Kitchen Princess, Vol. 10

キッチンのお姫さま [Kitchen no Ohime-sama] #10

by Natsumi Andō (Illustrator), Miyuki Kobayashi

HAPPILY EVER AFTER?

Najika heads to Paris for a major cooking competition, while things with Daichi fall apart and personal tragedy strikes again. Will Seiya pick up the pieces? And will Najika stay true to Daichi?

This is the final volume of Kitchen Princess.

Includes special extras–plus recipes–after the story!

Genres: Manga, Romance, Comics, Young Adult, Graphic Novels, Shojo, Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

安藤なつみ, Andō Natsumi is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known for Zodiac P.I. as well as Kitchen Princess, for which she won the Kodansha Manga Award for children's manga in 2006.

Favorites: Donald Duck
Favourite manga: Ossu! Ichijin and Kimagure Orange Road
Favourites: meats and fruits
Hobbies: shopping, reading and watching TV

Reviews

[☾❀Apple✩ Blossom⋆｡˚ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first and last volumes of this manga were my favourite. The plot itself was very tropey and had some points that I really didn't care for and sometimes it felt like drama for the sake of it, but the romance was cute and the kitchen setting it's just my weakness. The art was okay too. But I think that the reason I liked this manga so much is mostly the protagonist herself: Najika is so sweet and bubbly and she always picks herfself up when she falls. She loves everyone unconditionally, she stands up for her friends and family and she can always find the good in everyone. I just couldn't help but wishing her all the happiness in the world, and that all her dreams would come true 😩

(overall rating: 3.75 stars)

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Quickie Review

This manga series ends with a bang! If you've invested your time in the series up to this point, you must read this one!

[DonutKnow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aww, Daichi's dad 😭😭 So many feels in these last volumes 💗💗

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Najika finds her flan prince and is finally able to continue on cooking and more after she finds out that her hagio-sensei is feeling better. Will she be able to find out if Daichi likes her back? Read on and find out for yourself.


This was a great conclusion to the Kitchen Princess series. I enjoyed every volume of this and would reccomend this series to everyone.

[Tatiana Soldatova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing manga series ! Absolute must read !

[Anja Karenjina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stvarno je išla nizbrdo i u krug posle tipa 5. dela, ali i dalje je volim

[Starbubbles · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was a really fast read for me. i went through 5 books in two hours, imagine how fast someone with reading skills can get through this. it was a much happier than i expected. i was expecting grandma and daichi to die too, and maybe she'll have a bittersweet relationship with seiya. what was i to expect with how the first half went? plus, i totally thought it was funny how sora was recycled into seiya. oh, they look alike! yeah, i'm sure they do, same person with different outfits. lol. i can't draw, so i really can't complain about the characters looking alike. still, i enjoyed this. i don't know how often i can re-read this, since it's really bittersweet in the beginning, but i can be certain i'll pick it up again.

[Abi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful ending to the series! As always, the story was cute and the art was beautiful. I really enjoyed the emotional rollercoaster this time around, haha. I think this is the most adorable manga I've ever read. I liked all of Natsumi Andō's choices regarding each of the characters and the events. The special with Akane at the end was excellent! I enjoyed seeing her have a romantic moment (with Seiya) and also prior to that reaching for her dreams. It was pretty cute. She's always been one of my favorite characters, and I do wish she had been more present in later volumes after she and Najika became friends. Oh well. Oh, and I loved seeing Daichi and his dad repair their relationship, too! It was awesome. And I'm glad Hagio-san is okay! Overall, an excellent conclusion to the series, full of romance, cuteness, and heart! 5 stars.

[bow down to our ace king victor vale · Rating 3 out of 5]

and fin. pretty good series overall ^^ (tho my enjoyment did kinda tank after sora died bc wHY). sigh/ nevertheless, this ending was cute, with their ‘reunion’ at the same spot they met when they were kids. the rainbow at the scene was also pretty fitting. AND i loved all our main characters (trio) here: daichi,sora, and most importantly: najika. i rlly liked her as an MC :D. wouldn’t have continued reading otherwise. (OH also fujita too bc duh). regarding the art style, i liked it as well!! it was cute, especially the eyes lolz.

[Tabitha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did it! I read an entire manga series, one of my goals this summer.
I like the idea of manga, but somehow I don't find it very enjoyable to read. This story was adorable and I'm looking forward to trying some of the recipes at the end of the books, but I'd rather watch the anime adaptation of this any day (if it existed... I'm pretty sure it doesn't).

But, 4 stars because the story and art were lovely.... I just don't think manga is my cup of tea.

[Supermomochan (PeachyFishyBooks) · Rating 5 out of 5]

*sob*

[Kurtis Burkhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty adorable Cooking and baking Shoujo manga! 😁👌📖🍮🥮🧁

[Acacia Weber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay so parts of this series got a bit outlandish but over all it's super sweet!

[andrea ‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ · Rating 5 out of 5]

:,) that was so nostalgic ugh i loved it

[Sara I · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this manga and I was so sad to see it end. I'd enjoyed the previous volumes so so so much! This is like tied for favorite as my favorite manga series. Like I've cried and laughed with these characters and come to love them bunches :) I was very sad for the ending of this series...but it was ended just right :D

This manga is easy to understand, isn't confusing, has wonderful characters and is clean too. There were like three kisses in the entire series and I'm not sure, but I don't think there was any cussing. So it's great for tweens and teens. It's really sweet and fun. *sniffs* I was sad for it to end. But it was a really sweet ending. I still can't believe it's over. But it is...and well it was a great last volume. It had just what I wanted.

After discovering and remembering his repressed memory of his mother's death Daichi becomes depressed and won't eat. Najika brings him some soup and decides to finally tell him how she feels about him, she just doesn't know what his response will be. Later on he's seeming better and better, but then he tells Najika he only sees her as a friend. Seiya is left to pick up the pieces and try to lift Najika's spirits for the big Paris cooking competition.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kitchen Princess is about a girl named Najika who has an extremely positive an upbeat personality. She has been admitted at Seika Academy’s Special Class because she has a talent in cooking. Through various adventures and mishaps she struggles to find her way along with the help of Daichi and Sora Kitazawa.

I read this series on a whim; I was really into cooking at one point. It is cute and fun, just pure enjoyable reading. I was delighted to find out that there are even recipes for what she makes in the back! I am totally going to try them.

Najika reminded me a lot of the Fruits Basket character Tohru Honda, having a love of life and everyone/everything around her even though tragedy has clouded her past. Najika is selfless and always that first one to offer a helping hand.

I also like how this manga has a direction of where it is going and a direction for the characters to take. They know what path they want to go and what goals they are searching for. It is one of those manga stories that seems to be really inspirational to me and inspires me to go and try to find out what I want to do with my life.

[Angelina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a great series!!! It was worth staying up at night for. (Yes, I would stay up all night for a manga with romance in it) The ending couldn't have been better. (Sora dying is still so sad *still crying inside, T^T*) I'm can finally ship Daichi and Najika together (I mean not like I haven't been doing that since the begginging😅😍😆) This book has surprise me a lot the love triangles were just like WOW to me and it also portray how special a family bond is even if it means you have to give up something like when Najika gave the competition up for someone who was dear to her when she was young, Hagio-san. When Seiya came I was just thinking how he was going to ruin my ship (Daichi and Najika) but, in the end he was thoughtful enough to combine both of their ideas and name it after her.............................and then DAICHI FINALLY CONFESS!!! I WAS SO HAPPY THAT I WAS JUST SITTING ON MY BED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT JUST SQEAULING SO YEAH.😁😇😂

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, this manga made me so hungry. Everything is drawn with care and precision (and there are recipes for them in the back....drool). But the story is what really carried me along to the final page. Najika is such a great heroine, overcoming her obstacles, and it's so lighthearted and fun...until BAM. Total bombshell drops and I cried like a little baby.

But it continues. It picks back up, and it gets real. The little obstacles float away as Najika learns more about cooking, about dreams, and about herself. I was so, so pleased with the ending. Even from the first chapter I could sense who the "Flan Prince" was, and I was not disappointed. Totally endearing and delicious to devour.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kitchen Princess is the first manga I fell in love with. Part of what I like about it is that it's "food fiction" or fiction that features recipes. This 10th volume of the series is the final one. I was satisfied with the ending, though things do get tied up awfully neatly. Not that that's a bad thing. I enjoyed the story, and am glad the door to the world of manga has been opened to me.

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have loved Kitchen Princess from the first volume, and the ending didn't disappoint me. I loved the main cast of characters, and how they grew over the course of the series. The romance was very sastifying, sweet and believable, and I think Daichi and Najika would be a very happy couple. This has become one of my favorite manga series.

[maryam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kitchen Princess, the manga that I will forever remember as the "onion cutting ninja". And of course, one of my favorite series. For some reasons, I cried on every chapter of this series. When I finished reading the whole series, my eyes were so red and I had a huge headache, that is how AWESOME this series is!

[Giselle · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 I'm sooo happy with the ending. It was a good end to the series.

[Daria Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it!!! im sad that it was truly ending!!!!

[Jess 🦋 · Rating 5 out of 5]

IM CRYING 😭😭😭

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

(stejná recenze u všech dílů první série {to znamená, že nepočítám K. P. Omnibus})

Kresba vypadala moc hezky. Akorát je trochu zastaralá na dobu, v níž byla vydána. Především musím ocenit vzhled a originalitu kulinářských výtvorů. Vždy musím obdivovat autory, kteří s něčím takovým přicházejí. Je zřejmé, že autorka je sama kuchařkou, protože na konci každého volumka byly recepty, které se v něm objevily. Což je super, jelikož vám to dodá chuť se o něco pokusit. Nebo aspoň já jsem měla tento pocit.

Děj byl v některých věcech dost předvídatelný, zejména když se jednalo o to, s kým skončí, což mi bylo jasné už od první kapitoly. Na druhou stranu mi to pomohlo si uvědomit jednu věc, která funguje v opravdu hodně shojo mangách, jenž mají milostný trojúhelník o tomto výběru. Hlavní hrdinka se začátku vždy zamiluje do bloďatého (nebo někoho, kdo nemá ty vlasy vybarvené) a poté si díky několika událostem uvědomí, že miluje tmavovlasého, se kterým nakonec skončí. Vyskytuje se to například v Kirari, Skip Beat! a mnoha dalších.

Některé věci mě opravdu překvapily. Jednou z nich je velice zajímavé řešení milostného trojúhelníku, které mi udělilo docela velký šok, jelikož jsem si myslela, že se to ještě vyřeší. Sora, ten světlovlasý, zemři kvůli zraněním způsobeným při dopravní nehodě. Sice asi tak jednu kapitolu proleží v nemocnici a vy si myslíte, že se z toho vyléčí, tak ne. Nevyléčí se z toho a prostě si umře. A ne, rozhodně to není nějaké falešné úmrtí, neboť má i vlastní pohřeb.

Objevovaly se zde i nějaké dost temné a na psychiku náročné události, které jsem rozhodně zrovna v tomto díle neočekávala, jelikož všechno bylo tak hrozně slaďoučký. Takže za toto překvapení má u mě příběh plus. Na druhou stranu se mi některé situace zdály trochu násilně vecpané, takže za to dávám malé mínus.

Dost mě i překvapil věk Najiky vzhledem k tomu, co všechno prožila, a k jejím milostným problémům. Podle mě by jí mělo býti minimálně patnáct, neboť v tomto věku už jste více mentálně vyspělejší, a tak by její trable dávaly větší smysl. Sice jsou to jen dva roky rozdíl, ale v tomto případě to udělá dost.

Nechápu, proč se všude musí objevovat nějací zlí dospělí, kteří nesnášejí hlavní hrdinku. Pak to stejně většinou dopadne tak, že jim hlavní hrdinka otevře oči a inspiruje je. A ta dá! Jsou z nich najednou hrozně milé osoby. Tohle mi v příbězích trochu vadí.

Také nechápu, proč musí vždy dívky šikanovat hlavní hrdinku kvůli tomu, že se baví s kluky. Tak za nimi mají taky jít a začít si s nimi bavit. Tohle mě vždycky dokáže tak znechutit. Pak se ale většinou stane, že se jejich názor otočí o 180 stupňů, protože zjistí, že Najika je ve skutečnosti hrozně skvělá. Tohle mi přijde vždycky nepřirozené. Mnohem raději bych viděla postupný vývoj a ne něco, co se stane zčistajasna.

S koncem jsem spokojená. Příběh sice skončil předvídatelně, na druhou stranu je poslední stránka sladká a nevinná. Také jsem spokojená s tím, jak se to ve vyřešilo a s tím, jak skončila ta prestižní soutěž.

Prvních pět obálek se mi zas tak tolik nelíbí. Jsou o dost obyčejnější než následujících pět, které se mi líbí velice, jelikož mi přijdou více osobitější.

Dávám 71% Jazyk: Aj

[Bibliothecat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for compelte series.

Reread 2025

Najika was left orphaned but has a passion for baking and cooking. After the loss of her parents, she was so devastated that she wouldn't speak to anyone - that is until she met a boy who gave her comfort and a perfectly delicious treat. With nothing but a special spoon to go on, Najika strives to be an even better cook so that she may one day find the boy and repay his kindness by making him the best desert.

Kitchen Princess has a lot of the less good shoujo cliches and far too many coincidences; Najika is new to an elite school where she is disliked. She stumbles into the good graces of the head master's two sons who form the typical love triangle. There are your usual rivals and bullies and some of the drama feels extremely over the top. However, despite falling into a few common pitfalls, this series also has a lot of heart. I suspect it lies in the main subject of baking and cooking - while I have no special interest in either, it's just the way it's woven into the story that gives it a very wholesome feeling.

Najika is truly passionate about cooking and a lot of it focuses on her philosphy. She believes that making food for others is a way to make them happy, and each incident is indeed Najika finding ways to look out for people's welbeing and making them happy by means of the dishes she makes. The explanations and thoughts that go into these bring a lot of charm to this series which simply makes it stand out despite the otherwise extremely formulaic plot.

The remaining cast is largely likeable. One of my favourites is somewhat surprisingly Akane who starts out as a bully but has great character development throughout the series and ultimately becomes a great friend. The brothers typical roles of the calm and dependable Sora and the more rebelious and at times moody Daichi. As is often the case, Najika naturally gravitates toward Sora but it's just as clear that Daichi is as much a likely romance option. I never really warmed up to Sora so I didn't care much for their interactions and I liked Daichi well enough, but I'd argue that romance isn't what I enjoy most about this series. In any case, things become a little more complicate which puts a bit of a spin on the otherwise typical dynamics between these three. Also a little mention for Fujita, the seemingly lazy chef who lets Najika work in his diner. He seems to have a pretty interesting story even though we only get to see snippets in bonus chapters.

While I can't say that this is going down as a favourite of mine, I can appreciate why it's a popular series and I definintely did enjoy both my original and my reread. It's a cute little extra that each volume as recipes as the end. This is also one of those series where you see quite a leap in the art improvement - I enjoy Ando's art and while the earlier volumes are definitely cute, I really enjoyed the art from around volume 8 onwards.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

The following is a review of the entire Kitchen Princess series as a whole; not the single volume.

This series was not what I expected. It was fine until volume 4, when Sora suddenly died. It was (and continued to be) a dark moment in what is otherwise a light, fluffy, food manga. Also, I felt it was particularly lazy on the artist's behalf to introduce a new character who looks EXACTLY THE THE PERSON WHO JUST DIED.

WHAT?!

I also felt like the issues between Daishi and his father were forced and unrealistic. That part of the story just didn't make a lot of sense to me. Why is he such a terrible director? Why does he insist on using Najika for his personal gain --just to try and con his son into stepping into his dead brother's place? And by the end, Najika uses her food magic to bring them back together anyway...so, now it's all good because he appreciates her cooking again? Uuuuugh.

That all aside, the artwork and story itself are...nice. It's difficult to remember that these are supposed to be middle school students; they have a lot of autonomy for being so young. Which, granted, may be a bit of a cultural divide.

I also enjoyed that the recipes are included at the back of the book.

[Hazel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kitchen Princess was the first manga I had read back in high school. It was this manga that sparked my interest in baking. I wanted to be like the protagonist (Najika), sharing love with others through baking.

The protagonist, Najika, reminded me much of myself. Despite all the bad experiences I have gone through in my life, I don't want to hate those who have done me wrong before. No matter how much I wanted to give up, time and time again, there were always good people along the way that helped me to get back up.

I can still remember the first thing I tried to bake was a mug cake with oreo frosting on top. I gave it as a gift to my Scouting family, as they were really some of the important people in my life. They have helped in a lot of ways, encouraging me when I am in doubt or being looked down on by others, treating me like a friend/family, and more. And that is why I wanted to be like Najika...sharing love with others through baking. Seeing their smile just warms my heart very much!

A simple act of caring creates an endless ripple.

[DJ Linick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, I, an adult, heterosexual male, read a shoujo manga series. Wait, I can explain! 😂

I started volume 1 out of curiosity, more or less. I wondered what exactly would manga targeting a female audience be like (though, to be fair, I have unintentionally read josei manga in the past, so perhaps my experiment was flawed from the beginning). My expectations for the series were hardly high. I mean, how intense can a story be whose target demographic is young teenage girls?

That's where everything fell apart.

For a manga about a junior high girl who likes to cook, this was surprisingly dramatic! It was an emotional rollercoaster I wasn't prepared for! And yes, I'll admit it, I got a little tearful at the end. It was a beautiful story.

I feel as though I've grown as a person from this experience. Don't judge a book by its cover, and to that adage I'll append the phrase "nor by its demographic." Read widely and even outside your comfort zone; you never know what you might learn or discover! 📚🌎

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Questa recensione vale per l'intera serie e non solo per questo volume.

Il primo volume è super cute, con la protagonista che mi ricorda Lucia delle Mermaid Melody ma versione pasticcera. I due ML sono cute e ovviamente fratelli, ma ci garba lo stesso. Le ricette a fine volume le ho AMATE, ottima idea, 10 out of 10.

Ora la parte spoiler che abbassa nettamente il voto alla serie

Il fatto che Sora muoia non mi ha dato particolarmente fastidio, anzi poteva essere un buon plot-twist, MA CHE CAZZO SUCCEDE DOPO? Viene buttato dentro un terzo ML identico a Sora per fare un po' di drama, ma è completamente inutile perchè non ci sarà nulla di nulla dato che il flashback iniziale della protagonista che incontra il suo principe budino dai capelli argentati verrà cambiato in favore del secondo ML dai capelli corvini che magicamente si ricorda tutto. Veramente un finale di trama immotivatamente complicato e angst