残念妖精ドルマさん

残念（ざんねん）

This word can mean bad luck, regret, disappointment. When someone is going through a rough patch in life you could harshly say this to mean “that’s too bad”. (Note: A better less socially inept way to say it would be “かわいそう”). I will go with the word “disappointment” and see if I have to change it slightly according to the next word.

妖精（ようせい）

The first kanji can mean “attractive, bewitching, calamity”. The mascot for this manga is kinda cute (attractive) but kinda creepy at the same time. The second kanji can mean “ghost, fairy”. From the definition itself it can mean sprite or elf as well. However, I’ll go with “fairy”. Put this together with the first word and you get “Disappointing Fairy” or better yet “Pitiful Fairy”.

On another note, 妖精さん can mean an older worker who doesn’t have much to do anymore. If you ever read the first chapter of this manga, this character is basically a washed up magical girl mascot character (notice the poor stitch-job in the picture).

ドルマさん

 This is just the name of the fairy aka mascot of the magical girl. It reads Doruma and さん is just putting respect on the little guy’s name. Unfortunately (残念), it doesn’t get much respect in the manga.

So put it all together, you get “Pitiful Fairy Doruma-san”. Since this manga is relatively new (meaning no official english release at this time) I can only give an unofficial translation. Hopefully, they come up with something better if it does get picked up. 

So far from reading the first chapter, it is about a magical girl mascot character looking for a new magical girl to team up with. However it doesn’t look as cute as normal characters in this profession are. On top of that it’s comically large. I love how avant garde the design is. Usually in magical girl anime the mascot character is supposed to be small and cute but…

Anyway, Doruma meets this girl who is just trying to buy some stuff at the convenience store and wants to make a contract with her. If she signs the contract she also gets a wish (I’m getting Madoka Magica vibes here). Especially since she’s the only one who is able to see Doruma. It’s got some good comedy and you’ll be surprised what she wishes for so she can become a magical girl.

If you are interested in reading it (it has furigana), you can find it on Comic Newtype.

There’s also a volume of the manga on Bookwalker. Here’s a PV: