Sugar Princess
Sugar Princess: Skating to Win

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First off, I'm surprised how few manga revolve around figure skating- or at least few are commonly known. I picked this up for the sole reason that I really wanted to read a manga about this sport; I wasn't disappointed because my expectations weren't extremely high. A two volume series is not going to leave much in the span of character development and plot development. It was okay- though nothing it was extraordinary, it's worth a read for those interesting in figure skating.

The premise of a young girl starting figure skating as a teenager is appeals to me- I like a main character discovering they ... have a lot of potential in something but are very unpolished in the subject. Maya has raw talent and natural rhythm/balance. She puts a great deal of effort into improving and it pays off at the end.

The end, however, is not only very predictable, but it felt anti-climatic. This might have had to do with the short amount of chapters.

The characters are mostly interesting despite the fact that there is not too much depth. In fact, I would've liked to know a lot more about Maya by the end. But her personality is amiable- she's not energetic to the point of being annoying but she has a lot of spirit. Shun is likable enough- he's the classic cliche of a unresponsive partner in the beginning who warms up to the protagonist as the story goes on. I wasn't crazy about him by any means, but I also didn't mind him.

The other characters are not touched on much at all, leaving the reader a bit apathetic to some of the relationships.

I did like how romance wasn't a big play at all to this manga- it really focused on the sport and the goals of Maya rather than typical shoujo affairs.

Since this is such a quick read, I'd recommend it to someone who feels like a bit of ice skating.