Gakuyaura Ouji
Backstage Prince

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I really enjoyed reading this manga series. Even though it was short at two volumes, it was still very enjoyable.

The characters weren\'t as throughly developed, since she didn\'t have much time to throw in more information about the characters. Kanoko Sakurakoji\'s art style is somewhat unique, but follows the basic standards of all shoujo manga. Cute girls, adorable animals, and very good looking men. Right?

Her art style can seem similar to others, but I still like how it is. Comedic in the good parts, but can pull at one\'s heart strings in the next.

It\'s basically a story about a girl and a boy. They fall ... in love thanks to a cat, and have to keep it a secret. Plus the girl, Akari, has to deal with Ryusei\'s father, who dislikes the choice of a girlfriend he made, and will do anything to split them apart. But love can conquer all right?

They have to prove that they can really make it together.

All in all, a very nice manga. Enjoyable characters, funny situations, sad situations, all the while you wish Ryusei and Akari many happy years together.

I actually read this only because I liked the cover picture and it was short... but I ended up enjoying it more than I suspected.

STORY: Well... I have to admit it wasn't the best. At least at the beginning, it was just like every other love story I've ever read in a manga. The one thing I hated was that it seemed like the same thing happened over and over... and being that there were only 6 chapters, you'd think something more exciting would have happened. It had potential to be a great story, but it was just lacking that something special. I wouldn't use ... the word boring, but close to it.

ART: It was pretty good I must say. The shading and whatnot was not the best I've seen. And it did mimic a lot of other manga artists I know of. But it was still interesting to look at. For the first time ever, I must say that I think that the FEMALE characters were drawn much better than the males. Most of the way I'd say it's the other way around. But Akari's eyes are too big!!!! *sigh*

CHARACTER: Well, Akari is a good female character. Shy and yet sophisticated. Not perfect and yet not completely hopeless. I personally don't like male characters that are mean and bad with people. And that was EXACTLY how Ryusei is. Mr. Ken, the cat, is totally adorible!!!! :) That cat actually adds more juice to the story than most of the other characters. But the rest of the extra characters really don't add much to the story, except maybe Naoki. But even he doesn't make the story much better.

ENJOYMENT: I did enjoy reading this manga. I laughed a couple times. If it was an anime I would have cried at least once. But there was just something very enjoyable about it. You keep wishing to yourself that things will work out and they will be happy. That's what makes it so enjoyable.

This series could have been great, if only it was given more time. :)

Backstage Prince is a story about a regular girl finding a love interest in a very famous Japanese kabuki performer. It finds it's climax and conflict in the idea that the kabuki world is of its own, and those of the kabuki lifestyle should not date or be with anyone outside of the lifestyle. Ryusei, the kabuki performer, is also very shy and so also encourages him to hide Akari from the press and media.

Further conflicts also arise from Ryusei's family later in the story, as well as a fellow kabuki performer.

What I did not like about this series was to discover how ... short it is, only 2 volumes! It's definatly good for one who's just looking for a quick series or a quick read, but it really leaves you wanting more!

Reading this manga was a pleasant experience. I went into it without high expectations and was surprised by the genuinely sweet aspect of this short story. KiwaGaku (Kiwametsuke Gakuya Ura Ouji) isn't very dramatic, nor is it groundbreaking. You probably won't feel your heart pounding as you read. You'll probably be able to accurately predict what will happen. Although the manga is not extremely original, that isn't necessarily the aim, and there are a few refreshing things nonetheless.

KiwaGaku's story is just another rendition of a typical shoujo manga. Boy and girl meet, girl falls in love with boy, and then, suddenly, there's love. The fairy-tale ... feeling of shoujo prevails. Despite how fast the love comes, though, there are a few small, nicely executed twists to the premise that I enjoyed.

The pacing is decent and the story ties together fairly nicely at the end. The plot begins to fall flat during the later chapters, where the cliche factor comes in more and there are a few facepalm worthy moments where you think, "Why didn't they just communicate more?" Something's missing in the twists, making things somewhat predictable and causing KiwaGaku to lack that "special" factor.

Although KiwaGaku is rather decent story-wise, the art is anything but. It's not that special, but at the same time, there are redeeming factors in the art. With handsome boys and gorgeous girls, panels that can just make you feel warm inside, and clean drawings, everything is pleasing to the eye - you won't be disappointed.

The characters, although they come across as cliche shoujo characters at first, actually have some nice, redeeming qualities, though not enough deep development, as to be expected. Our main couple has a sweet and heart-warming (though slightly immature) relationship. As long as you like Akari and Ryusei, you'll just want the best for them.

Akari is a kind girl - imperfect, but not in an overdone way, and easy to admire. Ryusei comes across as rude and stoic, but is misunderstood, and evolves into a sweet character. The side characters are not developed much, but are enjoyable and fun to watch, much like Akari and Ryusei. While the characters are good, there isn't enough development and sometimes I felt like they were doing the same things over and over.

But I have to admit - I liked them all.

In essence, this is a sweet, simple, and cute manga that leaves you with a fuzzy warmth inside. It's short and despite all of its flaws, I found it enjoyable. I hope that, if you decide to read KiwaGaku, you will, too.

I taught that the plot was very taught through. with nice/funny plot twists and interesting events that took place.

The drawing style was something that really peaked my interest. there were many details that make this serie unique.

The characters where interesting, the only this what "bothered" me was that you didn't really get to know the characters which is understandable since it's so short.

Overall I really liked this serie and recommend it to be read by anyone!

love

Mandiuana

I first found this story by looking on a site to see if i could find the manga chapter i was searching for but i ended up looking at summary's of different manga's... at first the thing that caught my eyes was the pictures of the manga... most manga's i choose to read depends on 3 things. 1: has to have good pictures, 2: good plot, and 3: has to have 1 cute guy =D... well the thing that caught my attention was the pictures for this story and the plot... i got to say i really liked this story because i thought the plot ... was really good, but i the part i didnt like about this story was the ending, im not sure if its the ending though (chapter 6). i didnt like the ending because it didnt seem like there was closure.