Miyuki Kobayashi (story), Natsumi Ando (art)
Kodansha, 2012
$14.99, Softcover
978-1935429449
Genre: Graphic Novels, Realistic, Romance, School Story
Age: 10+
Description: Najika is a natural cook. She was orphaned when both of her
parents, also good cooks, died in an accident. Since then she has practiced her
cooking skills and is accepted to the prestigious Seika Academy. One reason why
she wanted to study there is because when she was a young child she met a boy
who shared his meal with her and left her a special spoon with the academy’s
symbol on it. He touched her heart so much she became determined to cook him
just as good a meal and she hopes to find him at the school. However, attending
Seika will be a challenge for her because everyone has a special talent and
most of her classmates (who at first don’t realize her talent is cooking and
being able to smell and taste singular ingredients) think she doesn’t deserve
to be there. Luckily for her she runs into Sora and Daichi, two popular
brothers (who hate each other) but who recognize Najika’s rare talent. Could
one of these boys be her mystery guy?
Opinion: I love how a lot of manga publishers are re-releasing
series in nice omnibus editions. I picked Kitchen
Princess to read since I am obsessed with Gordon Ramsey’s kitchen reality
shows. So I thought, “A cooking manga? That might be fun!” The book is a quick
read and follows a pretty common manga storyline—the mysterious person from
your past who you hope to find by attending a special school. Najika is a great
character because even though she gets down when the other classmates dismiss
her as talentless she always tries to make the best of a situation. When a mean
girl who happens to have a talent for modeling acts like her friend and then treats
her cruelly Najika takes the situations and makes them work for her. When she’s
told to go to a “popular” on campus restaurant for a job she shows up in a
place that is deserted and, with a few recipes, turns it into the hot spot on
campus. When she is given a dress and asked to bake a cake for the holiday
program and is embarrassed when she sees a huge commissioned cake and hears the
model say she stole the dress, Najika spends the whole evening baking gingerbread
cookies to hang on the large Christmas tree for everyone to eat. Clearly, one
of the boys (Soja or Daichi) is her mysterious boy but we will see Najika in a
lot of funny predicaments before we discover which boy is which. The manga is
broken into chapters with a specific food theme and whatever that item is the
end of the volume includes recipes with manga illustrations for aspiring chefs
to try at home. My only complaint—Najika is supposedly an eighth grader. She
doesn’t look 12/13 years old.
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