In celebration of discovering that Akagami no Shirayuki-hime will be getting an anime adaption, I thought it would be a good idea to write a review on the manga.
The story of AnS is set in a land and time that is a mix of a past western- and japanese society, mostly western. The clothes, the land, the buildings, the monarchy, fight-arts etc. are clearly inspired by the West. I don't think many of the manga today are set in western settings and it is a fresh breeze to have. Shirayuki translates to "Snow-white" and has no significance beside its many references in chapter 1, so for those wanting a story similar to Snow White, read chapter 1 only.
The story itself is simple. It could have been easy to have made this a drama, but it is clear from chapter 1 that it is a romantic story to its core. Most of the plot is and the reason this story has a historic setting is to showcase some difficulties that could and do come to happen for a couple from quite different social classes in a society that puts importance on the classes. Well it is this and Shirayuki's red hair that makes up the entire plot, which also makes this story sugar sweet and nice to read.
Looking at the art I think it is beautiful but simple. I am most impressed by the clothes, they are very intricate and detailed. More to the point, if there is something in the art that is bad I would notice it, otherwise I would just enjoy reading without thinking of such things and I do not notice anything.
As for the characters, they are cute, adorable and all of those things, but the depth in them is small. Backgrounds and such are told, but as for character development it is almost non-existent. The enjoyment here is the interaction between the characters rather than the characters themselves which is one of the manga's best points.
The bottomline is it is a fairly accomplishes the sweet shoujo feeling in a manga that is also pretty generic and solid. It is neither bad, far from it, but neither is it incredible.
- On a personal note, I do get a little more happy while reading this manga, because I have a little red shine to my own hair. So for the red haired out their, you will maybe come to appreciate your hair a little more -