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The Prince's Cactus / 王子的仙人掌 #1
王子的仙人掌 1 [Wang zi de xian ren zhang 1]
Born to a small European country, of a royal mother and a father who is heir to a prosperous European shipping industry and descendant of Queen Victoria, Elian has been groomed to be the crown prince since birth.
Elian is filled with natural confidence, to speak better of it, in his appearance and background, and his training as a crown prince has not helped his good temperament. To put it bluntly, he’s an arrogant person. One could even say that he was born conceited.
Dania, on the other hand, is a girl who was abandoned by her father in pursuit of a woman, and has had to work for a living. However, when her sister gets married to Elian's father, she comes to attend the wedding in Greece. There she meets Elian for the first time...
Elian is filled with natural confidence, to speak better of it, in his appearance and background, and his training as a crown prince has not helped his good temperament. To put it bluntly, he’s an arrogant person. One could even say that he was born conceited.
Dania, on the other hand, is a girl who was abandoned by her father in pursuit of a woman, and has had to work for a living. However, when her sister gets married to Elian's father, she comes to attend the wedding in Greece. There she meets Elian for the first time...
204 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 30, 2018
Rating:
First half - 4 stars out of 5
Second half - 2 stars out of 5
Consensus: 3 stars out of 5
I loved the FIRST half of this book. Dan, the book's protagonist, is a strong-willed, sassy, independent manga character, who manages to throw back every snappy comment that the arrogant, selfish, but not entirely unlikable prince character tosses towards her. The two of them go back and forth, but Dan's snark really sets her apart from the stereotypical 'meek' manga girl or a typical tsundere. Some traits I liked, for example:
She's crazy sassy, but in a no-nonsense manner
She goes around in frumpy, comfy clothes
She complains about others and has a great line about not blaming herself for other people's drama and crap
She's got a physical disability that limits her ability to participate in life normally
She's a foreigner in a strange country, where others are racist towards her.
She's actually impressively well-rounded, sympathetic, and likable.
And so with such a great main character, I thought this manga be an unknown gem that I was going to adore.
...and then the second half happens.
It's not necessarily HORRIBLE...it's more that the originality of the manga kind of falls apart here. Dan starts dressing up and acting counter to her original personality. She loses her bite, her spite, her style, and retains very little of her previous self, both in personality and looks. She and the prince also start to fall in love VERY quickly. It's understandable - this series is literally only two volumes, with four chapters each. But it's still all too sudden, and feels unnatural after the intense animosity that's been built up between the two romantic leads. The plot devolves too along with the characters: we have the storyline of a jealous wanna-be girlfriend to the prince kidnapping Dan and the prince having to come rescue her. It's very uninspired and cliche. Boring, and unfortunately reinforces the 'jealous other woman' stereotype that's so often seen in these kinds of shoujo stories.
ALSO: There is a line in the second half that really bothered me. During a fancy event, the prince says that Dan would be so much 'prettier and nice if she smiled more often.' And the comment isn't rebuked, but implied to be a compliment, and she obeys his advice.
UGH. That made my inner feminist/woman's rights advocate cringe SO HAAAAARD! Other than that comment, other sexist tropes are mercifully not present.
All in all, not a bad read. But if you go in, prepare to be disappointed as it continues. I was, at least. Artwork is very nice, so that's a plus! Also, it's great to see a comic come out of China - it mixes things up nicely, and I hope to read more Chinese...manga? Whatever they call the equivalent of manga. I'll have to research that.
I'll finish up this series with the second and final book, since it's an easy read. Maybe the series can redeem itself and reach a good end? I hope so!
First half - 4 stars out of 5
Second half - 2 stars out of 5
Consensus: 3 stars out of 5
I loved the FIRST half of this book. Dan, the book's protagonist, is a strong-willed, sassy, independent manga character, who manages to throw back every snappy comment that the arrogant, selfish, but not entirely unlikable prince character tosses towards her. The two of them go back and forth, but Dan's snark really sets her apart from the stereotypical 'meek' manga girl or a typical tsundere. Some traits I liked, for example:
She's crazy sassy, but in a no-nonsense manner
She goes around in frumpy, comfy clothes
She complains about others and has a great line about not blaming herself for other people's drama and crap
She's got a physical disability that limits her ability to participate in life normally
She's a foreigner in a strange country, where others are racist towards her.
She's actually impressively well-rounded, sympathetic, and likable.
And so with such a great main character, I thought this manga be an unknown gem that I was going to adore.
...and then the second half happens.
It's not necessarily HORRIBLE...it's more that the originality of the manga kind of falls apart here. Dan starts dressing up and acting counter to her original personality. She loses her bite, her spite, her style, and retains very little of her previous self, both in personality and looks. She and the prince also start to fall in love VERY quickly. It's understandable - this series is literally only two volumes, with four chapters each. But it's still all too sudden, and feels unnatural after the intense animosity that's been built up between the two romantic leads. The plot devolves too along with the characters: we have the storyline of a jealous wanna-be girlfriend to the prince kidnapping Dan and the prince having to come rescue her. It's very uninspired and cliche. Boring, and unfortunately reinforces the 'jealous other woman' stereotype that's so often seen in these kinds of shoujo stories.
ALSO: There is a line in the second half that really bothered me. During a fancy event, the prince says that Dan would be so much 'prettier and nice if she smiled more often.' And the comment isn't rebuked, but implied to be a compliment, and she obeys his advice.
UGH. That made my inner feminist/woman's rights advocate cringe SO HAAAAARD! Other than that comment, other sexist tropes are mercifully not present.
All in all, not a bad read. But if you go in, prepare to be disappointed as it continues. I was, at least. Artwork is very nice, so that's a plus! Also, it's great to see a comic come out of China - it mixes things up nicely, and I hope to read more Chinese...manga? Whatever they call the equivalent of manga. I'll have to research that.
I'll finish up this series with the second and final book, since it's an easy read. Maybe the series can redeem itself and reach a good end? I hope so!
August 29, 2023
Enemy to lover trope? Yesss!!
May 4, 2014
Chronique complète.
Un premier tome qui pose les bases tout en nous plongeant dans la série. Une intrigue classique en somme mais bien menée. Des personnages parfois stéréotypés mais qui restent sympathique. Des graphisme agréables.
Un premier tome qui pose les bases tout en nous plongeant dans la série. Une intrigue classique en somme mais bien menée. Des personnages parfois stéréotypés mais qui restent sympathique. Des graphisme agréables.
November 12, 2015
The Prince's Cactus is an average comedy/romance story. When Dan comes to Greece for her sister's wedding she meets Prince Elian. Elian is pretentious and controlling and the two fight constantly.
I loved Dan's sassy attitude, but nothing else really stuck out.
I loved Dan's sassy attitude, but nothing else really stuck out.
May 9, 2014
this perfectly amazing... fantastic comic.. like it .. I knew some brand from it and some exciting feeling when I read it.. it was also introducing us to some foreign countries. relation between two countries. And really fascinating story inside..
February 13, 2013
The first chapter is my favourite! :) Hehe and the second as well.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews