White Night Melody Volume 1 by Selina Lin (amazon)

I have to confess, I found the first few pages of this manhua confusing. What I thought were elaborately dressed toddlers fight over some tiny glass slipper charms, the charms fall into a fish bowl, and suddenly the kids are teenagers, saying that they’re happy to be human again. It turns out that Colleen and Jing Ping are dolls, hosting the bodies and personalties of a princess and her protector from the past. Colleen and Jing Ping’s human family don’t seem to remark on the fact that they have fighting, talking dolls so this required a bit of an adjustment to my usual healthy suspension of disbelief. I’m not sure if something about the translation could have made the introduction to the story more clear, or if it was just the way the manhua was written originally.
Once I got over the sentient doll thing, I followed the adventures of Colleen and Jing Ping as they adjust to teenage life in modern life. They go outside to explore, and Colleen is dismayed to see that her elaborate dress and ringlets are attracting the wrong type of attention. Jing Ping is quick to act as her protector, since he’s been trained in martial arts. As they begin to meet new friends when they start school, some of them seem to recognize them from the past, and a shadowy figure menaces Colleen.
Lim’s art occasionally looks a little stiff, but it has an extremely high cuteness factor in an old fashioned shojo style. The costumes of the characters, especially Colleen, are intricately detailed. The breezy style of the narrative reminded me a little bit of the works of Arina Tanemura. This was the first manhua I’ve read, and I was hoping for a few more Chinese-specific details shown in the plot or characters.White Night Melody is rated for ages 13+, but I can see it appealing mostly to younger teens and pre-teens who like their shoujo manga extra girly.

Review copy provided by Tokyopop.