GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Part-Time Princesses OGN

Though life wouldn’t go through with what you have planned, there will always be a place for you to fall back on. And maybe, its life’s way of saying you would excel in a much different way that you’d have planned.

Courtney, Amber, Michelle and Tiffany are all popular high school seniors working a part time job as princesses at the local amusement park called Enchanted Park. Popularity, beauty and excelling in everything they do, all four friends were ready to accomplish all their dreams after graduation, ready to say goodbye to the fake princess crowns! But all goes down the drain when none of these happened. Michelle’s application to all colleges were rejected, Amber didn’t pass the audition to be a model, Tiffany’s parents didn’t allow her to tour Europe and while Courtney managed to land a place on the pep squad, she couldn’t just let her friends drop into the Loser’s Ville. Renewing their princess contract, they aim to revive the now flopping Enchanted Park after a series of mugging which earned a really bad press. But a much darker scheme is at work on why the park was always attacked by gangs and thugs while the cops are nowhere to be seen at all. Now it’s up to the four of them to save the kingdom, the only place where they could be the only thing they wanted, being on top.

Part-time Princesses by Monica Gallagher was a really fun read. Despite the heroines being shallow and overly concern with their popularity, they are easily relatable. Wanting to do what you always dreamed of and then being instantly shattered, it leaves you clueless on what to do. Thankfully, they had something to fall back on, which was their summer part time job. The concept was really nice in a sense that these shallow girls learned and discovered more about themselves from this part time job than doing what they have planned to do in life. It also gives a ‘girl power’ vibe as the protagonists all strive to be better and above, despite being called as just ‘high school girls’. They managed to beat up guys after careful strategies and tons of self defense classes just to save the amusement park from closing down. The character development for each girls are easily seen and enjoyed. The art is simple yet quite attractive. A huge body and color diversity between the four protagonists are a plus on my list.

With the heroines as typical high school girls, the story is highly recommended to our geek girls out there. It’s simple compared to other comic’s plotlines and story, but it’s fun and quite worth the read.

Complete OGN (Contains #1-6) available in-stores: 3/25/15