Princess Ai Monogatari
Princess Ai

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This manga was made at the time when companies like Marvel, Tokyopop, and others were trying to break into the manga craze with titles like Peach Fuzz and the X-Men manga. They imitated Japanese manga, did not understand manga, nor its appeal to western manga fans. Most of these titles were a cross between manga and comic books that were not really either, revolting both American comic book fans and manga fanatics alike. This left little to no audience willing to purchase these products as they lacked both eastern and western identity, possessing only an awkward, uncanny mash-up of something in between. Thus, most of ... these titles, were both critical and financial failures.

Princess Ai, on the other hand, was not. Most western manga was imitative, but Ms. Love brought her own voice to this manga. A blend of fantasy, lolita fashion, and autobiography, she writes about Princess Ai, who is the thinly-veiled authoress herself, and Kent, based off of her late husband, Kurt Cobain, as they work to figure out who she is and how she came to Tokyo, all the while falling and love and becoming idol-singers.

It was in turns, to my young self, interesting because of who wrote it, a well-known, controversial figure, its lolita fashion, its music, its art, its magic, and most of all for its seemingly doomed, but deep love story, which I, even then, knew was written based off an entirely true and tragic story of a talented, young singer's suicide.

It has been over 10 years since I read this manga, and though I no longer remember most of the details of it, I do remember the feelings I felt while reading it and for that, I believe it to be a great book. So where all others failed at making western manga, I believe Princess Ai, Ms. Love, and her talented artist, Kujiradou Misaho, all succeeded. It is a truly touching tale that I recommend to anyone in the mood for something very different from a very unlikely person. Courtney Love may be a controversial figure, but for this manga, I loved her as a child.

First of all, I want to say that the art in this Manga is beautiful, and I really loved Ai's outfits and style. However, I will say that for a protagonist we're supposed to love and care about, she's pretty unlikable. She's like a mary sue, the plot bends itself to fit her and every character loves her for no reason.
As for the story, i believe if it had more volumes to unravel the story a bit more slowly and we actually got to see some cool battles in Ai-Land-the place the whole story and the protagonist always talk about and the unbelievable conflicts ... that happen there- it would probably be so much cooler. Really wanted to love Ai but she's just shitty.

Princess Ai is the first manga I have read from a non-Japanese author. Its “written” by Courtney Love, the lead singer of grunge Band Hole and the illustration is done by Ai Yazawa. The manga was created during a time when western comic book companies like DC and Marvel were trying to capitalize on the growing popularity of manga and anime.

The story focuses on Princess Ai, a young amnesiac girl who wakes up in Tokyo from Ai Land, a war torn planet. The word Ai in Japanese means love something you’ll see as a symbol throughout the story. The only clue to her past ... she has now is a heart shaped box. Anybody who touches the box can either be drugged if their are angels, but if a human touches it he/she will die in an instant. Princess Ai She meets a kind part time library worker and aspiring guitarist Kent, who allows her to stay at his place. She lands a job at Club Angel as a singer and her singing has the power to control the emotions of others depending on the songs she sings. All of the sudden out of nowhere both angels and humans want ruin her life.

Princess Ai is more of a reflection of what would Courtney Love would see herself as instead of a separate person. Shes very ditzy and oblivious to things that happens to her. Everyone automatically loves her and she has natural talent instead of learning as time goes by. She can also be really stubborn and behaves terribly when she doesn’t get what she wants right away. At times, she can also be something of a pushover who cannot stand up to herself be it from malicious angels, manipulative talent agents. She seems incapable of making an independent decision. Anybody who hates her like the strippers are really just haters and this could be seen as a reference towards what Courtney Love thinks of people who have no interest in her music.

Kent another character, is eerily similar to Kurt Cobain, the late husband of Courtney Love, and he looks a lot like him as well. There is also a pointless love triangle. Ai is in love with both Kent and Nora, the leader of the revolutionaries in Ai Land. Hikaru, Kent’s roommate is in love with Kent now both share a good friendship with one another but Kent doesn’t have any romantic attraction towards Hikaru. Hikaru doesn’t like Ai other for the reason that Ai likes Kent and is he has a pointless vendetta against her. He can be really campy at times too.

The best I can say is the art style is this weird mix of gothic Lolita, science fiction and what Tokyo looked like in the mid 2000s. The character designs while good, were really just carbon copies of characters in already established media.

It’s a fairly short book you can complete in about a day or two. The pacing of the story was fast and not too easy to understand, because of the brevity of the manga. Its really just a generic,self absorbed and one of the worst manga I have read.