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.

Originally posted Aug. 26, 2009
By REBECCA P.

My thoughts
In reading the first volume of A Perfect Day for Love Letters I was disappointed. It was not completely terrible, but it still wasn’t a manga to get your hopes up for (your $10.95 is better spent on one of Del Rey’s other series). That being said, let’s plunge into volume 2 and see what happens! One thing you will notice in this manga is there is less emphasis on love letters and some of the stories are just simple confessions of love through discreet ways (like taking swim lessons). The stories are all also longer and have better plots.

The good news is the manga really picks up and becomes a healthy dose of well paced one-shots about high school romance. The bad news is the artwork is still ugly. At one point in the manga a character states that a girl looks ugly that day and I thought in the back of my mind, “You mean there are attractive characters in this manga?”

If you’re looking for a healthy dose of romantic one-shots, A Perfect Day for Love letters volume 2 is a great collection to grab. It’s not without its faults (the stories are sometimes cliché, but they do have their share of fresh ideas), but they’re not boring. In reading the second volume I realized how boring the stories in the first volume were.

If you like one-shots and romance, this is a must-have. Beware of the terrible artwork (if you’re picky, you might want to steer clear). It’s also done by Del Rey which is one of the better manga publishing companies so you can expect to see additional information and accurate translations. One other thing to be warned of is that you won’t see a lot of development; this is a good collection to read for pleasure and not much else. That being said, if romance and one-shots are up your alley (and you can tolerate the artwork), head to the nearest bookstore and enjoy a copy. Oh, and feel free to breeze by the first volume.

Originally posted Aug. 5, 2009
By REBECCA P.

My thoughts
I really love short story collections which is what drew me to A Perfect Day for Love Letters. In it, we’re introduced to five short stories about different people (not necessarily high school students) finding letters of love that give them a hope of love or new love. Now, despite being a fan of short story collections, I found this one to be fairly disappointing, yet a good read.

To start off, the artwork isn’t pretty. It’s very simple and I found her character designs to be ugly. Even the backgrounds are as simple as necessary and something an amateur artist could easily do. It’s not the worst I’ve seen, but for readers who are picky about art styles, this may be a troubling series.

Artwork aside, the short stories themselves make up a little for the artwork. The stories are simple and are clichéd to an extent, but at the same time they do tell an interesting story. There are some hard issues dealt with in one or two of the stories, but there’s not enough emotional draw to them. The tricky thing about short stories in manga is they either affect you or seem like pointless garbling.

That being said, the premises are interesting. In a day where we are surrounded by technology, handwritten letters, especially love letters, are rare commodities; it’s a fresh idea. The stories have clichés and predictability, but they also have fresh dabs of something new making for a hit or miss collection of individual stories for the reader.

It’s hard to say whether I’d recommend A Perfect Day for Love Letters. The artwork isn’t great, the stories are hit or miss (I’ve seen better short-story collections), but the premise is interesting. If you want something a little different, you might find A Perfect Day for Love Letters a decent book to read through once. The same can be said of fans of short story collections. If you’re looking for romance, I wouldn’t recommend it because there are better stories on the market. If none of the above applies, I’d skip A Perfect Day for Love letters. It’s not a perfect collection, but some readers will enjoy George Asakura’s stories.