キッチンのお姫さま

KITCHEN NO OHIMESAMA

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
10
RELEASE
September 3, 2008
CHAPTERS
53

DESCRIPTION

Najika is a great cook who likes to make meals for the people she loves. But something is missing from her life. When she was a child, she met a boy who touched her heart—and now she’s determined to find him. The only clue Najika has is a silver spoon that leads her to the prestigious Seika Academy, but attending Seika will be a challenge. Every kid at the school has a special talent, and the girls in Najika’s class think she doesn’t deserve to be there. But Sora and Daichi, two popular brothers who barely speak to each other, recognize Najika’s cooking talent for what it is—magical. Is either boy Najika’s mysterious prince?

(Source: Kodansha USA)

Note: Volumes 4, 9, and 10 contain unnumbered side stories.

CAST

Najika Kazami
Daichi Kitazawa
Sora Kitazawa
Akane Kishida
Fujita
Seiya Mizuno
Kitazawa

CHAPTERS

RELATED TO KITCHEN NO OHIMESAMA

Cover Art for Kitchen no Ohimesama: Tenshi no Cake wo Sagase!

NOVEL DramaKitchen no Ohimesama: Tenshi no Cake wo Sagase!

REVIEWS

RoseFaerie
92/100
Just read this insane and iconic shoujo. You'll definitely get something out of it.
Kitchen Princess is an older shoujo from the Nakayoshi magazine. I recommended it to someone because I thought she'd like it, but things took a turn in a way I didn't expect. Little did I know, this simple action would be the catalyst for the Kitchen Princess resurgance on Anilist. It's practically a fan-club!

I was convinced to read it, and I was definitely impressed. It's such a wild ride. Thus begins RoseFaerie's Kitchen Princess ~~promotion~~ review.

The story begins when middle-schooler Najika Kazami, who has been accepted into Seika Academy for her extraordinary baking skills, as every student there is known for having a special talent. What brought her to the school was a silver spoon, left by the mysterious "Flan Prince" ~~who totally isn't me what would give you that idea, it's not like it's in my bio or anything~~. The Flan Prince is someone who deeply touched her, saving her life and giving her flan, something that cheered her up after becoming an orphan.

The plot of Kitchen Princess is very wild. It's very cute, sad, touching, and absolutely insane at different parts. Sometimes the tonal clash can be jarring, but I feel like it's part of the Kitchen Princess experience. It just adds to the insanity.

It's very difficult to talk about Kitchen Princess without mentioning the most surprising part, which leads to most of the chaos. It has a spoiler tag for a reason. If you do not want spoilers do not open it.

One of the love triangles got resolved when one of the love interests got hit by Truck-kun and died. Yep. That happened. That was just the major turning points in Kitchen Princess.

I feel like there were some things that were handled well in the plot like Sora's death. However, there were definitely things that were only added for The Drama™.

The Flan Prince mystery also definitely is something that takes some interesting twists. It's the heart of the series, and it definitely does its' part for the plot. There may be other drama that happens, but the Flan Prince mystery is never forgotten.

As for the characters, I feel like they were handled well. There was actually a lot of character development in Kitchen Princess, and I think that most of it was very good.

Najika was the one who I found to be the most static, actually but she serves a strong catalyst for the other four central characters to grow. I think she's written in a way similar to Tohru from Fruits Basket, though Najika definitely has a more fiery personality and drive to stand up for herself. She's so sweet and loving that it's hard to dislike her.

Speaking of the Fruits Basket comparison, I found the two love interests introduced to be very similar to Kyo and Yuki. They are the Mizuno brothers: Sora and Daichi. Sora is the favorite son, and he's a very popular and princely character. However, he has to live the way his father wants and do his bidding. Then, there's Daichi, the younger son who is regarded as a disappointment and harbors animosity towards his brother. He's more rough around the edges and lives away from the family. Both of them develop beautifully and I adore them (though I am partial to Sora).

The other two characters, Seiya and Akane are initially antagonists. Akane begins as a bully who is jealous of Najika's closeness to Daichi, but she evolves into a strong and kind person. I think her development was well done because even after warming up to Najika she doesn't do a 180 personality switch right off the bat. Her transformation takes time. Seiya also has a less than favorable introduction. (However, he has my favorite line in all of Kitchen Princess: "Don't change my food without my consent!") However, he does get fleshed out a lot, as well as a lot of character growth. His development was actually some of the most interesting.

I'll also mention the main antagonist for the second half of the series: The Director. He's just so extra and dramatic, yet so horrible. I won't go into any details since that's spoiler territory, but the man is insane and I can't decide whether to love or hate him. (I have a soft-spot for extra/unhinged characters.)

The art is also adorable. It's very classic shoujo with the huge sparkly eyes. I don't usually go for that (I prefer the more elegant styles), but I found it to be very cute and well done. I could tell that so much work was put into it. There's also all the sparkly backgrounds, and it's just all so lovely!

So should you read Kitchen Princess? Yes. Why should you listen to me? ~~Because I'm the Flan Prince~~ Because this is such a well done series with a sugary sweet exterior, but filled with surprising character depth and a wild and crazy plot. If you want something that simultaneously serves as a fluffy romance, a passionate coming of age story, and a heavy drama and does all of it well, look no further. Read Kitchen Princess.
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