Hansel and Gretel

Loosely based on the Grimm's brothers' story, Hansel and Gretel is the 2nd adaptation of a fairy tale that Junko Mizuno has created after Cinderalla and the only one I've read yet. If you're considering buying this, you shouldn't have any great expectations story-wise. First of all don't expect a reinterpretation of Hansel and Gretel because the only link with the original story is the general obsession of the people with food. Secondly, the story is overly short and simplistic, the inhabitants of Hibari get kidnapped by Queen Marylin and hold them under her spell and Gretel has to save them, nothing more to it. The mainselling point of this book is that it looks absolutely gorgeous, drawn in full colour, it's very flashy and every element of the page pop out and especially fits to represent the weird psychedelic culinary world with houses made of ice cream and lollipops or pigs that cut their own flesh to feed the population. I wish it had real fighting scenes because Gretel is the badass sukeban but all her confrontations are resolved quickly and in the same way everytime. The backstory of the villain also comes out of nowhere and not the most inspired one. Hansel & Gretel is a fun read with untapped potential and a boring formula, I sure hope her other works based on fairy tales will be better.