and there, and often get in trouble for their rough behavior. One day the three of them are heading away from a man who slighted them and holds a grudge that they escaped his grasp, when they meet a little girl asking them to help with a stagecoach robbery happening near by. They don't want to get involved, but the girl steals one of their guns and dashes straight into trouble! Begrudgingly, the three young men step in to help. After the commotion, the girl introduces herself as Miriam, but Douglas is happy to leave her and her wagon behind him as they go their own ways afterward, suspecting the girl is nothing but trouble. When Miriam and the man that is looking for them show up in the same town, though, Douglas will have to pick the lesser of two evils and see just what the little girl has in mind for them at her ranch.
            Miriam is one of my favorite manga, despite the flaws in the art, I always highly enjoy reading this western-themed manga. I've never run across another western shojo that I recall, either, so it's pretty unique in that respect, and its done very well. Its almost like an episode of Bonanza. Kyoko Hikawa is the same mangaka who wrote From Far Away, another interesting and fun story, though nothing like Miriam. This author writes good manga with strong female characters at their center, and they also tend to have a lot of action, too! It actually runs like a typical western would with horses and shoot outs and bullet wounds that seem dangerous but aren't fatal, but the characters are what really make it a good read. Douglas is adorably grouchy and Miriam is so spunky its hard to find something to dislike about her even though she's a bit of a brat; the other characters sort of just hang around a first but they also get their times to shine. The ambiance is really nice, you can almost forget you're reading a manga and not watching a western on television. I'm not often in the mood for westerns but when I am I reach for this (and a few Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes) to give me my fix. Though if the western theme puts you off, it also is a very engaging and classic love story. Its almost typical shojo flare, but done so originally that its easy to get sucked in a marvel at it. If you begin to think it's only about a cute eight year old, though, just wait until you get to volume four when time passes and everyone's feelings begin to get more complicated. I could gush even longer about this gem, but I'll just end with this, don't pass it up just because its old, because you've never heard of it, or because its a cowboy manga, if you let those excuses stop you, you'll miss an amazing manga full of suspense and action.



5/5 A western with lots of heart and even more shoot outs.

You're exactly right, Miriam.