Jump to content
  • entries
    2
  • comments
    0
  • views
    1846

Prunus Girl - Review & Thoughts


Nosebleed

2445 views

I decided to make a blog so I can rant about all the manga I read and hopefully get more people into the medium and perhaps even discover some interesting titles. Granted not everything I will review will be positive, but I will always try to see how a manga could be interesting to other people besides myself as well. Thanks to @Kawasumi for giving me this amazing title for the blog.


For my first post I'd like to talk about one of my favorite manga, Prunus Girl

HwNaj7G.jpg

This light hearted series tells the story of Maki Makito who meets a young girl named Aikawa Kizuna during the entrance exams for his high school. She looks like a true beauty and both he and his classmates are entranced by her. But there's a catch, Aikawa Kizuna is actually a crossdressing boy!

Now I know those of you who dislike yaoi might already be cringing at the thought of reading this, but I'd like to ask you to read this entire review and perhaps give this great manga a chance, because I really think this is one of those cases where a manga knows how to play the tropes to its advantages and reach a wider audience you wouldn't normally see with these kinds of stories.

Starting off with the story itself, there really isn't an overarching plot per se, as each chapter is pretty much its own self contained arc, with a few exceptions that span over 3 or 4 chapters. They all mostly involve Maki and Aikawa in some crazy situation and Aikawa attempting to steal Maki's heart in the process. Although you might think this becomes stale quickly, I believe one of the things that kept me going was the fact that with each chapter the two characters seemed to grow closer to each other. Their relationship isn't a constant back and forward, they actually do develop a mutual bond and it doesn't cause any frustration at all because you know from the get go the two are meant to be together.

Maki might often brush off Aikawa's advances, but ultimately the two are made for each other, and it shows with each chapter. The thing that I really enjoyed the most amidst all this is how Aikawa's gender barely ever comes into play. Yes, it's used as a gag to some degree, but not as a way to say "these two can't be together because they're both boys". It was great to read a story where there really isn't a great wall to climb over in order for love to happen, it was a mere question of time for the characters to form a strong enough bond to be together. Their relationship is honestly one of the most natural I've seen.

abcf34cd7a7c4b5ca2287b43a6c24e09.png

 

Moving on to the characters, this manga actually has a surprisingly diverse cast to look at, and what's more, all of them are pretty accepting of Aikawa's crossdressing. There really isn't much of a rivalry outside of Maki fighting all the boys off of Aikawa in order to protect him. There are a few characters that try to meddle with their relationship, but ultimately nothing really gets out of proportion and all the conflicts between the characters are easily solved at the end of the day.

At 42 chapters, you might think this manga can get stale due to how little "plot" there is, but trust me, these characters manage to grow on you quicker than you'd expect, and you'll find yourself cheering them on and wanting to know what kind of antics they'll be up to next. There's even certain characters that get their own arc, so you'll never feel like a certain character didn't get what they deserved.

Aikawa and Maki might be the center, but their surroundings do a lot to help bring this manga to life, and it's wonderful to see an author knowing how to not disappoint their reader when it comes to side character development.

Tm2lASU.png

In terms of artstyle, the manga doesn't particularly shine through I must say. The characters themselves don't get a lot of detail (even the main ones) and backgrounds and few and far between, with the ones that exist not having a ton of detail either. But I think the characters have distinct enough features to at least not have same-face syndrome, so that's something. I also don't believe the art is bad in terms of aesthetics, mind you, it just that it's not particularly detailed. You be the judge I guess.

To close this off, I'd like to at least address the elephant in the room, and that is of course the gay relationship between the two main characters and the question of gender identity as whole. Of course, despite being a romantic comedy, this manga is still ultimately about two guys falling in love with each other (well, it feels more like a bromance, but alas!). I have to be honest and say I do very much enjoy trap characters, so I was obviously biased from the get go when I read this manga, but I think the light heartedness with which the manga takes itself, as well as the fact the characters are all accepting of the situation, makes the reader question things less and instead just presents a fun tale anyone can enjoy. Even at the end, Aikawa's gender really isn't a big deal for anyonee, and I think one key elements of the story is the acceptance of his crossdressing and the fact that, before he's a boy or a girl, he's just a person with a wonderful personality, and that's all that matters.

Prunus Girl is a very fun, easy to read manga. Albeit the subject matter is clearly not one most people are into, I believe the story does a fantastic job of just taking itself lightly and instead focusing on its lively cast of characters and their antics, shifting the focus from a guy on guy relationship to a mere relationship between two people.

I hope people give it a chance, because I think it might really open up the window to this genre to some. I at least have never found a proper manga that works with the theme of crossdressing and gay relationships as well as this one.

0 Comments


Recommended Comments

There are no comments to display.

Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...