Celestial Chronicle

Akemi always wanted to be a magical girl – or something – but it’s turning out to be… less fun than she might have hoped. On the other hand, it never occurred to Shoichi that someone might try to put him in a skirt and expect him to take orders from a talking tree. Between them, they’re supposed to be fighting the Infernal Multitude, collecting shards, finding the rest of the Celestial Guard, and passing their entrance exams for university. All of which would be complicated enough without throwing the enigmatic Kestrel – friend? foe? quite into Shoichi? – into the mix…

Celestial Chronicle is a superhero story in the style of Japanese magical girl anime, and in particular a homage to Sailor Moon. It started life as a web serial, until I realised that posting it chapter by chapter was breaking my brain. I’m now in the middle of rewriting it as a trilogy of novels. If you were reading along before and would like to know more, this blog post goes into details.

Book 1: Web of Shadows
Preview: Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3
Book 2: Sands of Time
Book 3: The Maze and the Mirror


Characters

Guardian Sol / Shimada Akemi: Impulsive tomboy cinnamon roll who doesn’t see any reason not to just set things on fire until they stop being a problem. 17 years old, in her last year of high school in Osaka, Japan.

Guardian Luna / Tsunekawa Shoichi: Self-conscious lonely cinnamon roll who doesn’t really know how to friend and spends a lot of his life trying to fit in. 17 years old, in his last year of high school in Osaka, Japan.

Kestrel / Yasuda Satoru: Angsty bundle of insecurity and sadness but honestly can you blame him? 18 years old, in his first year of a university he didn’t want to go to studying subjects he has no interest in, weighed down by a tragic destiny, really needs a hug. Definitely Quite Into Shoichi.

Guardian Astra / Takada Hikari: Utter sweetheart. Shy trans girl, 14 years old, her parents are paying for private hormone treatment to ensure she passes throughout puberty. Total computer nerd and gamer geek, but tries to hide it for fear it’s sufficiently unfeminine that it might out her.

Guardian Marina / Ishimura Tatsuya: Kind of a dick. Gets better. 17 years old, in a different class at Akemi’s high school. He’s a walking example of unexamined privilege. He’s about to get a shock when he’s told he’s a magical girl now and not even the one in charge of the team.

Guardian Terra / Asano Kazue: Quiet, reserved, proper lady, 21 years old, at university studying any old thing while she waits to get married to her fiance Yoshiro, just like her family wants. This is fine. It’s totally fine. Also about to get a shock when she’s told she needs to run around attacking monsters in her time off.