Ranked #248

Akagami no Shirayuki-hime (Manga)

Truly a hidden gem amongst Manga. Akagami no Shirayuki-hime is like another modern rewrite of the Cinderella story, except fairy tales has never had so much sensibility, or such a well balanced relationship between the main couple (as opposed to one simply sweeping the other off their heels).

I never thought I'd see so much rationale in a fantasy shoujo manga. I mean not only is the entire cast (all of them that matters) likable, but they're all intelligent and hard-working people, whose actions are logical, and whose emotions are balanced, considered, and developed only in response to other character's actions (rather than any plot device).

This is especially the case of the main heroine Shirayuki - she's not perfect, she's not strong, but she tackles everything with smart thinking and an iron will. Meanwhile, Zen is content to watch carefully from the sidelines and let Shirayuki do her thing, putting his faith in her strength of character and coming only to help when necessary. He might be the hero, but he certainly doesn't overshadow the heroine.

The story is well paced. Unexpected things may come and go, but nothing jumps out of the blue. The relationship is slowly developed from pure friendship across series of trials and challenges, with feelings and decisions that come gradually but not too slowly.

The art style is great — sim­plis­tic yet ele­gantly beau­ti­ful, cute with­out rely­ing on chibi-esque pro­por­tions, all-fitting yet unique on its own.

Its even more amaz­ing that this seems to be Aizuki Sorata first ongo­ing series! I sure see some amaz­ing works com­ing out of this mangaka’s career! read more

This series is just too amazing! And I didn't just rate everything a 10 for no reason, I REALLY can't help it. Everything is a 10, it's just so amazing in every aspect.
The storyline is very well developed and I like the fact that the heroine isn't weak and in need of protection from every little thing; she's intelligent, willful and can take care of herself.
I also appreciate how it doesn't take the entire series for the obvious relationship to build up. There's no unneeded issues or past relationships to trip them up and they realize their feelings for one another early on instead of waiting until the last chapter to confess.
The artwork is also some of the best, if not THE best, I have ever seen. Its so simple yet detailed and elegant and its obvious a lot of time and effort was put in.
All in all, I would be infinitely happy if it were somehow made into in anime, but for some reason it looks like that won't happen. But still, I have hope that it gets licensed fairly quickly and gives other people a chance to enjoy such a great series. read more