Sleepless Domain

"Eye full of sun, hand full of mud

Oh universe, you stink of love"

 

Swans - A Little God in My Hands

(because I'm saving Metric's "Youth Without Youth" for maybe some other epigraphs)

 

 

Had anyone warned me I'd find myself re-reading a magical girl comic complete with maritime lunatic wardrobe change sequences, I'd've called bullshit. More so for it doubling up on the "girl power" crap with currently obligatory lesbianism. But what can I say, the heroine's a support caster! How could I resist? I also arrived there tangentially when the author hiatused her other comic Kiwi Blitz,* seeking mecha mayhem only to innocently fall prey to Cube's nefarious bait-and-switch to poofy dresses. Totally not my fault!

Anyway, both Kiwi and Sleepless Domain are good examples of how to embrace overt manga/anime influences without going full-on weeaboo - probably helps the author actually lived a stint in for-realsies Japan and not just Godzilla's Tokyo. Instead of merely aping she consciously plays on various gimmicks, tones down the bulk of the over-emoting and places welcome emphasis on consequences and ramifications. Where Kiwi got a bit overwhelmed trying to flesh out an entire futuristic society with cyborgs, androids, body modifications etc., Sleepless Domain's mostly stuck to how society would deal with an infestation of magical girls.

 

There ain't a fly swatter big enough...

 

Anyway, turns out a walled city has been living in isolation for ages, monsters materializing in its streets every night like MMO mobs. Lucky a gaggle of teenage girls every generation get magic powers to fight 'em. Not the highest of concepts. There may or may not be some decent worldbuilding behind that, but thus far we're stickin' with high school superheroics. Only in more thoughtful fashion, with the girls being popular heroines around whom revolves a constant media circus, with their own managers and public relations campaigns and product endorsements. On the flip-side, Sleepless interestingly also points out the magic brats are in effect child soldiers, occasionally dealing with the obvious corollary: they are very much not mature enough to be doing that shit.** In fact, if you have qualms about reading such a comic, do what I accidentally did and give it until the end of chapter 2, then decide.

Those conscious distinctions also make for a decently diverse cast, diverging on scales of maturity, sociability, aggressiveness, intelligence, egomania, bravery, etc. Combined with a modicum of attention paid to the nuts and bolts of magic powers' effects, I must grudgingly admit that Sleepless Domain has never gotten boring.

 

 

 

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* - only to now find out that despite Sleepless Domain's update schedule having slipped the past months, she'll in addition be drawing stretch goals for Drive's Kickstarter campaign. Damnit Cagle, focus!

** note to self: watch Evangelion sometime