Sugar Princess: Skating to Win, Vol. 1

This is a cute manga. The main character's sweet, in a hard-working way, and the leading guy manages to be both cool and beautiful, if a bit standoffish to start. I find it hard to judge this series based solely on the first volume. There's potential here, once the storyline gets moving a bit more. The main reason I'm giving it 4 stars, however, is because I'm such a huge fan of the author's Hana-Kimi series. I'm waiting to see if the plot/romance turns out to be interesting enough to keep me hooked. Hana-Kimi had a natural advantage from the humour of a girl in a guys' school. Hopefully the skating will have the same appeal.

I really enjoyed this book, considering the title, and that I'm 13. I thought this was almost as good as Hana-Kimi. As other reviews I'm saving the 5th star until I've read a few more books of this. This book would probably not interest boys. The graphics were very good I thought. I can't wait for volume #2 to come out! Yes!

Most people above age 12 will probably be put off to "Sugar Princess" because of its title, but I decided to give it a look after reading the preview in "Shojo Beat" magazine. And it's really not sickeningly sweet like you might think. I liked the characters well enough. I thought Maya was cute and spunky, and she plays well off the disgruntled Shun. It's not the best romance ever, but it was sweet enough to keep me interested. Better than a lot I've read, actually. The art was pretty standard, but it gets the job done. I liked the plot. Figure skating is a pretty unusual background in manga (at least, it is in the US), and the story is well paced. It's pretty original, despite a few predictable moments. "Sugar Princess" is a pretty fun little manga. It's enjoyable for all ages, and it's a good length. Good if you're looking for a shorter shojo series.

Sugar Princess is a new manga by Nakajo Hisaya who created the Hana Kimi series. The basic premise is that Maya Kurinoki is a third year Junior High School girl who is spotted doing a double axel by pairs skating coach Eishi Todo while she is trying to teach her younger brother to skate at the local ice skating rink. The coach gives her his business card because he sees her potential for becoming a pairs skater with one of his skaters Shun Kano who had previously won competitions with his sister/partner before she died. Shun now only wants to skate in men's singles. Because Maya is a novice, Eishi wants Shun to coach her so that she can reach his level of skating. His ulterior motive is to get Shun to come back to pairs skating as Maya's partner. Shun resists and it is Maya's job to convince him to help her. Most of this first volume starts out a little slowly as it inroduces the characters and sets up the plotline. Because I liked Hana Kimi so well, I am reserving judgment on whether I like the series until I have read Volume 2. Many manga series start out slowly in the first volume. So far I do not like this series as well as Hana Kimi. In a sidebar the author says she has always been fascinated with ice skating and has wanted to do a skating manga so perhaps as Maya and Shun begin to compete the story will get better.