Disney’s beloved franchise Frozen remains unspeakably popular. The original 2013 animated film sparked a viral obsession after its debut and has since resulted in a Broadway adaptation, television specials, a mountain of accolades, an attraction at Disney’s Epcot and even an appearance in Kingdom Hearts III. In late 2019, a sequel film, Frozen 2, was released and was also very successful. Now in 2021, Frozen 2 has received an adaptation of its own -- this time in manga form.
From seasoned shojo manga veteran Arina Tanemura, Frozen 2: The Manga is a result of the publishing partnership between Disney and Viz Media. The manga features the same story as the hit sequel with minimal change to the main story. After the events of Frozen, Elsa is living peacefully as Queen of Arendelle alongside Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven. Yet, she is distressed by a mysterious voice calling out to her. This literal call to adventure sends the group on a journey outside the scope of their pleasant kingdom.
The manga brings the fun of Frozen to a completely different medium and with slight adjustments. If your expectation is to get a complete one-to-one adaptation, then this manga does not exactly deliver. Rather, it cuts out a lot of material that doesn’t affect the core plot of the movie. The result is a more condensed story but without any tremendous benefits.
However, the manga format does do some good for the characters. While it’s hard to imagine any part of the Frozen franchise without any of its catchy and moving musical numbers, the manga does just that. In exchange, the adaptation includes key lines from the most important musical numbers as part of inner monologues. Those who have seen the sequel will also notice that trimming these numbers allows for more focus on Elsa’s character arc, although some fan-favorite jokes may not have made the cut. The first page, in particular, establishes her character very well in one of the few changes done to remodel the story in the manga medium.
As much as Frozen II: The Manga incorporates these inner monologues, more focus does not equal greater depth, unfortunately. Instead, it only lends itself to a smoother, clearer picture of the characters. The downside is that the manga passes on the opportunity to expand on its world and characters in favor of a brief retelling. It makes complete sense for Disney to adapt one of its most cherished modern properties into a popular literary medium but, sadly, it doesn’t quite reach its potential -- wasting the chance to use the manga format to its advantage. Still, this simple, smaller retelling is a fun and delightful read nonetheless.
For those not familiar with the franchise, this isn’t the place to start. It’s a good supplementary piece, but in order to capture the magic that sparked the furor around Frozen, it would be best to begin with other mediums or the original work itself. Readers who are familiar with Frozen 2 will find a new appreciation in how the story establishes itself without the use of song, but they’ll most likely fail to be completely satisfied with a snack-sized version of the full, silver screen story. Frozen II: The Manga is ultimately something for superfans who will find pleasure in completionism.
0 Comments