Manga Review – Avril Lavigne’s Make 5 Wishes

Avril Lavigne’s ‘Make 5 Wishes’

Publisher: Random House/Del Rey Manga
Story by: Camilla d’Errico and Joshua Dysart
Concept by: Camilla d’Errico
Script by: Joshua Dysart
Art by: Camilla d’Errico
Rating: T 13 +
Genre: Shoujo

Reviewed by Julie Gray
Review originally published March 31, 2007

“No. Not invisible. Being invisible would’ve been cool. I just wasn’t worth noticing”…

Yes, this is a manga starring Avril Lavigne. Whatever your thoughts may be about the music artist/movie star and now manga star, one thing is undeniable; Avril Lavigne seems to be everywhere.

So what does a pop star want with a manga title? Well, as it turns out, ‘Make 5 Wishes’ is great reading and the art work is just divine.

The story begins with a lonely girl named Hana who is going through a tough time when she doesn’t fit in at school. Hana’s life revolves around a virtual reality where she assumes different identities to avoid the loneliness of rejection. Hana stumbles upon a website that claims to be able to make people’s wishes come true. With Hana’s inability to feel anything other than loneliness and depression, the website reaches out to her through her despair and Hana, excited by the prospect of having all of her wishes come true, clicks away.

Camilla d’Errico brings the characters to life with an unmistakable innocence in her art work, it really works well in this manga. The likeness in her drawings of Avril Lavigne is quite impressive.

Once the mysterious parcel arrives, Hana’s life unexpectedly takes a turn for the better but it’s very short lived. Throughout the manga, you feel like you can relate to Hana’s pain but at the same time, there seems to be an annoying feeling nagging away at you – the feeling of knowing the difference between what seems like the right thing to do and what clearly isn’t. Hana seems to have issues differentiating between right and wrong and Avril’s character poses as the ‘righteous’ side of Hana’s psyche, desperately trying to guide her towards making the right decision. In the end, it’s Avril versus the Demon which is a neat little story twist.

At times the dialogue in this manga seems a little too mature to be aimed at 13 year olds and some of the interactions between Hana, her parents and the imaginary ‘Avril Lavigne’ just didn’t seem to synch very well. Perhaps Hana is extremely mature for her age but I felt that it was difficult to relate to her youth when the complexities of her life seemed a little too far fetched to be believable at the age of 13.

The plot, the characters and the general flow of the manga all work well but the artwork in this manga really gives it something special. The glossy, full colour pages are a joy to behold. I was quite unsure of what to think of the manga at first, but now I am very much looking forward to reading the next installment of this series. And regardless of Avril’s real word superstar status, in this manga, Hana is the true starlet.

Avril Lavigne’s Make 5 Wishes comes complete with sketches by the artist and information about the artist, author and Avril Lavigne. If you’re really keen to take a look at this series, you can do so by visiting Del Rey’s website here.

Art Work: 8/10
Story: 8/10
Overall Rating: 8/10

You may view the original published article here.