Kitchen no Ohimesama

I picked up this book from a local library where it has a manga collection for kids. After a fast reading, I decided to borrow it.

The artwork is very sweet, like the book’ story of desserts. The story plot is a bit predictable, but I think it fits well with young-teenage-girl’s style. Lots of girls would love this book. The other sweet part of this book is that it includes dessert menu of which was made in the story. In volume 3, one of the main character Sora died abruptly. I guess this is for creating more volumes.

The way how Najika (kitchen princess) makes cake is very novel and interesting, with a warm and passionate heart. To me, this is the most beautiful part of the book. Reading it as a way of relaxation is very enjoyable, better with some dessert at the same time.

I saw this manga at the bookstore, and was intrigued enough by the cover to pick up a volume to give it a try. I must say, it wasn't money wasted... just not put to the amount of enjoyment that I wanted. Don't get me wrong, this manga is definately a ten- if you're around eight years old. That is precisely the age group that this manga was written for.

The plot is typical for a young girl's manga- a bright, bubbly girl as the lead, and two boys competing for her heart. Knowing that it was for young girls didn't make the plotline more palatable- I still winced when it became clear very early on who her 'prince' was. The lead's boys are stereotypical, cookie-cutter leads for their roles. One is the bright, friendly, most-loved son oif the family and the other is an angry, argumentative 'black sheep', if they can be called that at their ages. And the Lead Girl? She can cook, and she's nice. Not terribly original- these same concepts have been put to use elsewhere with better results.

Given the legnth of the manga, you don't really get more of their personality. Of course, you also have the standard mean classmates, clueless school administrators, and the lead girl always showing them the light with her cooking. I must say, all the dishes she makes look delishious, but it still doesn't say much when that's the most memorable part of the story.

Do NOT make this the end-all of your manga experience. Use it as a chance to leap into better and better series. If you're looking for good manga that's similar, try Shugo Chara! and Beauty Pop, or if you're a bit older, Chibi Vampire , Ouran High School Host Club, or even Ah! My Goddess. Those do the same story, but with a twist each time and are classics in their own right.

I found Kitchen Princess in my middle school library so I decided to read it. When I was in middle school, I liked them, I thought the story was good and I liked the recipes. But once I finished volume 3, my school didn't have the others so I just waited for them to add the others, but they never did. When I got older, I started to grow old of it so I completely forgot about. I might pick it up again in the near future but right now, I think Kitchen Princess is a mediocre story. It's not bad, it's not good, it's just right.

When you look at the cover of this manga, you might think to yourself, "This is a typical shoujo manga, and it's probably about some girl who likes cooking.". Your assumptions would be correct. So why have I given this an 8? What's so special about this manga?

STORY:8 The plot is common for a shoujo manga. Two popular boys fall for the nice, good girl protagonist. The protagonist gets bullied by others and yadayadablahblahblah. And of course, the true identity of the prince is pretty obvious. But I have to admit, there were some good, unexpected twists and sad scenes in this story, and that's what makes me give it an 8.

ART:9 I love the art in this. The characters are cute and the food looks delicious.

CHARACTER:6 MAINSTREAM CHARACTERS. MAINSTREAM CHARACTERS EVERYWHEREEEEE.
Their personalities have been seen 10000 times in shoujo manga and ehhh. I didn't feel much affection for them either. Honestly, I have to say the only one I liked was Fujita.

ENJOYMENT:8 This manga was a pleasant read. It wasn't moving or anything like that, but it was still nice enough to keep my attention. Some scenes were exciting, and happy endings are always nice.

OVERALL:8 Overall, if you're looking for a unique or realistic manga, this isn't for you. However, as some people have mentioned before me, this would be a good manga for someone who is new to shoujo manga (probably because they wouldn't be as familiar with the clichés). I'd also recommend it to people who like to look at pictures of delicious food because the sweets in here are just ^o^ !

It is a nice and cute manga about food and romance. The story is pretty good and the charcters are well defined.
HOWEVER the art just sucks. At the end of the manga I had to force myself to continue reading because it was just too painful to see. These enormous eyes and the mouth are just terribly drawn and the character's expressions are always the same, I seriously wonder whether the author just copy-pasted it. This was just so dreadful that it dragged the enjoyment down.
The romance part was fairly good tough, a lot of things happened you didn't expect to happen.
Also something else: There were far too many characters who changed from bad to good (I think it were like 5?) which were super unfitting and that really annoyed me.
Overall: I don't advice this manga to anyone who gives just the slightest amount of attention to the art when reading a manga.

As stories go, Kitchen Princess is fairly average. The art appears unsteady, the pace felt a bit too fast, the characters are trite, and some plot devices way too overused. Yet, I still found it an enjoyable read.

You have the new transfer girl who gets bullied by all the girls because she gets close to the most popular guy on campus (yawn). But she perseveres and with his help, wins them over to her side such that they now cheer on her relationship.

I did enjoy that the main characters don't drag on for five volumes about their secret crushes and martyr themselves for the next six volumes for their crush's happiness. Instead there was a more natural variety of paces, including some who got straight to the point. There was one plot device that was extremely contrived (and overused in this particular series) and seemed far too dark for a story otherwise perfect for pre-teen girls. The characters all gloss over it super fast too, making it wholly unrealistic. You really don't need that much sheer tragedy to try to incite sympathy for the main character.

Overall, Kitchen Princess isn't a work of art, but it's an enjoyable, fast read.

Story: I found this anime to be cute. Najika reminds me a lot of Tohru from Fruits Basket. Though she lost her parents, she tries to be cheerful for those who need it the most. So what is this about? When she was a little girl, Najika was rescued by a boy as she was drowning in a river, and this was after her parents died. The boy gives her a silver spoon to remember the day. Older now, Najika lives in an orphanage, and she is accepted to the best cooking school in...fictional Japan. Though she doesn't want to leave, her caretaker insists she go. Well, she does and she meets two brothers, Sora and Daichi, who both look similar to the boy who rescued her from the river when she was little. Sora is a gentleman, and Daichi is the complete opposite. However, they both try their to best to keep Najika in school whenever she gets picked on by the other students. Who is the one who saved her life? Well, I thought the story as cunning, and though Najika may be a stick sometimes, she has feelings, which keep the story going. 10/10

Art: The art does remind me of Gentlemen's Alliance Cross, but Kitchen Princess is less cluttered, which makes the pages nicer to look at. Though the brothers are supposed to look very similar, they are not identical twins. Yeah, it's the big eye shoujo manga, but it's not creepy or annoying. Plus, the artist did a fantastic job giving emotions to their faces. 10/10

Character: Najika is gonna like Tohru; she may not have personality in the beginning, but later on in the series, she begins to understand the real world a lot better than she did while she was living in the orphanage. I didn't hate her so much as her rival (I mean that girl was a real bitch); however, I would appreciate her being less of the stereotypical girl in a romance shoujo manga. Sora is a gentleman, but he is also a lady's man. Almost all the girls in the cooking school fawn over this boy, and I don't usually like that. I also don't like Daichi's asshole personality either, but the difference with Daichi is that he is very sincere when it comes to Najika. He tells her what she needs to hear, not what she wants to hear, which might be mean sometimes, but it's important as well. As the story goes on, Daichi becomes less and less of a jerk because he comes to realize what Najika had to go through when she was a child. He's also pretty jealous of his brother being so popular, which is understandable. 9/10

Enjoyment: Like Gentleman's Alliance Cross, I wanted to know what happened next. I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you much about this manga because it is only a few volumes, and if I give away too much, I would just spoil the manga for all of you. Let me just say that it doesn't have much humor, but it is extra sweet. Not annoying, but it's the type of manga that plays with your heartstrings and starts playing classical music with them. By the time this manga was done, I did tear up a little. 10/10

Overall: As said in Gentlemen's Alliance Cross, I've pretty much said everything I needed to say. If this manga were to become an anime, I would totally watch it for sure. Overall, the total score is a rounded up 10 out 10 as well.

Simply put, it's a sugar-encrusted dessert of a manga.

More elaborately put...well, let's start simply with the characters. Our protagonist Najika has a tragic history, but is an excellent cook and seems to be a very kind, caring and generally nice person. A little bit of a Mary-Sue, but not horrible.

Our two male leads don't have much background when we first meet them, and though this does change later, we still aren't very sympathetic with their love for Najika. The supporting cast is mediocre at best, most of the characters fitting easily into stereotypes without much pushing and shoving.

The tragedy of Najika's past is continually put into the spotlight, so that, I can only assume, readers feel more sympathy for her than they would otherwise. It was fine in the first five or six volumes, but by #9 it was just ridiculous.

The art is okay, it's nothing super-special. The food is drawn well with enough detail so you can tell exactly what it's supposed to be, but it's no mouthwatering gourmet meal leaping off the page.

This story is perfect if you're a younger reader looking to start out with a nice simple manga that's easy to read and enjoy, but if you've been reading for a while and are past the stages where you gape over the huge eyes and flip confusedly through the pages reading the wrong way, Kitchen Princess won't satisfy you.

Pros:
-Good for younger readers.
Cons:
-Plotline is overused.
-Characters come off as stereotypical.
-For $10.95 USD a volume, I would say it isn't worth the money.

Recommended? No.

This is one of the manga's I recommend to friends that enjoy a lighthearted story with romance intertwined. I wouldn't say this manga is one of my favourites, but I always find myself thinking back to it time to time. It's a mange that you can't forget very easily.
I say this because the first couple of chapters are lighthearted until you get hit with something you did not expect.
If you are losing hope in this mange, I recommend you read until you get to the middle because that is when the story really begins to launch.
Overall, I'd give this manga:

STORY - 9
CHARACTERS - 7
ART - 8

Kitchen Princess is an interesting and extreme Shojo-y Shojo manga. (If you read it, it makes sense) Spanning 10 volumes, it manages to hit many great story points in a manner that seems wholly believable. Is it cliched? To an extent. But then again, it's a Shojo manga, if you're surprised by cliches in this genre, you're proabably not the biggest reader of it.

Two quick things: Whoever you think the "Flan Prince" is, wait until the end of volume 10 to see if you're right.

This manga also gets very ...heavy starting in the end of the fifth volume.

Overall though, it is a very enjoyable manga that has already been released in its entirety in the U.S., so if you can, try and pick it up at your local bookstore (or just read it there, like I did).