Backstage Prince, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Kanoko Sakurakoji (Author)

Book Description

Series: Backstage Prince | Publication Date: March 6, 2007

Drawn into the exciting world of kabuki theatre, young Akari spends her time after school assisting the internationally famous actor, Shonosuke Ichimura. In the real world, however, this prince of kabuki is actually a high school cutie by the name of Ryusei.

Akari is totally clueless about kabuki--and boys--but she's eager to learn about both. Her first encounter with Ryusei doesn't go very well, but with the help of a cat named Mr. Ken, the two teenagers quickly become prince AND princesses of kabuki. Love was never so dramatic!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ordinary girl Akari follows a belled cat into a kabuki theater in an opening scene reminiscent of Alice's trip to Wonderland. High school hottie Horiuchi, earlier hurt by Akari's accidental entry, turns out to have broken ribs and a great talent for the stage. Akari becomes his assistant, even though she knows nothing about kabuki, and he hates everyone. There's lots of internal monologue as Akari ponders Horiuchi's attitudes and her feelings about him. He tolerates her because she's the only one who keeps trying to spend time with him regardless of his bad attitude. She falls almost instantly in love but fears her feelings because she'll never fit in his world. Panels consist of the traditional shojo manga focus on heads and facial expressions. The story is similarly traditional, straight romance with the emotionally blocked male needing female redemption to express love. (If this sounds familiar, it's been the grounding for countless Harlequins.) This book provides the emotional drama of Sensual Phrase without the sex, making it suitable for a teen-and-up audience and anyone who loves the roller coaster of feelings as two people meant for each other find each other. (Mar.)
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About the Author

Birthday: August 1 (Lion)

Blood type: AB

Born in Tokyo.

Debut title: Live ga Hanetara (Serialized in Deluxe Betsucomi in 2000), which won the 45th New Manga Artist Award of Shogakukan. Sakurakoji is a prolific artist having completed 9 separate series' in her young career. The artist is also the owner of a cat that was featured in a recently published picture book (roughly translated as Shojo Artists and Their Cats). Kanoko Sakurakoji is a fan favorite in the pages of Betsucomi Flower Comics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: VIZ Media LLC; 1 edition (March 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 142151172X
• ISBN-13: 978-1421511726
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #920,245 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kanoko Sakurakoji was born in downtown Tokyo, and her hobbies include reading, watching plays, traveling and shopping. Her debut title, Raibu ga Hanetara, ran in Bessatsu Shojo Comic (currently called Betsucomi) in 2000, and her 2004 Betsucomi title Backstage Prince was serialized in VIZ Media's Shojo Beat magazine. She won the 54th Shogakukan Manga Award for Black Bird.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kimonos, Kabuki, and a sweet romance! Love it!, March 5, 2007

By 

Manga Librarian "missrelena" (Hurricane, Utah, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Backstage Prince, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Ever wonder if famous actors are really as cool and calm as they appear? Well Ryusei certainly isn't! He is so painfully shy that he claims to hate people in general. Akari is the exception to that rule. She's sweet, happy and always eager to help. After accidently clobbering him with her heavy bookbag, Akari becomes Ryusei's backstage assistant till he heals from the major bruises she inflicted. Before the black and blue fades, (with the help of his pet cat, Mr. Ken) the young kabuki actor warms up to the lovable and kind high school girl and she falls head over heels for him. Now the only things standing in the way of cute lovey-bliss are his strict kabuki heritage, the fact that they can only see each other while he's backstage, and his rabid fangirls.

This story was origially released in America in the Shojo Beat magazine, and I'm so happy its been put out as it's own manga. I highly recommend it for the romatic-comedy sap in all of us! My only complaint is. . . I have to wait till June for vol. 2!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Start, April 10, 2007

By 

M. E. BURNS "lover of fine media" (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Backstage Prince, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

The titular prince of this manga is Ryusei, high school student and heir to a Kabuki theater dynasty. While a very popular and technically proficient actor, he is cold to everyone around him and only feels close to his cat, Mr. Ken. (Kawaii!) Into this world stumbles fellow student Akari - very normal by her own admission - a newbie to the world of Kabuki but attracted to Ryusei just the same. Fate obliges her to become an assistant to Ryusei, where she discovers the boy beneath the cold exterior, and their relationship slowly begins to deepen...

I feel like this series has a lot of potential - Kabuki is a fascinating art and the romance between Ryusei and Akari is very sweet. (Oh yes, and Mr. Ken is adorable. I like cats; I can't help it.)

My biggest problem with Backstage Prince is that the characters all seem a little flat, fulfilling basic roles (gossipy classmate, stern traditionalist father, seemingly perfect tarento, etc.) and not having lives of their own. This is possibly because the book is pilot of sorts for the series, focusing on establishing plot more than illuminating characters; I hope so. At worst this is a sign of storytelling in the vein of Mayu Shinjo's Kaikan Phrase: uninspiring bishonen, female characters who are either boyfriend-stealing snakes or easily manipulated, and a meaningless, soap-operatic plot. Here's hoping the upcoming volume clears the air.

1.0 out of 5 stars Nothing New, December 7, 2011

By 

S. Grant (Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Backstage Prince, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

There is nothing new and exciting about this particular manga. It rehashes stories that have been told hundreds of times before and those were likely to have better drama. This would have been better as a one shot story than two books of manga. I'll read the next one, since there are only two, but I can not see myself coming out of that one any more excited. No drama, no real storytelling. Everything ends up nicely tied up in a bow after every chapter. Too easy.