Disney Manga: Tangled - Shiori Kanaki - ★★

-
AUTHOR: Shiori Kanaki
GENRE: Graphic Novel, Fairy Tale Retelling, Manga
PUBLICATION DATE: September 12, 2017
RATING: 2 stars.


In a Nutshell: A manga version of ‘Tangled’, Disney’s take on Rapunzel. Stick to the movie.


I am not a manga fan, but I am a ‘Tangled’ super-fan. It is one of my favourite animated movies, and I have watched it umpteen times with my kids. Though not that faithful to the Brothers Grimm version of the fairy tale, this original retelling enhances the best of the tale and expands the universe to a wider and funnier level. It helps that Flynn Rider is the best MMC in the entire animated fairytales universe. 🥰

Given the above, it would anyway be challenging for this manga adaptation to match up to the movie. There’s no way a B&W comic adaptation can do justice to an animated movie that was six years in the making and involved the creation of a special animation program to simulate the movement of 70 feet of hair. So I didn’t go in expecting a similar experience. I just went in hoping to see the magic of Tangled recreated in manga. It doesn’t happen.


Yays of the Manga version:
😍 Contains all the material elements of the story: Rapunzel, Flynn, Mother Gothel, Pascal, Maximus, even the thugs from the pub and the frying pan.


Nays of the Manga version:
🤨 Misses out on all the poetic elements of the movie: the emotions, the music, the movements, the colours, the glorious magical glow in Rapunzel’s hair, the sheer energy!

🤨 No depth to any character.

🤨 Abrupt switchovers between dialogues and even scenes. Makes the story flow jumpy. It helped that I have the movie almost by heart, otherwise many things wouldn’t even have made sense.

🤨 Stilted conversations, no thanks to the above. It doesn’t make sense to incorporate only half the conversations from the movie scene when you are using the whole scene in the manga version.


FWIW, the illustrations are good. As most of the Disney-animated characters also have fairly large eyes, their manga version resembles them a lot. Flynn though won't be very happy with his manga version as it gets not just his nose but also his eyes wrong.

Basically, this is only for those who wish to see how a manga adaptation of an animated movie works. (Short answer: It doesn’t!) To fans of the Disney movie, skip this and watch the movie (yet again!) instead.

This was a library read.

Comments

Post a Comment

Explore more posts from this blog:

The Fountain - John A. Heldt

-
Image
AUTHOR: John A. Heldt Series: Second Chance, #1 GENRE: Time Travel, Historical Fiction. RATING: 2.5 stars. In a Nutshell: Good plot. Unsuitable title. Average writing. Will suit historical fiction readers more than sci-fi or time-travel readers. Story Synopsis: 2022, Oregon. 81-year-old Bill Carpenter has just buried his beloved wife of 57 years. His 75-year-old brother Paul has terminal cancer, and his 72-year-old sister Annie, a paraplegic, is broken-hearted at having done nothing she dreamed of in life. In other words, the three Carpenter siblings have nothing to look forward to. Until one day, when Bill, who used to be a folklore and mythology professor, learns that a legendary ‘Fountain of Youth’ actually exists and a dip in it causes not just rejuvenation but a fresh start in another era. The only issue is that the era isn’t in your control. But as the Carpenters have nothing to lose anyway, they decide to take a chance on the fountain and to their surprise, land up in 1905 Oa...
Read More»

Boy, Resisting - Silent, Spy, Survivor? - J.H. Foster - ★★★.½

-
Image
AUTHOR: J.H. Foster ILLUSTRATOR: James Warwood SERIES: Rebels and Resistance GENRE: WWII Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: November 7, 2025 RATING: 3.5 stars. In a Nutshell: An upper middle-grade WWII novel with scattered illustrations. An appealing young protagonist and a good plot. Works well in complement with its partner book. One half of a parallel duology, with this novel being aimed at older tweens and teens, and its partner aimed at adult readers. Plot Preview: 1938. After witnessing a scary incident involving a Nazi officer, Freddie decides that it is better for him to stop talking. When his mother Hannah decides to leave Austria and move to Paris in search of her old best friend, Freddie isn't happy about having to leave his old life behind. Life in Paris is better in some ways because his Mama has found a job and they have a shelter over their heads and food in their stomachs. But when the Nazis come, even this security is threatened. Will Freddie’s Jewish heritage endanger him ...
Read More»

The Rebellious Maus and the Pogrom - J.H. Foster - ★★★.¾

-
Image
AUTHOR: J.H. Foster SERIES: Rebels and Resistance #0.5 GENRE: Historical Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: June 10, 2025 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A prequel story to the Rebels and Resistance series. Good pacing and plot. A bit hurried at times. Offers a good glimpse of the key characters, but could have done with some more detailing in the emotional bits. Regardless, it does its job as a prequel. I am curious to know these interesting characters more through the main novels. Plot Preview: April 1933, Austria. Hannah, a fifteen-year-old Jewish orphan, lives under the care of her strict Catholic guardian Herr Weisz. His son Pieter is a part of the SS, which makes the situation at home even more restrictive. Hannah’s only friend is Weisz’s niece Katarina, who is three years older. Katarina convinces Hannah to join her into one last jaunt to the city before they have to return to their respective schools. However, their secret escapade turns dangerous when they are caught in the middle o...
Read More»

Super Great Kids' Stories: From storytellers around the world - Kim Normanton - ★★★★★

-
Image
COMPILER: Kim Normanton GENRE: Children's Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: September 11, 2025 RATING: 5 super-great stars! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 In a Nutshell: Believe the title! This is a collection of “Super Great Kids’ Stories”, taken from folktales and fables around the world. Great stories and morals. Excellent narrative technique, making it apt for readalouds. Thoroughly entertaining. Much, much recommended! Not being a podcast person (all my listening time is devoted to audiobooks and music), I was totally clueless about the award-winning podcast ‘Super Great Kids’ Stories’ . Reading this book assures me that the podcast must be award-winning for a valid reason. What a brilliant collection and presentation! The book begins with a beautiful intro by the podcast hosts who have curated this collection. They offer a background to their podcast as well as explain the structure of the book. The main content comprises thirty “traditional tales” taken from around the world. The stories are grouped in...
Read More»

The Museum of Ordinary People - Mike Gayle

-
Image
Author: Mike Gayle Genre: Contemporary Fiction Rating: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: Outlier opinion, sorry. I think my expectations were too high. The book met some of them, but disappointed in other ways. It's still a nice story, but could have been a memorable work with some tweaks. Story Synopsis: Jess has recently lost her mother and is struggling to cope with her grief. Her most precious possession from among her mother's belongings is a set of old encyclopaedias, but she has no place to keep them in the apartment she shares with her partner Guy. A friend tells her of an odd place named "The Museum of Ordinary People" that accepts donations of such old, valued things that people love but can't keep. When Jess visits the museum, her life changes, both personally as well as professionally. The story comes to us in the first person pov of Jess. While the museum angle is one of the key story arcs, the book actually contains a mesh of interconnected tracks. All thin...
Read More»