Ranked #374

Ashita no Ousama (Manga)

So, Ashita no Ousama is a shoujo from the 90's. It has good story and romantic lines. I found it at a time that I wanted another original and different shoujo. What you want to know: it's about a very country girl who suddenly figures out she wants to be in theater for the rest of her life. She puts her all into attending school and pursuing this hobby and meets a lot of good people. She fails in some areas, succeeds in others.

It does have some stereotypical shoujo traits from the pool of shoujo stereotypes (very handsome male, naive girl, etc.) but as a shoujo veteran, that's never a problem when done right. And in fact, Ashita no Ousama stands out from modern shoujo. Here's why:

Characters: I cannot praise the character development enough. Sure, the main character is a bit too unaware at times but it doesn't lead to impossible situations. Sure, male lead is established and good-looking. But these characters are very realistically done. They don't have out-of-nowhere smut-convenient problems and have well-built life-styles and ideologies.

Story: It isn't a complicated story but its not a plot that you always know where it is going or what the lesson is. There isn't a plethora of "amazing lines" on every page, but the author takes her time to get a point across. Misunderstandings and events are not too far-fetched or convenient.

Art: It's the 90's. Kind of similar to Itazura na Kiss style. To be honest, when it comes to 90's manga it takes me a chapter or two to get used to it and see why the characters are even attractive. I cannot rate it high but it seems very good quality for its time.

So go read it yourself; it does not disappoint. read more

Ashita no Ousama revolved around Yuu, a country girl who becomes exposed to the world of acting and is entranced. She wants to become an actress, but has no aptitude for acting but is a great storywriter. From there she meets and influences many others that are in the entertainment world.

Story 9/10: The story line was great. There was a lot of growth in the feeling of the story. Emiko Yachi does a great job of showing the complexities of the acting profession as well as human relations.

Art 9/10: At first I didn't really care for the animation, I thought it was drawn a little undefined. However, as the story progressed, so did my appreciation for the humor in the animation and the simpleness of Yuu the main characters imagery. The scenery was well drawn as well, so overall it had a nice feeling to it.

Character 10/10: I thought the characters in this series were excellent. They were complex, likable, inspiring (but not over the top). Yuu was a force to be reckoned with in her determination, but it wasn't hoaky like so many series do... Touya was a great character as well. He was a strong, caring and determined individual as well. Chief (Shougo) was one of my favorite characters. He had a carefree attitude but also was very serious about his work. He constantly watched over his troupe and gave support, encouragement & tough love when necessary. He had a semi-fatherly role but didn't seem strained. The other side characters were great as well.

Enjoyment 10/10: I'm not really a huge josei fan, however this series was very enjoyable to me.

Overall 9/10: I think anyone would appreciate this series, not just shoujo/josei fans. With the great characters, strong story line and decent art, it's a great read! read more

Ashita no Ousama is a story about an average girl who falls in love with theater and discovers a hidden talent. If you're into shoujo manga, this sounds very familiar so when i first started reading this i was afraid it was gonna be another Glass Mask or Skip Beat but i was pleasantly surprised. This manga was not perfect, but a nice read nevertheless.

To touch on the art for a bit, it's from the 90s, so you get what you expect. You get used to it after a bit, but nothing looks particularly pretty. At one point, the main character mentions someone is beautiful on a full page panel, and you think "well... if you say so."

As for the plot, it's very similar to Glass Mask, but the twist is that she writes plays instead of acting. Interestingly, there's almost no drama. There's some, but it all gets very quickly resolved. The story focuses on her development as a writer but the manga falls short here. You would expect that with every script she writes, she learns a lesson, discovers something she was missing, and slowly gets good at writing scripts.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. Yuu becomes a good writer exceptionally fast. Everything she does is a success. It never seems that her scripts are missing anything except at one part of the story. When she improves her writing, there is no concrete reason for why. She just kinda gets better with experience, and that's it. And it all happens too fast. You become a good writer with experience, or so i've heard, but she becomes a professional writer in what seemed no time at all. Maybe it's because it's because she's super talented or something but it still feels off.

It all ends up with a surreal feeling. The audience doesn't get any profound insight into writing which is a huge missed opportunity. It's this that keeps me from rating it any higher than an 8.

The characters are all okay. Everyone is pretty pleasant, but there are no strong characters. Everyone is bland and boring. This is related to there not being any drama. None of the character's pasts are explored. characters disappear as quickly as they are introduced. You only the see surface of their characters. Maybe it's because the story is told from Yuu's point of view, and we only see what Yuu views, but it makes it so none of the characters leave any big impressions on you. Even Yuu, her character doesn't go beyond really nice person who doesn't give up.

The ending was okay. It wasn't exactly what i was expecting, and i was a little confused at to whether i had actually finished reading the manga. I found the ending was very open ended. I would have like to see Yuu grow even more and do more plays.

Overall it was enjoyable. Don't thing that i hated it because of this review. If you want to read why it's a good manga, there's always people who give it 10/10 so read their reviews. I wrote this for people who want to know the negatives to contrast other reviews, so that's why there's mostly negative stuff in this review.Everything was good but not great, it clearly missed out on things that a 10/10 manga would have but i would still recommend it. I read it all in one sitting which says something about it. If you want to read something about a girl finding her passion in life, it's certainly worth your time. read more