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Esther Hanada’s Mega Manga Mix-Up

Synopsis for ESTHER HANADA’S MEGA MANGA MIX-UP

ESTHER, 13, enters the Los Angeles MangaFest convention filled with hope that she’ll get a mentorship—exactly what she needs to complete the application for her dream art high school. But her nemesis, CORA, sabotages Esther’s chance. Afterward, a stray page of Esther’s graphic novel flies through downtown, then bursts into flame on a homeless woman’s barbeque. As Esther stamps out the fire, she’s sucked into her own magical world, The Covered Land (CL).

Although CL looks like her drawings, the story has vastly changed. Armed guards roam once peaceful streets. Algae, CL’s only food, is spoiling. And, an arrogant teen punk rocker, SAN-LO, has arrived from another manga—Cora’s—and is treating everyone like his roadies. He’s determined to return to his world, believing he’s won the presidential election. 

After drawing her way home, Esther learns that she inherited this strange superpower from her mischievous grandmother. Attempting to fix her manga, Esther realizes two of her characters were switched with Cora’s during their simultaneous upload at MangaFest. She can’t undo the mistake. Cora goes ballistic—the mix-up has ruined her art school application, too. Since the deadline is five days away, Esther and Cora call a truce and work together. 

Back in CL, Esther meets her protagonist LAIN, a shy, but super-hot teen librarian. He begs for her help saving his friends, the camunkies (cat/monkey hybrids). CL’s leader has wrongly accused the camunkies of poisoning the algae and is hunting them. Esther agrees, if Lain will aid her returning the mixed-up characters. Esther finds a simple way to swap one of Cora’s characters for her own. Although she’s successful, the method harms her gentlest creature. She must find a safer way to remove San-Lo. 

This double life leaves Esther exhausted, juggling her Japanese mom’s chores, teasing caused by her Jewish dad’s wacky performance art, plus the problems in CL. After she slacks off on an art project about her mixed cultures, her teacher threatens to withhold a vital recommendation. 

Meanwhile, San-Lo discovers he lost the presidential election and allies with CL’s leader. His tunes hypnotize the citizens into obsessed fans. They stop working and the algae rots. Lain—also enthralled—discovers his hidden musical talent. Esther tries to stop San-Lo’s destruction without confronting him directly but is foiled by the Leader’s guards. She flees home, then digs deep to create an outstanding art project and secure her teacher’s recommendation. 

Esther returns to CL with Cora, hoping Cora can control San-Lo. They find the residents are still mesmerized and Lain is a zoned-out performer. The girls make earplugs from dried algae to awaken their friends. They confront San-Lo, showing him that instead of winning adoring fans, he’s starved CL’s citizens. San-Lo must stay in CL to fix the problems he caused. But, to balance the trade, Lain needs to replace him in Cora’s manga. Esther realizes that the hardest choice is the best one and agrees to let Lain go to pursue his newfound dreams as a musician.

Esther and Cora return home to fix their mangas just before midnight. They simultaneously press ‘send’ on their applications, then hug. There better not be another mega manga mix-up!