Sugar Princess: Skating To Win, Volume 2 (Paperback)

by Hisaya Nakajo (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Young girls will love this skating shojo!

With a new owner threatening to close down their skating rink, Maya and Shun team up for a pairs skating competition in a bid to save the place. Can Maya and Shun get their act together and skate well enough to come out on top?

Maya Kurinoki is an 8th-grader who has no experience in ice-skating but seems to have natural talent. She performs a double axel and impresses a scout named Eiji Todo, who tells her that he can make her a skating "princess." Todo tells Maya that she'll have to convince famous skater Shun Kano to coach her and become her skating partner. Unfortunately for Maya, Shun only wants to skate singles.

About the Author
Hisaya Nakajo's manga series Hanazakari no Kimitachi he (For You in Full Blossom, casually known as Hana-Kimi) has been a hit since it first appeared in 1997 in the shojo manga magazine Hana to Yume (Flowers and Dreams). In Japan, a Hana-Kimi art book and several "drama CDs" have been released. Her other manga series include Missing Piece (two volumes) and Yumemiru Happa (The Dreaming Leaf, one volume).

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: VIZ Media LLC (November 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1421519313
• ISBN-13: 978-1421519319
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #353,839 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Cute but rather boring, April 16, 2009

By	H. Reed "Celticreeder" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I became interested in this series when I learned it was by the same author as Hana-Kimi. I was a little turned off by the artwork since Hana-Kimi has such cute and kawaii looking characters. Sugar Princess looks awkard since so many of the characters seen to have no forehead and eyes so far apart they might as well be on the sides of the heads. But I figured since I like Hana-kimi, then surely this one will be cute too. Well, it is but it certainly lacks some tension. The story is rated A for all ages and aside from one scene where the main character Maaya walks into the bathroom when Shun is changing and sees him naked (awkward for him, not so much for her since she has a younger brother), the story is very G rated. The first volume led up to the second one nicely. However, because there are only two volumes, that makes for a very rushed story. You never really get a reason for why Shun has refused to skate pairs even after his sister died. Did he think no one could replace her? Did he just not want the hassel of training with someone new? What made him decide to work with Maaya? What were their feelings for each other? Friendship? More? What? Even the tension of them skating to save the ice skating rink from closing was lacking. There was so much that could have been done with this serious but wasn't. I haven't finished Hana-kimi yet but from what I've heard about it's ending, Ms. Nakajo seems to have a problem with her endings in that they leave more disappointments than pleasure. Perhaps one more volume to this serious would have been a good thing since the ending was very rushed and you are left feeling like you missed something. I know I'll read something by this author again but I know I'll be going into the series with the foreknowledge of her ending troubles. So, Sugar Princess is a cute story but just know that it's not as great as some manga out there.