By REBECCA P.
My thoughts
Najika is the daughter of two pastry chefs who died when she was young. Shortly after their death she met a young boy who cheered her up and gave her a spoon. The spoon had the emblem of Seika Academy, a prestigious school in Tokyo, and she was determined to find her prince. Oh, and she loves to cook and is amazing at it! Rest assured, Kitchen Princess isn’t just another shojo title. While it does have some cliches, it’s handled in a fashion that makes it new and refreshing in the genre.
Kitchen Princess is one of those rare manga that break stereotypical molds. There are some tried and true clichés well-known to the shojo genre such as her early encounter with the schools princes and their quick liking to her. However, there’s something refreshing and new about everything that Kitchen Princess does. With the exception of the bully, Akane, who is just plain annoying.
Speaking of characters, most of them are well, sweet. While even the main characters are a bit shallow without a lot of depth, it works for Kitchen Princess. Najika is happy, optimist, sweet and unusually mature and stable. While a lot of shojo heroines can be helpless, Najika stands as both an independent and dependent person who does the right thing and does it well. The outbursts she does experience from not being included are justified and while the first volume doesn’t state her age we can assume she’s in late junior high (14 most likely). The supporting characters are the usual, though maybe a little too perfect in some cases (Sora and Daichi), but mostly same old same old.
There’s a special flair to Kitchen Princess. It has a special something be it in the way it tells the story in a happy and fulfilling way, or just its cute style, it’s something hard to put down. As a special treat for kitchen lovers, the back of the manga includes the recipes for all the treats Najika makes. The story really moves things along, along with unique elements and it’s a hard series to stop.
If you love cooking, like cute stories or just like shojo Kitchen Princess is an irrestible manga. It’s not a simple or complex read and sits as a sturdy title. I know I can’t wait to read the next volume (ok, so I already did) and it’s a read that won’t be over in a snap or take as long as molasses. That being said, I highly recommend it and recommend it to your friends. Any desire to bake after reading is understandable too; it made me bake a gingerbread cake. Speaking of which … rice is done.
