Once upon a time, if you wanted a fairy-tale-style shojo fantasy, you had to settle for books like this.
Thank goodness for progress.
PRINCESS PRINCE (Purinsesu Purinsesu), by Tomoko Taniguchi. First published in 1994 and first published in North America in 2003.
PLOT:
The kingdom of Gemstone is seemingly happy and peaceful, but for the royal twins of the land it is anything but that. When they were born, a prophecy foretold that one of them would have to be raised as a girl to prevent disaster. Ever since, Prince Lawrence (aka "Lori") has had to hide his true identity, even has he pines for his best friend Jenny. Meanwhile, his brother Matthew has to deal with Brandon, a former thief who is convinced that Matthew is the one hiding their true gender. Can their secret survive jealous angel birds, near drownings, and a possible mermaid?
STORY:
I know that most shojo manga is by its nature aimed at young girls, but Princess Prince comes off as especially juvenile. Maybe it's because of its heavy focus on princesses, princes, and fairy tales, the lack of any major conflict, and the simple and nonsensical nature of its conflict. It feels like a story that a child might make up.
The cover makes it look like this is a singular story, but it is in fact an anthology. That said, half of the volume is taken up by the titular story, along with a couple of related side stories. It's basically a riff on Princess Knight, albeit one that has double the protagonists, the opposite gender, and only a tenth of the quality. Most of the plot revolves around romantic misunderstandings; the most ambitious it gets is when it tries to do a clumsy parable about racism. Worst of all, there's no resolution, which makes Lawrence's gender dilemma and the entire prophecy around it feel all the more pointless.
The other two stories are more like traditional fairy tales, meaning that they are noticeably darker and weirder. The first is a royal couple who were originally brought together for political purposes but ended up falling in love. Naturally, they are then torn apart by a demon, a poisonous bird, a dose of immortality, and an ending that comes off creepier than I think Taniguchi intended The second is about a boy and a cursed sword, one that contains a girl's soul that requires blood to become human again...even if that means killing the previous wielders. I wish she had brought some of this energy to the main story. Twisted fairy tales might not be appropriate for every child, but they would sure as hell be a lot more interesting to read.
ART:
Taniguchi's art is almost obnoxiously cute. It's all big eyes and flowing hair, with a fashion sense that can't quite decided whether these stories are set in Ye Olden Times or the early 90s. Thus she tends to split the difference, with girls wearing frilly, old-fashioned ball gowns while the guys wear a lot of skinny pants, blousey shirts, and vests...so many vests. Sadly, all that fashion comes at a price. The characters may be cute, but they don't emote very well. I also suspect that some of the side stories are earlier works of hers, as some of the characters are a bit crudely drawn beyond the face. She tries to distract from it with all the fancy clothes and backgrounds, but it's not enough.
PRESENTATION:
This book was released in a way that was common in the 90s but very rare by 2003, It was flipped, the SFX into English, and it was released in floppies as well as in this single collected book. Central Park Media's translation goes a little overboard with localization, right down to giving everyone ordinary English-language names. The worst part is that I can't check what their original names were because there's very little information on this series in English and its Japanese title is shared by a girl band and another, later manga!
RATING:
This book was published by Central Park Manga. It is currently out of print.
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