十二秘色のパレット 第1巻

One of my favourites, but maybe not for learning with

This series is one that I loved and read several times in English as a teenager, so it holds a special place in my heart. It follows Cello, an inhabitant of a tropical island with the world's most dazzling birds, who is training to master the Secret Colours, the magical ability to steal colour from one object and transfer it to another. She stinks at it, which often puts her in the care of her school's colour-correcting "doctor", Guell -- as well as making them both the unwitting target of smugglers who would use her to get to the island's valuable birds. I recommend it if the premise sounds charming and you're looking for a fluffy, low-stakes read, but perhaps not if you're only looking for content to practice with in your level range.

Theoretically this should be a relatively approachable manga for learning: Targetted at young girls, full furigana, no overly rough/flowery/idiosyncratic speech patterns, straightforward and clear illustrations. The magical elements of the premise are very light, so there's not a lot of fantasy jargon to wade through, either. This was the first book I attempted to read in Japanese several years ago, when I was somewhere on the cusp of A2-B1 level, and I unfortunately got very little out of it despite being able to understand most of the grammar and vocabulary in isolation; in-context, something about the dialogue just didn't click. Returning to it now at a higher level and with more experience reading, I had a much easier time and it was much more enjoyable, but for some reason I can't put my finger on, reading it still didn't feel like a valuable experience from a language-learning perspective. I still kind of had that "not clicking" feeling at parts while reading, even when I wasn't having trouble parsing the dialogue or struggling to comprehend the language used.

Story-wise, this one's not very deep and the events are a bit predictable; it's episodic with not much of an overarching plot. The majority of the entertainment value is in the setting and the integration of the colour magic into what's happening, and the charm the characters bring with how they bounce off of each other. Each magician character also has their own bird companion, which adds some cuteness and comic relief. The art style is quite simple, but the designs are all cohesive and do well at selling the island's culture; you get a strong feeling throughout of these events taking place in a magical, balmy paradise, so it's a good escapist read.

Edit for full series review: The tone continues to be consistently fun and sweet for the first several books, then around volumes 4 & 5 it kind of stumbles with several hit-or-miss plots, and then it recovers again and ends on a strong note, so the series overall is still a solid 4.5 stars for me. It's technically a romance, but the relationship develops very slowly and, due to the student-faculty nature of it, it does not get very far by the end; that aspect is done tastefully, and the very reason the relationship doesn't progress at a compelling pace is because Dr Guell acts appropriately mindful of his position throughout. Returning to the series as an adult made me appreciate Guell's character, his responsible handling of the relationship, and the fact that he had a stable life and healthy friendships outside of the shoujo plot, much more.

My "not clicking" language issue in the first book unfortunately never resolved, and right up to the end, I frequently felt like I was missing things and was compelled to refer to the English translations to verify my understanding, even though I was easily getting most of the Japanese at face-value. Not sure what it is about Kusakawa's writing, but these are the only books I've had this problem with so far /: