Review by Frank Plowright

In her school Mika Mirasol is considered the strange girl, someone to be avoided. When summer comes she forges a letter from her dead Aunt Lola enabling her to remain at school when everyone else returns home for the summer. What the school doesn’t know is that Lola died, and what Mika didn’t anticipate is her planned solitude having to be shared with disruptive Halle and choirboy hunk Teo, with whom she’s kept in detention after an incident not of her doing.

The other relevant matter is Mika having been brought up by Lola to believe in magical ways and death hasn’t stopped Lola being there to watch over Mika, which she does as a butterfly. It quickly becomes clear that Mika’s magical abilities are flourishing, even if she’s not certain of what she’s doing. One mishap results in all three children being bonded and unable to stray far from the others.

Tori Tadiar keeps the art simple, the story flowing and the movement rapid. It’s as well the three main characters are visually distinct, as before they appear Tadiar’s not adept at distinguishing between small girls with dark hair in red uniforms. It’s also not always clear what’s happening, an early page showing all three protagonists shocked at what they’re seeing, but it takes some working out these are moving tree tendrils.

Having three people forced to remain together is a clever story device forcing levels of honesty that would otherwise remain unsaid, and also good is the use of Filipino culture and beliefs as a backdrop, which is never in a patronising way. Halle might drop a few sarcastic comments, but the beliefs are embedded as deeply in her as in the others. It makes for a different coming of age story because Mika’s able to learn in a supportive environment rather than having to figure everything out on her own. She learns to communicate with a succession of ancient and powerful beings, but will she be able to bring Lola back to life? It turns out she has a far greater task…

Upbeat despite tragedy, Daybreaker is consistently engaging with believable emotional dramas, although the general course is predictable, and Tadiar resorts too often to a convenient rescue. While a school is the starting point and the background, there’s a wise distancing of Ilustra from so many other school sagas by having so much occur elsewhere, and Mika’s final interactions with some very powerful beings. In the end friendship prevails and Tadiar’s set up enough backstory for a sequel.