Sugar Princess: Skating To Win, Vol. 1
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
When Maya Kurinoki takes her little brother to the local ice-skating rink for the first time, she's got her hands full just trying to get him to let go of the bar. To inspire a bit of bravery in him, she attempts a double axel--and lands it! Maya never imagined that this jump would change her life...or that a coach named Eishi Todo would vow to make her a figure skating "princess"! Now all Maya has to do is convince famous skater Shun Kano to become her partner. Too bad Shun doesn't want to have anything to do with her!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Nakajo (Hana-Kimi) creates another soft sports manga, this time about figure skating. Maya Kurinoki takes up skating at her local rink and is scouted by an ice-skating coach. When the rink owner plans to shut it down, Maya agrees to pair with professional figure skater Shun Kano in a contest to keep the rink open. Rated all ages, Sugar Princess is true 'tween reading. Young readers will appreciate 14-year-old Maya (who looks and acts more like a na ve 10 or 12 year old) and her altruistic determination. The story itself is cute, peppered with gorgeous young men, and Nakajo does her figure-skating research. But fans of the sport may find that the illustration focuses too lightly on the skating and too heavily on the character dramatization. One of the strengths of all-star sports manga like Slam Dunk or of dance manga like Swan are the action sequences. Nakajo tries, but so far, her series shows little of the balletic movement that lovers of figure skating adore. The pacing may pick up in the next volumes, the skating as well, but given Nakajo's record with Hana-Kimi and her concentration on boy-girl dynamics, this manga may develop as a sugar-sweet story of romance off the ice.