Duck Prince Book 1: Transformation (Paperback)

by Ai Morinaga (Author) "IN AN INSTANT, THE UGLY GREY DUCKLING HAD TRANSFORMED INTO A BEAUTIFUL SWAN..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Reiichi Swan—called "Helmet" by his attractive older sisters—is short, homely and the sole member of his school’s garden club. That is, while intelligent and good-hearted, he’s a complete social outcast. Reiichi is infatuated with sweet, beautiful Yumiko Ito, who happens to be the only other student at his school interested in plants. But Yumiko is moving to America with her family—as soon as she can find her lost dog, Mister. While recovering the dog for his crush, Reiichi is hit by a car and falls into a coma. A year later, he awakens as a tall, gorgeous ladies’ man with enough popularity to spark garden club membership. Armed with social tips from his popular sisters, Reiichi enters high school and discovers Yumiko has returned—but Mister now considers him a romantic rival. Morinaga’s story boasts a strong hook: Reiichi’s transformation from ugly duckling to swan. Unfortunately, rather than really exploring the premise (for example, can one man, no matter how good-looking, really make a garden club cool?), Morinaga opts for easy drama, throwing in lusty teachers, evil sorcerers and talking dogs who know martial arts. As an artist, Morinaga shows a high level of competence, with clean line-work, and his distinct characters show emotion without heavy reliance on exaggerated facial features.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
Grade 10 Up–The Ugly Duckling gets a manga update in this retelling. Reiichi is bespectacled, bookish, and built like a bobble-head doll. His schoolmates abuse him, he embarrasses his sisters, and even his mother criticizes him for the pain his oversized head caused her during birth. Only one person appreciates him for who he is, his beautiful friend Yumiko. Smitten, Reiichi can't say no when she asks for his help in finding her lost dog. Unfortunately, he is hit by a car while he is saving Mister. On the upside, the thankful animal turns out to be a magical human prince under a sorcerer's spell and grants her wish for beauty. Following a yearlong coma, the teen (now a new-wave heartthrob) has moved to a new school to begin afresh. In a twist of fate, Yumiko has also switched schools. Of course, difficulties abound due to his deception, and the book ends when Yumiko, curious about the many similarities between her old friend and her new one, decides to try to locate her old friend. It's hard to know the audience for this book, which has a silliness and simplicity appealing to younger readers, yet can also be quite bawdy. While it is too silly to be taken seriously, the story's humor does succeed where the drama fails, and with fun and lively artwork, it will certainly find fans.–Douglas P. Davey, Halton Hills Public Libraries, Ontario, Canada

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: CPM Manga (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586649310
• ISBN-13: 978-1586649319
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #815,888 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious! Great!!, June 3, 2004

By	Anime Dork "big_time_anime_dork" (United States) - See all my reviews

Wow! I can't believe how wonderful this manga is! Its absolutely one of the best I've read in awhile! This is one of those books that is completely overlooked simply because no one has ever heard of it before, and the title is pretty wierd too. However, intrigued by the cover (I mean, come on, the guy's hot), I decided to read the back and see what it was about. The story seemed interesting so I bought it and read it the same day.

Basically its about a short ugly guy with glasses and horrible hair named Reiichi. Trust me, he looks pretty darn bad. Everyone picks on him and makes fun of him, including his family. There's only one girl that treats him nicely, and he falls in love with her, only to find that she thinks he's cute because he reminds of her of her pet dog. Lol.

Well, basically, the dog turns out to be some kind of prince who was turned into a dog by a sorcerer. He grants Reiichi a wish letting him become this absolutely beautiful man. Now everyone is completely fawning over him and has no idea who he used to be. And Reiichi just wants to be with that girl that was kind to him before. The only problem is, he keeps changing back into his dorky, ugly self every time he tries to put a move on her.

For one thing, this manga is hilarious! I mean, its probably one of the funniest things I've read in awhile, with elements that can appeal to both males and females. The art is gorgeous, and so is Reiichi (drool). Despite the fact that it has had little publicity and few have heard of it, I really hope people give it a chance. They'll be surprised just how good it is!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Duck Prince, August 6, 2004

By	Rouge (UK) - See all my reviews

Definitely an underrated one- having just read Duck Prince, I came online to check it out and found no fansites, character shrines, nothing, which surprised me considering even the worst titles have some sort of following.

Duck Prince wins you over as you read it- you can't help but feel sorry for ugly Reiichi, especially if you remember Umino from Sailormoon and how he was treated. With a farietale adaptation as the main thrust of the story, it's easy to imagine that this one would be very predictable, but there are lots of twists and asides to further complicate the story.

The best thing about Duck Prince is it never forgets it's a romantic comedy- virtually all of the characters have comedic value in some form or another, even Reiichi's beautiful love interest is a little more than a by-the-book shoujo, tending to admire boys that look like her grotesque lapdog. (Normally I can't STAND shoujo characters, but Yumiko has a quality that can't help but make you like her,) Even in more serious moments the mood is lifted by plenty of jokes and the use of supderdeformed characters and face faults.

The art is gorgeous, doing well to highlight the transformation from ugly duckling to swan, and the heavy inking and attention to detail is a refreshing change from many titles in the same genre. A clever twist is to include a Barbie-esque "black-faced girl" as one of Reiichi's beautiful tormenters, a commentary on trends and pop culture istelf. She is made to look equally beautiful and trendily ridiculous, while Reiichi, while ugly, manages to produce some pretty heart-rending expressons on his simplified face.

I haven't been this won-over by a manga for a long while- the story might seem a little slushy and over sentimental, but once you start reading, I guarantee you'll be sucked in.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Can a boy go from duck to swan?, May 7, 2006

By	Michael Valdivielso (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Duck Prince Transformation by Ai Morinaga seems like an interesting idea. An ugly boy goes into a coma and comes out of it handsome. But the story is not so simple. First, it seems magic has to do with his transformation. Also, the girl he liked as an ugly duckling seems to dislike the idea of people being so vain as to change how they look on the outside.
The whole story seems a tad off - the plot line and characters seem forced. Which is why I took one point away.