Nakajo Hisaya - Sugar Princess, vol. 02 (Eng. trans.)
More shoujo fluff! I read volume 1 of this nearly a year ago, so I don't remember much, save that Nakajo had awesome sketches of figure skaters in the chapter breaks.
I'm also a little confused as to the status of the series. I thought it was a 2-volume series, and I'm fairly sure the Taiwan version has a "fin" character on volume 2, but Wikipedia hints otherwise.
So, Shun and Maya are working to save their rink! There is, of course, a nefarious plot against them, plus obstacles such as Maya's lack of money for a new skating outfit to surmount. Overall, nothing surprising happens, but I was still charmed by Maya's youth (she's 13, younger than most shoujo heroines I read) and Nakajo's knowledge of the sport. There isn't a ton of figure skating in here, but I enjoyed what I saw.
I think I mentioned it in my write up of volume 1, but I very much appreciate that the scope of this is so small, that it's not Maya turning into a figure skating prodigy and going to the Olympics or something. My impression is that Nakajo's figure skating fannishness works for her in that respect; she knows what's more within the realm of possibility. Although I still laughed when we find out Maya's Sekrit Power, because it wouldn't be a sports series without one!
I also found the lack of romance refreshing.
Cute but probably not interesting to people who don't care about figure skating, although it's possibly suitable for a much younger audience than some of the shoujo I read.
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I'm also a little confused as to the status of the series. I thought it was a 2-volume series, and I'm fairly sure the Taiwan version has a "fin" character on volume 2, but Wikipedia hints otherwise.
So, Shun and Maya are working to save their rink! There is, of course, a nefarious plot against them, plus obstacles such as Maya's lack of money for a new skating outfit to surmount. Overall, nothing surprising happens, but I was still charmed by Maya's youth (she's 13, younger than most shoujo heroines I read) and Nakajo's knowledge of the sport. There isn't a ton of figure skating in here, but I enjoyed what I saw.
I think I mentioned it in my write up of volume 1, but I very much appreciate that the scope of this is so small, that it's not Maya turning into a figure skating prodigy and going to the Olympics or something. My impression is that Nakajo's figure skating fannishness works for her in that respect; she knows what's more within the realm of possibility. Although I still laughed when we find out Maya's Sekrit Power, because it wouldn't be a sports series without one!
I also found the lack of romance refreshing.
Cute but probably not interesting to people who don't care about figure skating, although it's possibly suitable for a much younger audience than some of the shoujo I read.
Comment | Read Comments | Link