Print Review: Kitchen Princess volumes 1-5

Review Kitchen Princess volumes 1-5Written by WarpshadowRating good/ very good

There isn’t too many stories about cooking but this shoujo manga is a charming enough try that if you like stories with younger sensibilities than this is a good manga for you to read.

When Najika was just a small child she lost her parents. She was saved from despair by a boy that gave her some flan. Even though she couldn’t remember the boy’s name she never forgot that act of kindness and kept the spoon as a keepsake. When she grew older Najika left the orphanage in Hokkaido where she used to live to study at the prestigious Seika academy. She feels a bit out of place in a school with so many gifted students but she finds her place when she finds out that her skill in cooking is far from that of the ordinary hobbyist. She also meets two brothers, Sora and Daichi, who take an interest in her. By some chance could one of them be the boy from her childhood?

Kitchen Princess is a shoujo manga that one can easily see from the character designs to be aimed at younger viewers. As is near universal in this genre a good amount of time is devoted to romantic relationships, in this case the love triangle between Najika, Sora and Daichi takes center stage. What makes this manga different and interesting is Najika’s cooking ability and how she uses her skills to not only overcome social obstacles but to also compete in contests. The love of cooking that this manga inspires doesn’t stop with the plot as the recipees for the food that Najika makes can be found on the back of the manga. I found Kitchen Princess to be a fun read and something I would recommend to those that read shoujo manga.