Webtoon brings you another fantasy webcomic series from the same author of Hooky, where a circus appeared in sight and magic happens everywhere in Marionetta.
(THIS COMIC REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS IF YOU DIDN’T READ THIS WEBTOON. PLEASE READ IT BEFORE READING MY REVIEW: https://www.webtoons.com/en/fantasy/marionetta/list?title_no=4425)
I’m very excited to read her second webtoon because I think in my opinion that she throws in some good stuff to publish on Webtoon including her art and her story. However, this webcomic is a continuation of Hooky after the Wytte family and friends get along happily at the end of the series, moving on to another story with a different approach. Such as Ms. Miriam’s first webtoon was a piece of Hooky with magic and a fun adventure nostalgia, while this webtoon is a piece of Hooky with magic and a deadly circus. I mean I didn’t expect anything regarding that she could create another webtoon about a moving circus and some of those freaks who are dead but in bizarre turns of events. I already talked about who she is from the Hooky review, that she’s from Spain and all, but in my perspective, she’s like a clear rising sun that has a lot of vitamin C to make you feel energized, when it gets hot she’s a real witch, but she’s the beautiful witch that I chose to support her work ever since I discovered Hooky and Webtoon back then, and that’s how her art comes in at her very best, in a nutshell.
If I’m going to review this Webtoon, I got to start with Episodes 1 through 5, because this is just the beginning and I’m not going to go any further and spoil the current episodes, since I already went through with some fast week passes. We all know that we have some catching up to do, so let’s be adults, okay? Let’s talk about the page itself, when I popped this sideshow crusted wheels of fate on my phone and it shows two female protagonists Julia and Kamille. And to be honest, they still have their baby faces regarding that they’re young adults right now. But what happens if they were just children, to begin with? But I guess that is something that I don’t know about. More importantly, this is the first time Ms. Miriam introduced a black female protagonist that she ever produced, and looking at her and her adorable eyes, just almost look like a lost puppy who needed a home. And her cute puppy dog eyes are so adorable, that she became a puppy magnet for some reason. And I need to mention her because this month is Black History month if you people are aware of that.
So where do I begin? Ever since I saw the title of her second webtoon “Marionetta” I just thought that she made it up or something like another spoof of Mario and Bayonetta, just kidding. However her first webtoon was about some black magician twins who didn’t make it to magic school because they missed the bus and went on a big adventure, but this webtoon is an enigma, and thought that this is another story about puppets like Pinocchio, but NO, I really have zero expectations on for this Webtoon. However, one thing that got me into it, is that the story is turning so dark, that Julia ran over into Howl’s moving circus and crushed her to death, after that she was sent into a strange world. And then Ms. Miriam throws a contract and a seal to Julia from the top of her head, stating that she has a year to live or she’ll perish forever until she kills the owner of the circus named “Anthonn Gremminger” which is sounded like Anthony or something. Now, fate is controlling her and she’s unable to leave the circus anymore. So Julia became a puppet, a slave to her very own fate. It’s like meeting with the Grim Reaper but invisible, and Death is the mother of Hooky and Marionetta and that mother’s name is Miriam Bonastre Tur. And then when she got out of it, she saw a monster in the attic who looked like some demon apostle from Berserk, and goes out like a mad woman saying “What kind of madness is this?!”
So the story starts with a mini trailer of Marionetta where Julia is wearing a mushroom suit while the background shows some knives thrown at the target, but then the target was bleeding, and then Kamille comes out and said “Did you just kill him?” She was feeling guilty and about to burst into some tears, however, when she saw that strange dagger bleeding, Kamille gasped over the fact that Julia had done something to him. And I’m like OK I GET IT SHE ACCIDENTALLY KILLED HIM. GOOD GRIEF MAN, I’M NOT AN IDIOT. PLUS IT’S JUST FOR SHOW, A DEADLY ONE, RELAX. Do you even want to see this poor girl suffer? Is this appropriate? Is this Webtoon actually for kids? Yeah, I said it, I mean did I want to rip apart this Webtoon? No, but Ms. Miriam drew first blood, not me.
After the first few panels, we get that dreaded bus scene. Let’s talk about that, the real deal, a real heartfelt, honest to god, HOOKY SPOOKY DUMB BUS SCENE CLICHES. At the start of the webtoon, Ms. Miriam drops a scene the way where Hooky started with a different approach. Julia and Kamille were chasing the bus with just a plain-ass public bus. And by some miracle, Julia managed to stop the bus and tell him to wait, just for Kamille’s pretty puppy dog eyes to come. OH MY GOD, IT’S A MIRACLE, SHE REALLY DID SOMETHING!
That small victory from those two beautiful ladies has brought me an all-new sense of paranoia, how much worse could this scene get? WELL BEHOLD!! You made it inside the bus and well now TRY A CROWDED BUS, YOU FOOLS! So the bus driver had everyone on board, packed with passengers. So the only way that I see the bus is a series of passengers wearing the same uniform that Julia and Kamille wear, except one of them is a soldier, some elderly people, some dorks who are drinking some Molotov cocktails, and a monk who Julia described that he’s one of the Ah’kon people, or whatever she’s talking about, and thinks that he’s some sort of thug or something, BUT HE’S HARMLESS AND TIRED TO ME. However, the bus driver is taking them to a mysterious circus that appeared in the countryside, and apparently, it’s the last show before they move out. And then Julia immediately triggered them and called them slackers, because they were just too lazy to go to work tomorrow. (Gosh, where do I hear that before?) But then Kamille convinces Julia to go to the circus with her because she wants to spend her birthday before tomorrow, and Julia ended up deciding to go to the circus with her for her birthday. Speaking of, this review is meant for Ms. Miriam’s birthday and Valentine’s gift for her.
If you made it this far by finishing Hooky, you already know what you’re in for. This isn’t going to be an ordinary fantasy webtoon made by the same creator who happens to be your favorite school teacher. You’re not just going to witness another witchcraft, the cryptic plot holes of the story. It’s not going to be another story made by some creepy cults, the cheap knockoff characters like that stupid Hunter and Snow White on Hooky. NO! This time my friend, you’re heading into a magical land of NEVERLAND IN HELL.
First of all, good luck getting used to scrolling down this long vertical panel where you see a bearded old man lifting a bench with a bunch of men who look like some wrestler who came out of sunbathing, and his spider woman girlfriend with freckles who looked like the adult version of Monica, and looked like a sweet mom who came out of Candy Land. While Julia and Kamille are wandering around with so many people. You might say it’s innovative that she’s giving you a Grand Tour of the circus by drawing the tents and so many people including the protagonists before the grand event. NO PUN INTENDED.
But the whole circus is so awkward to perform something out of ordinary. Even Julia agrees that it’s too crazy and creepy to come there, to begin with, I mean WHAT THE HELL?? So already, Kamille is separated from Julia by another old man, well a kind-hearted old man who happens to be a beast tamer, but he only tamed cute puppies rather than Lions or Chimeras. Of course, I really love dogs, especially puppies, how can I not? I’m embarrassed to say that I love how Ms. Miriam draws some cute puppies. And THIS, this dog on the ball on the left side of the panel really made my day, almost reminds me of how my cousin’s dog keeps jumping on my leg. And then Julia keeps mumbling and ranting about the simplest of things that I’m reacting on this review. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but JUST LET ME REVIEW THIS WEBTOON! HAVE THE DECENCY TO LET ME BEGIN MY SUFFERING!
So once again, Kamille ran off somewhere after the puppy performance up for two panels, where she’s going?, where’s Julia?, do I know the way if I were her?, and before she mentally process to know where did Julia go, Kamille bumped into some two strange masked people who looked like some matador who came out from bullfighting while wearing a mask as if he came out of the ball, and then she follows them because she just “found the love of her life” cliche. Ok, how do I know that? because I’m Hispanic, same as Ms. Miriam, how could I not know? And after that Kamille found out that the freckled woman named Dotty is being decapitated but alive. Kamille ran away frightened and she was being dragged by a masked ugly singer with a good voice, and on the next panel, it’s just….. it’s just weird, just DO NOT make me say it. I mean look we all know what it looks like, LET’S ALL GROW UP AND WASH OUR FILTHY MINDS IN A COLD SHOWER! As I noticed something odd about Kamille, I had to double check on that panel it looks like Ms. Miriam forgot to draw Kamille’s skirt, because it looks more like she’s being cut in half which is much more like seeing Dotty being decapitated for some reason. The funny thing is nobody ever noticed that Dotty is so fragile that she can rip her head off and do some Shakespearean quotations.
The second episode goes when Julia is about to go to work, but suddenly Kamille didn’t come to work today. But then when Kamille’s mother came to her home, she said that her daughter didn’t return home, and then she took her bike just to find those circus freaks who took her. And let me tell you, the next scene makes Yusuke Urameshi’s stamina goes off the charts, the stuff where legendary manga references gets real. All I got to say is the bike scene, OH MY GOD, THE BIKE SCENE. My favorite part of the second episode is when Julia WENT BEAST MODE on her bike just to chase the Howl’s Moving Circus, and once she caught up, she got some major iron maiden energy to yell at them for her friend on a wild circus chase and told them that she’s gonna report them all which left me laughing in tears over the fact that she’s gonna run their asses with a bicycle and file a complaint to her father. The funny thing about that is Julia’s about to burst into tears while sweating. If you already watched Yu Yu Hakusho, you know where this is going, if you didn’t please check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=heUa5LqYva4&ab_channel=YuDragCoon This is the guy who just ran over the car and died on the first episode, and now he’s maneuvering with his bike with all his might.
Aw man, I’m sorry Kamille, Dotty, Sahed, or whatever character it is, now I’m falling in love with Julia Lazarrett even more, she’s so funny and I love the side of her being responsible, and she’s actually more savage as I am. THAT’S WHAT I WANT FROM THIS SPANISH WITCH TO PRODUCE, A STRONG FEMALE PROTAGONIST. We’re indie comic artists, not Webtoon geeks. At the end of the day, you can’t eat good character development. And speaking of falling, she fell on the cliff and was crushed to death, right until she was sent into an illusion world, from what I said from above. You never know that you’re a badass if you catch a car with a bike, Julia could have been an Olympic Cyclist champ if she does not make the bike explode.
And then she dropped to the circus where the woman with freckles named Dotty and everyone around and stating that Julia is not the only one who’s dead, but everyone around her, the whole circus is dead, which leaves me this simple question in my mind which I’m about to trigger myself….. HOW IN THE HELL DID THEY DIE?! AND AGAIN I AGREE WITH JULIA SAYING WHAT I’M ABOUT TO SAY!! THAT’S A GOOD REASON WHY MS. MIRIAM DIDN’T MAKE THEM AS SPIRITS OR GHOSTS! WHY AREN’T THESE PEOPLE TRANSPARENT?! I UNDERSTAND ABOUT DOTTY, BUT THIS IS BULLSHIT!! (And with that, that is the last time I’m going to swear on this review.) And on top of that, the fact that everyone died, they signed the same contract for employment, but as for Julia, the contract that she signed is so different than the others. I’d like to know more about the mastermind behind the contract, who is this person who has such extreme solutions to things? This is the type of person who mastered the art of tea-bagging in a video game. Maybe it’s because I love playing fantasy games when I was a kid, but when small cryptic details like this and Hooky really bother me.
However when Julia is about to find a way out of the circus with Kamille, and then she pushed Julia out of the window just in an attempt to kill her but a strange string kept her from falling, and then she met the same Matador-looking guy named Sahed who’s an illusionist, that guy that you people never shut up about. She freaked out when Sahed reveals that he has three eyes and ran away, but then when she realizes that the circus has someone like him as an employee, that guy is dangerous and thought out loud to herself “This is a crime against the country!” I just can’t help but laugh that she just said that. You never know what’s behind the whole freak show to begin with. For real, I can’t think of any other character outside of Webtoon who just said that. But to be honest, I really feel so sorry about Julia, she’s scared, frustrated, and confused about the whole situation. Someone needs to give her a hug, from Ms. Miriam or me, except she would slap me in the face. And the episode ends when she meets Anthonn who just met at the circus with the clown outfit, and called him “the wimpy clown.” But what’s funny is when he reveals himself, the readers were shocked that this is the same guy who was harassed by kids. What’s so weird is that the contract states that her mission is to kill him, but he’s much more harmless than a mouse.
So Julia is basically experiencing the same thing as how normal people spent their daily life in an honest yet stupidest way, cursed to relive her life with so many stupidest problems over and over. No wonder why she’s in a very edgiest mood. Calling them their co-workers lazy, ranting about the whole circus, scolding the kids to leave the clown alone, and then scolding the clown about his liability for children like she owns the whole place, hits Kamille’s mother in the face, going beast mode on her bike and in the circus, and calling names which is the same way that I tell the readers of what the characters look like, in my perspective she’s really dumb, but incredible at the same time. No offense, but Julia could be a little nicer to them, except she’s all Jekyll and Hyde, like tossing a coin one way and another.
So anyway, is Marionetta a good Webtoon? Well, I really enjoyed it. It has some wonderful characters, a whole set background of the countryside and the circus, with a whole wallop of nostalgia. This reminds me, the whole design of the moving circus is more of a gargantuan-looking tank that almost can conquer the country. I guess you people say that it’s Howl’s Moving Castle because the set up of the story goes with a big moving circus and a girl who’s trying to get her friend back. But the design looks like one of the airships designed by Cid from Final Fantasy. Imagine if the whole moving circus is an airship that has some clown balloons and some powerful engine to go flying forward. Well other than she gets to design a giant tank that crushes Julia to death. I already talked about the art style back in the Hooky review, so at least I talked about the circus design. As far as I love reading Hooky back then, this Webtoon is something else, and I really liked it. I’m looking forward to reading more of Marionetta, but I just gave you what the story is like, so until she uploads more than 10 or 20 episodes, I’ll make a second review of this Webtoon in the future.
Newsdesk