Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Fangirl, Vol. 1: The Manga

I read the novel version of this before and I must say that this manga version looks promising. It’s way better because of the art. Damn, everyone looks good, especially Simon Snow.

Oh god, Abel’s an ass! He questioned Cath’s intelligence just because he wants to break up with her. You deserve better, boo🤍

I get the teacher that she asked for an original story from Cath, but did she really have to be so mean?

Aww, Levi joined her dance party; that’s so cute💕

I live this. I need the second one💖

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brontesauruses's review against another edition

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emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This works so well as a graphic novel. I am honestly enjoying it more than the book in a lot of ways because most of what felt cringey or off-putting to me has been sanded down. I vibe with the Simon Snow stuff more in here too? Idk why.
Also, best boy Levi was born to be a manga character.

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bookcheshirecat's review

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

4.75

“In new situations, all the trickiest rules are the ones nobody bothers to explain to you. (And the ones you can't Google.)”

➽ This is the Manga adaptation of one of my favorites and I had such a good time with it! Even many years and many rereads later, Fangirl is still one of my all-time favorite books! I haven’t done a reread in a while, so I thought: why not check out the new manga adaptation? It was so nice to be back in Cath’s world again and to see it - and her Simon Snow fanfiction - visualized 🥰 I’d definitely recommend reading the book first, but I think this is nice for fans of the book! Obviously, they couldn’t include all the scenes, but I still liked how much dialogue was adapted from the book, which made it feel authentic! There are going to be four manga parts, so I’m moving to part 2 soon and part 3 is coming out later this year!

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sprucewillow's review

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emotional lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. I haven't read the original Fangirl book.

The art is cute and I enjoy the complex plot of identity, family, relationships, and exploration that really encompasses a college experience.

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biancafrancisco's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Pretty accurate to the original book!

Levi and Nick seem to have been beautified so their descriptions very slightly don't match up to the drawing and also things progress a bit faster because of the cut out/reduced parts.
Actually this was what disappointed me a bit and made it not 5 stars when I love this story. I don't read a lot of manga so it might just be the style and how it's supposed to go, but I feel like you lose a lot of the background that helps you understand the characters better because we get so little of Cath's internal dialogue. The Simon and Baz scenes for example seem extra alive in this style which was fun because tbh whenever I reread the book I tend to skip them or skim really fast...they get lost easily; but Cath feels worse because we really need to understand her inner turmoil to get her reactions.

Also, is it just me or they draw Reagen's face reactions really weird? I know Cath saw her as mean and intimidating in the beggining but you can't always tell by the tone that she's being straightforward/joking instead of just straight up being a mean girl.

Again, it might be because I'm looking at it as an adaptation and not in its owm rights as just a manga.

I did really like the artwork though, the amount of details that are significant to the story was amazing done.

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