Princess Princess

(Today's review is rated T for suggestive themes.)


You know, there are a lot of cute characters in manga. For instance, Kokon in Kon Kon Kokon has this adorable feeling that accompanies her character.








Karin from Kamichama Karin is just cute, period.













She's just as cute in the sequel, Kamichama Karin Chu.













Okay, so those weren't good examples because they made me look like a lolicon. Different versions of cuteness, I guess. Kasumi is a good example of one that doesn't make me look like a creep, though, as she is around my age. Who doesn't love a girl with invisibility powers?








Another great example is the girls from Princess Princess. They look really great, don't they?..
Wait, girls from Princess Princess? What's Princess Princess?
Well, I'll give you some background information before we get started.









Princess Princess is loosely based off of another manga by the same author, Family Complex. It follows young Akira, the "main character".












Basically, the storyline is that there is a family filled with beautiful people named the Sakamotos; all of which are extremely attractive-- except for Akira.











Akira supposedly sticks out like a sore thumb in his family, but in reality, he looks just as good as they do. The manga doesn't do a very good job of depicting him as normal when his looks seem to match the others.










The reason I don't accept Akira as a main character is because only a short part of the story follows him as opposed to what the back of the manga says. Because this manga is only one volume long, he obviously won't make much of an impact on the readers. The manga takes turns telling the stories of each of the family members who differ in looks and behavior.







The only scene I was very attracted to was this scene, mostly because this picture (which is of the parents) reminds me of somebody. In this scene, Fuyuki, the little sister, begins her story by saying she has never seen her parents fight. She is the introverted younger sibling who is doted upon by everyone in the family. Now I know how my little sister, Caitlin feels around me. I must get annoying.






I guess you could say the climax of the story is when Fuyuki is confronted by a pedophile, but even then the scene ends very quickly with something that just made me laugh. Sure, it was perverted humor, but it was incredibly funny. The man says, "Well, little girl, how about it?"

Fuyuki doesn't know what the man means, so she replies with one devastating word...






This part made me laugh so hard. I guess it's a guy thing, but I don't know how much funnier you could make a scene.












In the end, the quiet and introverted little girl somehow looks much older and... apparently becomes a little lesbian. That bothered me quite a bit because she was so cute before. I'm not homophobic, I just liked her as a cute little girl.










The ending of the manga (the author's commentary) brought a wave of sadness because regardless of the manga's flaws, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Something caught my attention on the next page, though...










"Wait, another manga called Princess Princess!? And it's made by the same author!"

Quickly, I looked over at my manga collection and sure enough...










I had five volumes of it! (I took this picture after making a mad dash for the first volume.)













Alright, so Kouno, a boy who transfers into an all-boys school, is the hero in this bizarre comedic story. That's innocent enough, right?












You'd think so, but why would it have a YA rating if it was just a comedy manga? Well, after reading a bit, I found that the manga is about a boy named Kouno and how he finds out that because the boys need an outlet for their romantic aspirations, certain boys with good looks are chosen to dress as girls so the other boys don't feel so discouraged. This comes with a range of benefits but still isn't very comfortable for Kouno. In other words...





That's right, these are all guys.













With dialogue like,
"Maybe he's a virgin."
"We're in high school... wouldn't it be weirder if I wasn't one?"
I can see how this manga got its rating. Although this is pretty softcore stuff, I don't know whether to call this manga a comedy, a shonen-ai, or a yaoi. I've only read the first volume, after all. I guess I'll fill you all in later.






Eventually Kouno takes his first breathtaking step into the world of mildly homosexual entertainment and acts as refreshingly as possible. In a way I'm envious; I wish I looked more like that. I only look sort of like that when my hair's sort of wet about 20 minutes after taking a bath or shower.








The response is definitely positive.













Eventually, Kouno tries out crossdressing. It annoys me that he's pretty because I'm not sure whether or not that makes me bi. I can't help it, don't judge me!











So that concludes the first interesting volume of Princess Princess. I'll be reviewing more manga soon!