Title: Kitchen Princess #1
Manga by Natsumi Ando
Story by Miyuki Kobayashi
Publisher: Del Rey
ISBN: 978-0-345-49620-1
May Contain Spoilers
Najika is an orphan, and a chance encounter with a mysterious boy changes her life. He saves the young Najika from drowning, and soothes her distress over the loss of her parents with a flan. Left with only his ornate spoon, Najika vows to make him a delicious dessert in exchange for his help. Searching for him, she discovers that the crest on the spoon belongs to the exclusive Seika Academy in Tokyo, and she studies hard to be admitted into the school.
Once she arrives, she learns that it doesn’t quite live up to her dreams. Part of the A class, every one of her classmates has a special talent that makes them stand out. As she gains the attention of the two hottest guys in the school, her classmates think that Najika is too ordinary to be in the A class. Will she be able to discover her own special talent?
This was a pleasant enough read, but it didn’t contain anything unique. Najika is your typical cheerful in the face of adversity heroine, whose pleasant, trusting nature makes it easy for others to pick on her. The feuding brothers, Sora and Daichi, reminded me of Kyo and Yuki from Fruits Basket, especially when they race after Najika after discovering her farewell note. I had a definite sense of deja vu during that dramatic sequence.
Things, of course, are not rosy for Najika. Right off the bat, she earns the animosity of Akane, a beautiful model. When Akane and her little group of hangers-on discover that the only talent Najika possesses is a talent for eating, they’re offended by her presence in their class. They feel that she’s going to bring the class down with her lack of special skills. Akane pretends to be buds with the unsuspecting Najika, but uses every opportunity to make her look bad. This is one plot device that I am beginning to find tedious.
The art is very clean and detailed. The book is populated with starry eyed characters who blush at the drop of a hat. Najika, to her credit, spends most of the book with a cheerful smile, even when the other girls are bullying her. The culinary adventures zip along, and the panels are attractively arranged throughout the pages.
As an added bonus, there are recipes included in the back for the dishes that Najika whips up during the story.
Kitchen Princess tastes a little stale, as there aren’t any new ideas or concepts cooked up within its pages. It wasn’t a bad read, but the contents won’t linger much beyond the last page.
Grade: C+
Rated for Teens 13+
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11:09 pm
Sounds like my kind of shoujo read XD
7:02 am
I actually felt a brief burst of curiosity about this series, but after reading this review I think I can get that out of my system…if anything I think I’d get annoyed with it if I read it.
7:06 am
I hope, now that the set up is behind us, the story will improve in the next volume. If not, at least the art is pretty to look at!
7:56 am
[…] AoD’s Jarred Pine enjoys vol. 1 of Shaman Warrior. At the Mangamaniaccafe, Julie is reading vol. 1 of Kitchen Princess, vol. 1 of My Dead Girlfriend, and vol. 3 of Nodame Cantabile. At Comicsnob, Matt Blind reviews […]
10:00 pm
I think the story is adorable, but my preferences are usually towards these cheesy plots. It’s very entertaining, and I enjoy that there are recipes given at the end of each book. My only problem is that I’m getting a little tired of the heroine stuck between two handsome brothers. XD I somehow always find these kinds of stories…
6:25 pm
i wanna read kitchen princess online where can i find it online? =D
4:26 pm
OK WHERE CAN I READ IT ONLINE!
7:14 pm
I don’t know but i’ve been looking
I read the first volume
very amusing now i’m dying to read the rest
anyone know of a website?
3:17 pm
Hm……I bought this manga today and I was wondering where else can I find the second manga??
4:21 pm
If your local store doesn’t have it, Amazon or Right Stuf should.
7:57 pm
ummm…if u guys want to read it go to a Chapter store or u can also but it in chapters book store or Sakura media….. since its a holiday its 25% off
4:09 am
OK WHERE CAN I READ IT ONLINE! All the parts! I already completed 1,2,3 but now i’m dying to know who her flan prince is!!!
9:02 pm
her flan prince is Sora
11:23 pm
i hate akane!
7:48 pm
sora is not her flan prince he just pretended to be
5:49 pm
yup SORA is not her flan prince..
SPOLIER!!
sora dies….yupp i checked wikipedia
and the flan prince is a cooking master..but i want
10:41 am
Who is the cooking master? and does she know that????
12:16 pm
Sora isn’t her flan prince, and he dies. But a new guy has come along and is to be discovered in volume 7. WHERE CAN I READ IT ONLINE?!?!
4:43 pm
Well… you really cant Akane because she’s
much more nice in the 5 and 6 book! Akane and Najika become friends!
5:45 pm
where can i read it onlinei dont have time to go places to read themi only read the 1st volume
3:06 pm
i cant find where i can watch it online?
9:35 am
u cant read online!!!!!!! just buy it if ya cant UR problem! ^^
2:40 pm
where can i read the manga series of the kitchen princess!i’m a addict of it! it’s fun to read..ajajajajja
10:40 pm
SPOILER AHEAD!:
Akane’s mean in this volume, but I don’t hate her! She’s the only one nice later when Sora dies!!(and Daichi’s nice too!)
It’s sad ’cause Sora isn’t her flan prince
6:48 pm
I like akane and daichi.
ugh i totally wanna read it but ive only read 1-5 (i borrowed from a friend)
oh and if you like this manga i suggest reading beauty pop
great manga
8:05 am
Hey ppls… Like, I read 6~7 but it’s in Chinese and I know what happens.
Spoiler*
So volume 6 continues that Sora dies, then Najika was in such a shock she lost her sense of taste. But she still goes to the competition because it’s Sora’s dream. Then Daichi yells to her from the crowd, " Your body remembers the movements. You can do it! This is for yourself! This is also for Sora!" Then he starts crying and gets comforted by Fujita (I forgot his name…). So she makes it after hallucinating that Sora came to cheer her on. But right after she finishes she faints and was taken to the hospital. When she woke up Daichi told her she didn’t win. Then the director told her to get out and "Return Sora to me." (He really pisses me off). Then Daichi goes to talk to his dad (a.k.a. the director) and he (Daichi) agreed to replace Sora and become his father’s doll in order for Najika to stay at the school. Who knows? Then Najika runs away to his parent’s olde house (LOL) in somewhere but it was already sold to another family of a mother and a kid (they come in at the end of the book). So Najika runs and slides down a mountainside and faints, so to speak: on the brink of life and death. Then Fujita tells Daichi where Najika might have went and then Daichi follows. Najika then hallucinates that she was talking to her parents and Sora, saying, "I wanna be with you guys. Just let me go!" But her parents didn’t let her and Sora tells her he’s gonna "plant a rainbow and show her she’s not alone." Then surprise surprise, Najika wakes up and sees Daichi in her face, with a rainbow above him. So Daichi said he followed the rainbow and found Najika. So they go back to the olde house, whom Daichi had already explained to the owner. So Najika makes yogurt bread (like Azuma) and the volume ends… wait not yet. (I’m recalling all this from memory ppls, don’t complain…) Then Najika got transfered to class B and was dissed hecka lot but she was all like, F* off!! No I’m just kidding. But Daichi was acting like his dad’s doll and was acting exactly like Sora did, except Najika and Akane didn’t like it. But when Najika gave Daichi some potato cake when Daichi came to the diner, Daichi was all like, "Shit this is good!" And becomes his old self again. I shiver when I think about Daichi like Sora… shivers. He was wearing glasses and his tie was tightened… And his shirt was tucked in. Ugh. shivers. So then the next day Some guy comes to the diner and demands for the special. When he took a bite, he says he hates it and it was disgusting, and asks Fujita to throw it away. Najika just happens to be outside and gets pissed off, then yanks off his hat (either that or he pulled it off himself). Who’d have thought? The hat unmasked the Sora look-alike!!!! Dun Dun Dun… And the volume ends.
To be continued…