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| Art and story (c) Izumi Asuka (half color by me) |
Genre: Shojo
Length: 2 Volumes - 7 Chapters
Himegimi no Tsukurikata is a well polished manga art wise, I don't remember even one panel hitting the eye strange. The eyes, even in the silly drawings, are easy to pick up emotion in them and the drawings have good depth. It could be a little generic in initial style, but its doesn't look like a copy of anything; its so polished after all. The clothes, in particular, have the most to look at while reading. The story being about butlers and a princess, the extra work on the clothes is very essential at selling the story and they are well detailed. Body proportions were well done, a little lanky but no more than most shojo. There were times the word bubbles were crowding the page, though, and the action wasn't very action-y in what little of it there was. Overall, very strong right from the start.Maria Tanaka lost her mother six years ago and has lived alone since then, thanks to the help of others and her mother's advice. When two handsome young men, who are dressed to the nines, kneel before her and call her 'princess' it would be hard for any normal girl not to be skeptical but the two plead for her to listen to their story. Apparently, though she never knew it, her father is the king of a small European country and has fallen ill, he and her mother had to split up because of his position and she has been an unknown person until now. The two young men are her father's butlers and they have come to take her to meet her father for the fist time. Maria has the appropriate reaction to all of this, she tells them 'no way!'
Ooey Gooey. Those are the two words I would pick to describe this manga, its very warm and fuzzy, even in shojo terms. At a glance you may want to put the label 'love triangle' on it, too, though I think it would need more time to actually get that distinction. Time you do not get. The ending is abrupt, but its pretty amazing you get two volumes considering how loose the story is. I enjoyed reading it, and the two butlers are funny and charming but all the plot lines are one chapter long and her father is forgotten completely by the second volume. The main reason she has butlers, thus the whole point of the manga, is forgotten by the second chapter. Sorry I put that twice but it had to be repeated. From then on its pure hijinks, which are always fun, but as the plot doesn't seem to be continuing its a little distracting when you think too hard about it. Then it just ends with a chapter that was like all the others. Its very disappointing that there isn't a real ending after all the drama and make-up, too. The characters are a little generic and you only get a glimpse of dimension before all the ooey gooey starts once more, the potential is a little lost in shojo tropes right up to the end. If it had gone anywhere in the whole seven chapters it was given I think it might have had a chance. Its a good read but its not entirely fulfilling, a really good fluff read but don't expect a plot beyond what is given in the first chapter. I still really liked it, the humor is good and the emotions hit where they are supposed to (though way too often the same way they did the chapter before) but from a reviewing stand point its not so great as a whole picture. It has its moments but is not a coherent story all together.3/5 Read it and probably will read it again later, but not for it's intricate characters or plot lines.
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