Family Complex

by Mikiyo Tsuda

Poor Akira has an ugly duckling complex, and his oblivious family isn't helping! His mother is as pretty and young-looking as a shojo manga character. His father is the study-hard, pretty-bishonen type. Akira's elder brother shines like a top model. His elder sister looks like a pretty boy and is adored by the other girls at her school. And even his little sister is as cute as a doll. No matter where they go, the Sakamoto family gathers everybody's attention and admiration, making things all the more painful for Akira - because he's so ordinary!

Genres: Manga, Shojo, Graphic Novels, Comedy, Young Adult, Comics, Family

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Japanese: つだ みきよ

Under the name Taishi Zaō, she writes boys love and girls love manga while under Mikiyo Tsuda she writes comedy-shōjo manga

Reviews

[Kynthos-the-Archer (Kyn) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread on 11th November 2014. Could never get tired of rereading it. It gets better and better.

* 12 November 2014
__________________________________________


I had fun reading it. The art was only okay tho.

* 15 September 2013

[Wee!wawaLAA!!! · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Fuyuki~ She is definetely innocent, like some pervert flashed her, and she just stood there...and said "It's small?" LMAO!!! Gawd, she's so naive, I just want to huuug her. :) (Ch.4)
Man, I love the art in this manga. What a pretty family, too!
Just a really really awesome graphic novel.

[Sha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Premise: Slice of Life stories featuring members of a family who are (mostly) exceptionally good-looking.

1. I gotta say this premise is SUCH a tropey shoujo manga thing. It's also the kind of thing that reminds me why, despite all of my reservations about gender essentialism, I'm still fond of shoujo manga. Because it's cute and funny and good natured and not gonna lie I vastly prefer stories which explore the consequences of people being ridiculously hot to stories where ridiculously hot people are treated like any other person? The social consequences of extreme beauty are fascinating and shoujo manga gets it.

2. Story One: Akira, the one normal-looking kid in a family of ridiculously beautiful people feels very self-conscious, only to have all of his siblings pile up on him in a group hug because he's everyone's favourite (it's adorable). And I also think it's very on point that Akira's family all tell him about the bad/undesireable things that happen to them because they are so pretty and then immediately append it with "oh yeah but I DO get free stuff and extra attention and all that" which is you know- realistic. Consequences.

3. Story Two: The oldest sibling of the family is so pretty that all of his friends at school put him on a pedestal and he is close to absolutely nobody and this irritates and depresses him. Harumi deals with it by panicking/getting pissed off and dragging poor Akira into a half-baked scheme to make his friends jealous. Thank God their sister Natsuru thinks the whole thing is hilarious and handles it with way more aplomb than Harumi ever does. Also Bonus! older siblings being protective of Akira.

4. Story Three: Wherein we learn that a younger Natsuru has the same problem with people idolizing, being possessive of and refusing to get close to her and dealt with it by being BFFs with the one girl in the entire school who absolutely ignored how pretty she was. And in that note, WHERE is my Natsuru/Youko sequel, goddammit? I already ship them, especially in the college flash-forwards.

5. Story Four: Fuyuki, the youngest child of the family, deals with being perceived as doll-like and inhuman by her classmates. It's excellent because we get to see her continuous internal commentary where she's thinking so much that she doesn't actually get the opportunity to speak before the much more fast moving people around her just throw up their hands and move on. She also eventually decides to deal with this by just blurting out her entire thought process as a counterpoint which is ALSO excellent. Special mention to the flasher scene because this story took a scene which is just inherently creepy and upsetting (a man flashing a child) and turned it into a traumatizing experience for the man and you know what book I appreciate that.

6. Story Five: How the kids' parents, an androgynous man and a perpetually youthful/childish looking woman, meet. It's very short so I don't have that much of an opinion on it, but I do appreciate the attempt to subvert gender roles.

7. On a much more subjective (and superficial) note: I absolutely approve how Mikiyo Tsuda's idea of "make a character attractive" is "make them as androgynous as humanly possible." I'm invariably attracted to long haired men and short haired women so this absolutely plays into my Type.

8. Anyway, the stories were cute and funny and to some extent gender-subversive and that's good~

[Fadila setsuji hirazawa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Di tengah kesempurnaan yang di miliki keluarga Sakamoto ini, hanya aku...yang terlihat biasa biasa saja. . .
Keseluruhan dari kisah dalam komik ini berpusat pada keluarga Sakamoto yang dikenal memiliki wajah diatas rata rata oleh para tetangga dan orang lain di lingkungan mereka. Namun, siapa yang mudah percaya jika melihat langsung Sakamoto Akira, anak ketiga dalam keluarga tersebut,yang ternyata memiliki taraf wajah rata rata malah biasa saja. Meskipun pada kenyataannya Akira memanglah bagian dari keluarga berwajah diatas rata rata itu,namun pemuda tersebut justru bimbang dan terasing dalam lingkup ruang keluarganya sendiri...
*
Secara keseluruhan, komik ini terbagi menjadi 5 bagian yang mengisahkan suka duka kehidupan masing masing anggota keluarga Sakamoto di lingkungan pertemanannya. Dari semua kisah, saya pribadi menaruh perhatian dengan kisah Akira Sakamoto (Anak ketiga) dan Harumi Sakamoto(Anak Pertama) yang cukup lucu dan terasa menyentil perasaan. Pada kisah Akira, kebimbangan dengan terlahir memiliki wajah yang tidak sebanding dengan para saudaranya. Bahkan, kakak keduanya yang bernama Narumi Sakamoto juga memiliki wajah yang terlihat tampan meskipun sebenarnya kakak keduanya itu adalah seorang perempuan. Namun pada akhir yang sedikit di bumbui dengan adegan lucu, masing masing anggota keluarga mengungkapkan apa yang mereka pikirkan terkhusus tentang Akira.

Dan seperti yang tadi saya ceritakan bahwa kisah dari si kakak pertama juga cukup menarik karena saya memeroleh pandangan baru tentang wajah yang tampan dan perilaku 'hormat' atau jika kata tersebut terlalu menimbulkan makna, katakan saja sebagai perilaku sungkan yang berlebihan dari teman teman di lingkungannya. Meski dalam konteks berbeda, saya pribadi pernah merasakan sisi tidak mengenakkan dengan perilaku yang alih alih menunjukkan rasa sungkan justru memicu rasa terasing...

Kemudian untuk karakter dalam komik ini, Narumi Sakamoto menjadi tokoh yang saya anggap keren disini. Mengapa? Karena cara saudara kedua dalam keluarga Sakamoto itu dalam memandang problema yang dihadapi kakaknya mampu mengarahkan sang kakak untuk mulai menyelesaikan masalah yang dialami. Sisipan komedi tetap saja ada, sehingga membuat saya jadi gagal untuk sedih 😅 (ini bagus atau justru menyiksa yah?) Dan kisah anak bungsu di keluarga Sakamoto menjadi pemanis disamping kisah ayah ibunya yang kocak.

Dan bagaimana harmonisasi keluarga ini di deskripsikan oleh Tsuda Sensei secara baik semakin menambah minat untuk membaca komiknya disamping kualitas gambar beliau yang memang patut diberi jempol.

Komik ini dapat menggambarkan konflik serta penyelesaian dalam setiap bagian dari masing masing kisah secara baik.

[Yuu Sasih · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book focusing on the supporting character casted in Princess Princess. This one is the story of Akira Sakamoto, Tohru and Yuujirou's dearest classmate--and later school president.

Akira's family was consisted of beauties that transcend beyond age and gender. His mother is like a teenager, his father has feminine attributes, his oldest brother and youngest sister have androgynous face, and his older sister looks like a boy. Only Akira has normal face and that makes him avoiding go together with his family.

The book is focused on the problem each family member had, not only Akira, and shows us that no matter how we looks, life is problematic as it is. lol.

What I love about Mikiyo Tsuda is because I sense that she actually understand so much about gender trouble and decide to focus her works on it, but lighten it with humor so the "normies" would somehow still accept it. Most of the time it makes the real problems aren't discussed enough, but the consistency of queer characters in her works really makes me love her.

[Dustyloup · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's the first time I've read a gender bending manga. I think this story could have gone really deep, like making each of the characters have a specific psychology/profile, like I would say the youngest daughter has asperger's based on her "in her head" or over the top communication style and one of the oldest siblings could be transgender, etc. but it was just a one shot so it couldn't be that deep. overall, I'd say this story was fun, but superficial. I'd actually read it again to see if there's more to the characters than meets the eye. Glad the kid recommended it to me.

[Yoyomaus Die Büchereule · Rating 3 out of 5]

Family Complex von Mikiyo Tsuda

Zum Inhalt:
Akira ist der zweitgeborene Sohn der Familie Sakamoto. Nach außen hin eine harmonische, perfekte Familie, ist sie für Akira Quell all seiner Sorgen. Seine Mutter ist eine bildschöne, sehr unschuldig wirkende Frau und sein Vater ein jung gebliebener Literaturfan. Sein älterer Bruder sieht aus wie ein Model, die ältere Schwester könnte man fast mit einem sehr gutaussehenden Jungen verwechseln, und zu guter letzt gibt es da auch noch seine jüngere Schwester, ein liebreizendes Püppchen ... Eine Bilderbuchfamilie, die in der Nachbarschaft höchste Anerkennung genießt und bei Veranstaltungen stets im Rampenlicht steht, wäre da nicht noch der Sohn Akira, der mit seiner "Mittelmäßigkeit" schwer zu kämpfen hat ...

Cover:
Das Cover passt sehr gut zum Inhalt. Wir sehen hier den jungen Akira, wie er scheinbar über etwas nachgrübelt oder mit etwas sehr unzufrieden ist. Im Hintergrund befindet sich eine Mauer und oben auf, symbolisch Bilder seiner Familienmitglieder. Das finde ich, passt ganz gut, wenn man die Geschichte kennt.

Eigener Eindruck:
Akira lebt in einer in der Region berühmten Familie, denn sie sind alle schön und makellos. Einzig er sticht als zweitältester Sohn heraus und wird so zum Gesprächsthema bei Nachbarn und Mitschülern, die ihn alle für seine „Hässlichkeit“ beziehungsweise sein „Durchschnittsaussehen“ verspotten oder bemitleiden. Das bleibt dem Jungen natürlich nicht verborgen und so hadert er selbst mit sich und seinem Aussehen. Als er versucht seiner Familie aus dem Weg zu gehen, kommt es schließlich zur Aussprache und dabei muss Akira erkennen, dass auch seine Familie ihr Päckchen zu tragen hat…

Dieser OneShot ist eigentlich nicht schlecht gemacht, könnte man der Figur „Akira“ ihre „Hässlichkeit“ abkaufen, denn so schlimm wird er gar nicht dargestellt und kommt so für mich eher einem Spinner gleich, der sich viel einbildet. Dass Geschwister sich untereinander vergleichen und die eine oder der andere dem anderen etwas neidet, das ist wohl irgendwann in allen Geschwisterkarrieren einmal so. Hier finde ich es aber schön, wie mit dieser Sache umgegangen wird und wie liebevoll alle trotzdem zueinander sind. Schlussendlich suchen alle die Fehler bei sich, anstatt bei Akira, was ich wirklich süß finde. Neben dieser Geschichte kommt es in dem OneShot zu weiteren Geschichten zu den Geschwistern, wo man jedes Familienmitglied mit seinem Problem kennen lernt. So hat der Älteste der Familie, Harumi, ein Problem damit wirkliche Freunde zu finden, die älteste Tochter, Natsuru, die sehr burschikos ist, muss um ihre beste Freundin bangen und die Jüngste, Fuyuki, scheint ein Problem damit zu haben, Gefühle richtig zu transportieren und wirkt so immer eiskalt und schlagfertig. Das bringt alles immer Probleme für die Familienmitglieder, die hier also beleuchtet und schlussendlich gelöst werden. Dabei geht der Mangaka mit hübschen und detailreichen Zeichnungen zu Werke und versucht die Themen auch humorvoll zu verpacken. An sich ist das nicht schlecht gemacht, hat mich jetzt aber auch so nicht gepackt. Trotzdem möchte ich euch diesen OneShot aber empfehlen. Er ist mal ganz nett für Zwischendurch.

Fazit:
3 von 5 Sterne

Daten:
ISBN: 9783770464289
Sprache: Deutsch
Ausgabe :Flexibler Einband
Umfang: 182 Seiten
Verlag: EMA - Egmont Manga und Anime
Erscheinungsdatum: 01.09.2006

[Mika · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

This read is probably my...10th read? I re-read this a lot back in the day, when I had my tiny collection of manga and my local library had only ten manga series (most of which I was not interested in reading.) It was a time when I was enthusiastically into manga. I loved Shoujo, Shounen. I understood the tropes, and I especially loved how the tropes and art were so separate from like, cartoons. It was my familiar territory. Even now, I fondly look back on this time and I smile. I feel pretentious saying I was young, innocent, but it feels so accurate.

I was raised in a generation of being "color blind," and of equal rights. Treat others as you'd want to be treated. I saw any inclusion of people of different colors, creeds, and such as inherently progressive.

I did not see that yaoi is a genre that is made by straight women, for the consumption of other straight girls while being silent on the topic of actual justice for queer men and women. I did not see how you can, as an industry want a population's ability to make you money, but care less about the PEOPLE as HUMAN. I didn't realize that it's possible to exploit. That it's possible to steal away queer people's right to represent themselves. Instead, the biggest, most popular form of your lived experience is through the lens of outsiders.

Now, this book is NOT yaoi. It isn't explicitly queer. However, there are hints in the story of queer themes. There are two main characters who have the adoration of same-sex peers that behave exactly like Directioners to the boy band they love. There is a non-gender conforming lady who wears suits and doesn't mind getting love from ladies. There's a boy who says that he would date a boy "if the attraction was there." The lady, able to pass as a boy, pretends to be the guy's boyfriend to make his trio of fans jealous.

And I'm honest, this is why I loved this story. I was starved of queer works as a child. I leaped into the queer fold. I loved that this was just a nice, average family drama but with some cheeky queer themes thrown in.

However, I am grown now. I'm no longer content to be on the margins. I'm not a joke. I'm not a punch line. I'm a person. I just have outgrown the way many manga authors represent queer people. It's so early 2000s.

I still have a fondness for this, but...to be honest I think I like the queer version in my head more than this as it stands. Perhaps it's unfair of my to judge a story so aggressively not queer for... not being queer.

Yet I can't help but feel that if the community were truly queer friendly, this would have turned into a different manga. A favorite manga, and I can't ignore the sneaking suspicion that this company, this author might see me as HUMAN, but inherently OTHER. Abnormal. Weird. Only useable under certain genres.

It makes me uncomfortable.

[B3kjw · Rating 4 out of 5]

All'inizio ero perplessa. Uno slice of life con focus su una famiglia di persone di particolare bellezza. Pensavo fosse sinceramente un argomento superficiale, e invece mi sono ricreduta. Non è l'argomento ad essere superficiale, né il modo di trattarlo, quanto più il contesto, per lo più adolescenziale e scolastico (quindi in una fase abbastanza critica dal punto di vista dell'autostima e delle relazioni interpersonali), in cui si tende a giudicare sulla base delle apparenze. Mostra in modo semplice e quotidiano quanto si è influenzati dall'aspetto fisico proprio o altrui e come cambia di conseguenza il nostro approccio agli altri, il contrasto tra quello che vedono dall'esterno e quello che siamo e sentiamo. In realtà è un volume molto leggero, ma allo stesso tempo esplora l'intimità e il carattere dei personaggi, tutti ben caratterizzati nonostante la brevità della storia.
Ogni capitolo si concentra su uno dei membri della famiglia: Harumi (fratello maggiore, tanto bello da essere idolatrato), Natsuru (sorella maggiore, giudicata "troppo mascolina"), Akira (che non si sente abbastanza bello rispetto al resto della famiglia, e grazie al quale ho letto questo manga, perché lo si incontra come personaggio secondario nella serie Princess princess e volevo saperne di più) e Fuyuki (la piccola di casa, molto innocente e con difficoltà ad aprirsi con gli altri), con uno sguardo sul finale al passato dei genitori. Ognuno dei fratelli si sente a suo modo diverso dai loro coetanei, che dal canto loro non fanno altro che accentuare questi loro sentimenti di disagio, non accorgendosene neanche. Pur non avendo subito le loro stesse "discriminazioni", in parte mi sono rivista in ognuno di loro, è facile immedesimarsi in molti aspetti. Ho sentito molto vicino Akira, vorrei un sacco abbracciarlo, per fortuna lo rivedrò nei volumi successivi di Princess princess (su cui sono ancora perplessa, ma ho letto solo il primo volume)

[Zbookz · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,7/5 bintang

Akira, anak laki-laki kedua di keluarga sakamoto, sedang resah soal "keluarga"nya. Ibunya cantik dan polos, ayahnya cakep dan tampak muda, kakak laki-lakinya bagai model, kakak perempuannya tampan bak laki-laki, dan adik perempuannya manis dan cantik. Benar, keluarga sakamoto semua berwajah sempurna dan sangat populer. Hanya akira yang berwajah biasa saja. Akira jadi merasa terbebani.

Komik ini adalah komik yang bertemakan keluarga dengan fokus tokoh utamanya adalah seluruh anggota keluarga Sakamoto. Komik ini diawali oleh permasalahan anak ketiga yang bernama Akira. Akira merasa resah dengan keberadaan dirinya yang biasa-biasa saja di tengah keluarga yang begitu sempurna dengan wajah yang luar biasa. Dia selalu menjadi bahan perbincangan orang lain saat dia sedang bersama dengan anggota keluarganya. Namun walaupun begitu, anggota keluarga yang lain sangat baik kepadanya. Saudara-saudaranya sangat menyukai Akira karena dia memiliki kepribadian yang membuat mereka nyaman bersamanya.

Selain problem yang dimiliki oleh Akira, komik ini juga menceritakan tentang masalah-masalah yang dihadapi oleh anggota keluarga yang lain. Jadi walaupun mereka memiliki wajah yang sempurna, tetapi permasalahan tetap ada di dalam kehidupan mereka. Permasalahan itu mereka dapatkan karena mereka memiliki wajah yang rupawan. Jadi jangan pernah berpikir kalau orang cantik maupun ganteng itu tidak punya masalah ya!, hehehe.

Intinya komik ini seru, apalagi yang dibahas di sini adalah orang-orang cantik dan tampan, jadi komiknya dipenuhi oleh manga yang cans dan tamvans.

[Soobie has fog in her brain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ich wusste nicht, was Auskoppler bedeutet... Ich habe das Wort im Internet nachgesehen und ich weiß immer noch nicht, was es bedeutet. Ich habe die Zusammenfassung auf der Rückseite gelesen aber ich hatte nicht verstanden, dass dieses Buch zur Welt von Princes princess gehört. Ich glaube, ich habe den erste Band der Reihe gelesen aber er hat mir nicht gefällt und ich habe es verkauft.

Im diesen Buch geht es um die Familie Sakamoto, deren Mitglieder extrem schön sind. Alle außer der zweigeborene Sohn.

Es gibt verschiedene Kapiteln, und jeder Kapitel ist einem Mitglied der Familie gewidmet und alle - egal wie schön sie sind - haben ihre Probleme. Der älteste Bruder hat keine Freunde; die älteste Schwester sieht wie ein Junge aus; die jüngere Schwester denkt zu viel und ihre Freunde wissen nicht, was sie immer denkt. Und Akira ist durchschnittlich.

Der interessanteste Teil... Der Teil, wo die Autorin über ihre Netzhautablösung erzählt...

[LG (A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mikiyo Tsuda (and her BL pseudonym, Taishi Zaou) is my guilty pleasure. Her stories aren't exactly deep and moving. Her characters and situations may only have the most tenuous of connections to reality. However, I love her sense of humor and the way she draws her characters so much that it doesn't matter.

Family Complex isn't Tsuda's strongest work, but it takes excellent advantage of her greatest strength: her ability to draw incredibly beautiful characters. She's so good at it that she actually fails a bit where Akira is concerned: the only thing that makes him not good-looking is that other characters say he's not as good-looking as the rest of his family. As pure “pretty characters” eye candy, Family Complex gets an A+.

Story-wise, it's not nearly so good. Actually, there isn't much of a story, period. Family Complex is very character-focused, but that doesn't mean the characters are all that deep and complex. Each family member (except Akira) has personal or internal problems caused by how incredibly beautiful they look. Harumi yearns to have real friends and maybe even a girlfriend (or possibly boyfriend – I don't think it matters to him which), rather than just servants who put him on a pedestal. Natsuru is uncomfortable with the fact that she doesn't belong with either the girls or boys her age. Fuyuki suspects she doesn't fit in with her classmates but isn't sure how to fix this. Young Hidetoshi and young Nanami just wanted to look differently than they did. Akira wants to look more like a part of his family. None of them really overcome their problems completely, although most of them do manage to find someone to be closer to – and even that statement makes Family Complex sound like it has more depth than it does. So, let me be absolutely clear: this manga has all the depth of an inflatable kiddie pool.

The humor is another area where Family Complex isn't quite up to par, compared to some of Tsuda's other works. That's not to say I didn't find this volume funny. I love how over-the-top the family is in their looks, their lives, and how much they adore Akira. Much of the humor is based on the assumption that all the world is pretty much normal, except most of the members of the Sakamoto family. I particularly enjoyed the bit during Fuyuki's chapter, when a pervert exposes himself to her (creepy and horrific in real life, but handled lightly and humorously here) and Fuyuki silently agonizes over how to respond to him before finally, casually chasing him off with a single word.

As in some (all?) of Tsuda's other works, a lot of the humor is gender- and sexuality-related. Harumi's chapter is the best example of this, as he tries to get back at his servant-friends by pretending he and Akira are dating (Harumi's friends don't know Akira is his brother). Later, Natsuru messes with Harumi's friends' heads by pretending she and Harumi are about to kiss – as far as Harumi's friends know, Natsuru is actually a good-looking guy. Neither Natsuru nor Harumi's sexuality is very clear. Natsuru is perfectly fine with having a girl harem, and Harumi doesn't seem to care who he ends up with, so long as it's someone he can be emotionally close to. Girls squeal over Natsuru, and guys worship Harumi. Then there's Hidetoshi, who met Nanami while unwillingly cross-dressing. Strangely, although I got tired of the gender/sexuality jokes in the show Baka and Test, I didn't mind them so much in Family Complex, perhaps because it was only a one-shot and wasn't long enough for the jokes to be done to death.

Family Complex's main saving grace is that it doesn't take itself all that seriously and is overall light in tone. It's brain candy of the lightest, fluffiest sort. Those who go into it not expecting much and who enjoy Tsuda's art and generally weird sense of humor may like it. Personally, I'm happy that Digital Manga Publishing released this in a nice, large size, complete with a pretty, removable dust jacket – all the better to admire Tsuda's characters.

Extras:

Mikiyo Tsuda's "Detached Retina Diary" is 15 pages long, if you count Tsuda's one-page introduction to it, and Tsuda sticks it into the volume just before the pages showing young Hidetoshi and young Nanami. It's basically Tsuda's experience with being diagnosed with and treated for a detached retina. I'm not an ophthalmologist, so I don't know how good all the information is in this section is, but it still serves as a terrifying warning to those who experience a sudden vision change: go see your doctor, and get the problem taken care of! Shojo manga creators are notorious for the strangeness of their side notes, but I think this is the longest and most detailed note I've ever seen dealing with health problems.

This volume also includes a considerably less horrific and less interesting afterword, in which Tsuda, in manga form, talks about messing up and sometimes using her pseudonym, Taishi Zaou, when she should be using her real name, Mikiyo Tsuda. She also writes about wanting to be able to draw more BL manga (the stuff she does under the name Taishi Zaou) and her fans' feelings about her works created under her two names.

There are also a couple manga pages underneath the dust jacket (one page is a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of some of the characters, while the other is a peek at Akira and the rest of the Sakamoto kids maybe 10 years into the future), plus 4 pages of 4-panel comics featuring Tsuda.

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

[Sherri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahhhh ♥ I'd forgotten how much I'd loved this manga. I've got it shelved as LGBT because there are some hints to in there with Akira's older sister, but primarily, this manga is about family and how they relate to one another. And it's just a nice, wholesome read.

With a lot of drama because of course.

But lovely all the same. ♥ And, if you're going to read Princess Princess, gives a lot of insight into the whole 'Sakamoto-sama' thing that plagues Akira in high school.

[Thoaium · Rating 4 out of 5]

Der Zeichenstil gefällt mir gut. Er ist auch identisch mit der Zeichnung auf dem Cover.
Der Manga fängt mit den Problem von dem Sohn Akira an. Danach kommen die Probleme der anderen drei Kinder zur Sprache.
Es ist spannend zu lesen, dass alle vier ihre Probleme haben und es auf die restliche Familie nie so wirkt. Zum Glück helfen die anderen Familienmitglieder gerne, sobald sie von dem Problem erfahren.

[TT · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technically this isn't a yaoi but when it came out it was shelved at Borders with the yaoi though I think I actually got this in swap. That said its a favorite of mine I've read several times, a strong, touching and funny story.

[Abi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fun to see Akira and his family, who I met in Princess Princess. I enjoyed the book, although I think it could have been a bit stronger in it delivery. 3.5 stars.

[Jarsuke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leider hat mir nur eine der Storys gefallen.

[Harumichi Mizuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Di antara seri Princess Princess, rasanya ini yang ceritanya paling normal.

[The Half-blood Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute. Akira is my favourite character in Princess Princess, Volume 01, probably the only pure rational ray of sunshine guy around that school. I love Mikiyo Tsuda's art style and some of her stories can be really enjoyable.

It was interesting to see each of the family members' complexes, but there were some clichés and jokes with serious topics that made me decide on only giving this 3 stars.

I find certain clichés in Japanese manga annoying: how there's this whole plot about something changing/a character development, but at the end it fundamentally doesn't; the isolation someone attractive ultimately suffers and/or how someone closes to them always suffers the irate jealousy of the others, like the attractive one is a cake, something that can be owned and actually divided amongst its various fans equally - that really makes sense, you hormone ridding idiots; creating androgynous characters, masculine girls, and beautiful than any girl just for the sake of plot, or being edgy, or creating confused romantic feelings, while still establishing the status quo about gender roles/divisions/appearances.
These are related to this book specifically, though there are more clichés out there I can't stand haha!

[Reader17 Der · Rating 4 out of 5]

ENJOYED! This book is about Akira one of the boys from Princess Princess and his family. It shows how he is from one of those families that everyone shines but him (even though he shines in his own way in Princess Princess). Different chapters cover different things one chapter is about his Birthday and being out in public with his family. There is different chapters that deals with the Older Brother, Older Sister and Younger Sister of how their lives are at school and how people relate to them. This was a really cute volume and I liked watching how the family reacted to one another and the people around them. I was laughing through the volume.

[Hud-c · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A short fun read.

Talks about inferiority complex, family issues, not belonging, being a wall flower - your average common teenage problems. What makes this somewhat addictive is the background of the family - they're all have doll-like features except the youngest boy. So the whole plot revolves around how Akira tries to erase his insecurities of being the so called ugly duckling and finally learning to accept who he is.

The characters were nicely drawn. More than the plot, it is seeing the characters different facial expressions that kept me on reading this. Mikiyo Tsuda is really a gifted artist.

[Char · Rating 5 out of 5]

A vendor at a con recommended this manga to me and I loved it! I definitely could relate to Akira in some ways. I too come from a family of six (though I am the youngest). Like Akira, I felt overshadowed by my family some ways. By having so many amazing people around, sometimes you can feel so small. But in the end, we all have positive traits that make us all special. :)

[Yaxun]

Hilarious.

[Kurukoro]

wanna read aaaah!!!!

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 4 out of 5]

#Program BUBU

Semula dibeli dan dibaca pada bulan Januari 2008.

[feux d'artifice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute concept but forgettable.