Miriya is a rich girl who can have anything she wants, except seeing her parents. On her birthday, she receives a gift she'd never expect — a magical talking cat appears out of nowhere and takes her to Paris one century into the past to train her to be a skillful witch.
Miriya & Marie (べっぴん魔女ミリヤ＆マリー — from DISNEYおしゃれキャット, lit. "The Elegant Witch Miriya & Marie from Disney's The Aristocats") is a Magical Girl manga created by MAYA and Disney, which was serialized in Pucchigumi from 2009 to 2012. It's loosely based on Disney Animated Canon's film The Aristocats. Republished by Tokyopop in English as Disney Manga: Miriya and Marie in 2018.
Miriya & Marie provides examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptational Badass: Marie from The Aristocats is now a magic teacher.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Similar to Disney's modern depictions of Marie, she's notably sweeter and friendlier compared to her original movie counterpart. Her spoiled and tattletale attitude is entirely removed.
- Adapted Out: With the exception of Duchess, other characters from the original movie (notably Marie's brothers Toulouse and Berlioz) are entirely absent, which could explain why Marie is notably happier and never angry. However, Leon's cat companion Blackey strongly resembles Berlioz.
- All Witches Have Cats: Marie and Blackey are Miriya and Leon's mentors in magic.
- And Your Reward Is Edible: Most rewards for magic tests are French or Japanese confectionery.
- Animals Not to Scale: Compared to other animals, the residents of the Maze are as big as humans, including insects.
- Animorphism: Miriya transforms herself and Leon into cats during Christmas Episode, and herself into a dog to find an original painting between it and a copy.
- Artistic License – Biology: Try following this. Foara the whale asks the gang to investigate her stomacheache from inside. Disregarding that there's an ocean-sized maze inside her stomach, it turns out the whale is pregnant, but can't give birth because the baby is caught in a net that the mother accidentally swallowed. To reiterate, the baby whale is not in the womb, but lying in the corner of a stomach-cave.
- Audience Participation: The manga has a few minigame pages, like spotting a difference between two paintings and counting the objects on page. More directly, a chapter asks the reader to help Miriya to color her new dress, though it defaults to all pink later.
- Author Guest Spot: Early chapters end with a bonus page of MAYA and Sonoda visiting Paris for the first time.
- Awesome Underwater World: In one chapter the cast explores the ocean while looking for a dolphin's mother, Scenery Porn ensues.
- Big Eater: Miriya can't resist French pastries, and accidentally ruins Poyoyon's gingerbread-made cafe in a rush (He admits he repairs it frequently, but Miriya repairs it with Japanese sweets).
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Leon and Blackey first appear as very nice despite being Miriya's rivals, then they mockingly tell her she's unqualified as a witch for being unable to eat Snail Stew and continue to taunt her later. They get nicer.
- Breakout Character: The Aristocats is proven to be popular in Asia to get a lot of side materials, a spin-off with Marie as the main character is just another proof.
- The Charmer: The first thing Leon does meeting Miriya is to kiss her in the cheek. She stops being worried about where she is right after that.
- Cheshire Cat Grin: Blackey has a permanent face-wide smug grin on him.
- Company Cameo: The Disney logo appears occasionally across the manga: Leon makes a loop shaped like one during a race with Miriya, and the logo is present on macarons and accessories.
- Costume Porn: The gang wears both French dresses and Japanese kimonos that are richly decorated, and also make them for others.
- Crystal Ball: Marie and Duchess bring up a recorded message from Miriya's parents in a glass ball.
- Culture Clash: Most things Miriya creates are part of Japanese culture, which impresses French characters.
- Cute Witch: Miriya becomes a young witch in training as the premise.
- Demoted to Extra: Marie introduces Miriya to her mother Duchess, but she doesn't have much of a role. She never reappears again in the manga after witnessing the magic crystal ball getting stolen.
- Dream Reality Check: Miriya keeps wondering if being hurt is enough of a proof that she's not dreaming.
- Edible Theme Clothing: For an exam to make a chocolate decoration, Miriya makes a chocolate dress. What impresses Madame Cream Puff more is that it can be eaten while wearing it.
- Explosive Breeder: A baker mouse is looking for his missing children. Miriya finds 88 of them.
- Eye of Newt: Miriya uses "sunshine" (drying a cloth under a smiling sun) as an ingredient for prefume.
- Failed a Spot Check: The cast have to look for Lola's (the horse) sister Mola among hundreds of regular horses, in the end Miriya resorts to magic to find her. The blue horse with rich accessories standing at higher ground who looks just like Lola is not conspicuous, at all.
- Fiction 500: On a birthday, Miriya gets a giant cake, dresses she can't wear all in a lifetime and a thousand of videogames, as gifts from all over the world.
- Flying Broomstick: The first thing Miriya learns in Paris is to how to ride a bouquet-themed broom and faceplants into a clock tower. Leon has a lock-themed one.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: While on a test, Leon takes the fruit that keeps you young for 100 years first but gets trapped in wines. Miriya has to choose between the fruit or Leon and decides to give the fruit back to the tree. Turns out that was the real test.
- Good Morning, Crono: The story starts with Miriya being woken up by her housekeeper to celebrate her birthday.
- Green Aesop: Leon decides to write about the problem of ocean pollution after a net gets in the way of whale's birth.
- Height Angst: Leon gets embarrassed that Miriya turns out to be slightly taller than him.
- Hitodama Light: A ghost who fails to scare guests away by being too cute is followed by three hitodamas.
- Honesty Aesop: Marie delivers that lying is bad and Be Yourself to a ghost that tricks Marie with a scary puzzle.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: A ghost tries to intimidate humans but admits being lonely.
- Indy Escape: The cast runs away from a round boulder while exploring the Maze.
- Inexplicable Language Fluency: Aside of occasional Gratuitous French, Miriya can understand all French and animal characters and vice versa. Blackey also tries to charge Miriya for massage in yen despite being French.
- Instant Expert: Miriya masters magic spells on her first try, the only setback is that she's a bit airheaded.
- It's All About Me: Blackey is as versed in magic as Marie, but the things he creates are all something nobody but him would want, like jewelry made out of fish bones.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Miriya's parents are away, and she misses them, despite receiving anything else a kid could want.
- Magical Land: Paris of the past is effectively a host for magicians, Talking Animals and fantastic shops.
- Mentor Mascot: Marie serves as Mr. Exposition and the teacher of magic to Miriya. Blackey is the same to Leon.
- Nearly Normal Animal: Marie, Blackey, and other animals can talk normally with humans.
- Parental Abandonment: Miriya's parents' whereabouts in the beginning is unknown, something that drives Miriya to tears every time she gets reminded about it. It turns out they are both wizards away "busy wizarding", and are home in the ending.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Any dress Miriya creates is excessively decorated and wide.
- Pink Means Feminine: In case the manga being primarly colored in pink wasn't a clue that it's meant for young Shōjo Demographic, all Miriya's clothes are pink, including fur when she transforms.
- The Rival: Leon is a warlock in training and a Jerkass to Miriya, but later considers her to be a Worthy Opponent.
- Saving Christmas: Miriya helps Santa and exhausted deer by making a fruit stew bath for them.
- Space Is Magic: The space is willed with small edible stars and France-themed constellations. Miriya also turns shooting stars Space Pirates into a tiny galaxy to please them.
- Spin-Off: Besides having Marie (and Duchess) from The Aristocats and Disney logos scattered around, the manga has nothing related to the original movie.
- Shout-Out: To demonstrate her quick-change spell mastery, Miriya transforms into Kaguya-hime from The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.
- Taught by Television: Miriya knows to navigate mazes by the wall from playing an online ninja videogame.
- Telephone Teleport: Marie appears from Miriya's (gold and gem-decorated) phone and teleports her to 1910 Paris.
- That Was Not a Dream: In the finale Marie tells Miriya that her training is over, and she has to return to Japan after two years of staying in France. Miriya wakes up in her house and cries depressed for a month straight. Then Marie, Leon and Blackey come over, invited by her parents.
- Time Travel: Miriya gets transported from modern Japan to 1910 France to study magic. It being set in the past is never alluded on, and also how old her parents would be if they know Marie is never addressed.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Leon regularly insults Miriya for being a novice mage in early chapters, but tones down after being impressed by her feats and also doesn't act so overconfident. In penultimate chapter he gives a Love Confession to her, though she doesn't address it, being more worried about having to leave soon.
- True Beauty Is on the Inside: Out of pity for talking ugly vegetables (one admits being eaten by bugs), Miriya turns them into beautiful meals and Marie states that always what's inside matters.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: In the manga, Marie is extremely intelligent on any information about witchcraft and a warlock, alongside history of Paris, France. Not bad for a kitten who's the youngest of Duchess' kittens. The manga even reveals that Marie actually moved away from Madame Bonfamille's Mansion at an unknown period and lives at her own house.
