Disney has a long history in comics, and it turns out this includes manga. Many of the Disney manga titles have been licensed in the United States by Tokyopop. However, while a lot of Disney manga is merely a retelling of their films in the style of a tie-in novelization, some of Disney's original manga offerings are quite strange.

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Kilala Princess

Kiala princess cast

First released in 2005, Kilala Princess resembles a shojo manga version of Kingdom Hearts. It follows Kilala Reno, a young girl who adores the Disney princesses. One day, Kiala meets Rei and his servant Valdou. The pair say they are trying to find the seventh princess so that they can give her a magical tiara.

Kilala thinks they might be looking for her friend Erika, who recently won a princess contest. However, when Erika gets kidnapped. Kilala must don the tiara and jump into the Gate of Dreams. This gate transports Kilala to various Disney worlds, letting her search for Erika and solve the mystery of the seventh princess.

The manga was originally collected in five volumes in Japan, but when Tokyopop released the series, it split Volumes 1 and 2 in half, turning two volumes into four before it stopped translating the series altogether. Thankfully, in 2016, Tokyopop released all five volumes in their original format. In 2019, a sequel series started, continuing Kilala's adventures and featuring new princesses such as Mulan and Merida from Brave. While the plot is fun, the art style is a little strange. While most of it is drawn in a manga style, the Disney princesses all resemble their animated counterparts, leading to a stylistic clash that often makes it look like someone has edited two unrelated manga together.

Disney Fairies - Chiisana Yousei Petite no Nikki

Disney Fairies- Chiisana Yousei Petite no Nikki

Tinker Bell has been a Disney icon since her debut in 1953's Peter Pan. However, she reached a whole new level of marketing omnipresence when the Disney Fairies line launched in 2005. Chiisana Yousei Petite no Nikki introduces Petite, a very shy fairy who is worried about her upcoming 777th full moon party. At this party, a fairy's special talent is revealed. However, Petite seems to suck at anything she tries, but with the big day coming up, she sets out to discover her unique skill. Like all the Disney Fairies manga and comics, this is a cute and sweet romp about being yourself, but it does raise interesting questions about the nature of fate and determinism in Never Land.

Miriya & Marie

Miriya & Marie

Part of a collaboration between Kodansha and Disney. Miriya & Marie was released in Japan in 2015. In 2018 Tokyopop released the series in America. The book follows Miriya, a rich Japanese girl who only wants one thing, to find her missing parents. On Miriya's birthday, Marie, the white kitten from The Aristocats, appears and magically transports her to Paris in the year 1910.

Miriya, out of her home city and out of her time, must now adapt to her new life. But while on this adventure, she learns that she is part of a lineage of powerful witches, and with Marie as her tutor, she must learn the ways of magic as well as several life lessons, all while enjoying the sights, sounds and pastries of historical Paris. It's never explained why Marie is suddenly magical, as she displays no such power in the original movie. However, her inclusion in the manga isn't surprising, as the cute kitten is extremely popular in Japan, even if it's still profoundly weird reading her talking about witchcraft.

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Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas - Zero's Journey

Nightmare Before Christmas Zeros Journey

Zero's Journey is a semi-sequel to the classic film The Nightmare Before Christmas. Jack's dog Zero gets lost and ends up in Christmas Town with no idea how to get back home. Lost and afraid Zero has to enlist the help of the residents of Christmas Town to try and work out a way to get back to Jack. Meanwhile, in Halloween Town, Jack is spending all of his time trying to find Zero, meaning that both Halloween and Christmas are at risk if the pair can not be reunited. The highlights of this manga are getting to spend more time with Jack and the chance to see more of Christmas Town and its residents. This whole experience is only made more enjoyable by the art style, which perfectly captures the weirdness and whimsy of the movie.

Magical Dance

Magical Dance

Made by the creator of Kilala Princess, Magical Dance follows Rin, a girl who desperately wants to be a dancer. However, she can't seem to get the hang of it. One day, Tinker Bell appears in front of Rin and gives her a card. When this card is used, Mickey Mouse appears. Mickey helps Rin learn the true secret of dance, following your heart. With this newfound confidence, Rin summons other Disney characters, and they help her improve her dancing in time for a national competition.

While this series is cute, seeing characters like Mickey Mouse and Winnie-the-Pooh treated as dance experts is slightly weird. Once again, the clash between the manga style and the Disney style can be quite jarring. However, as this series mostly focuses on non-human Disney characters, it isn't as off-putting as it is in Kilala Princess.

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