Ando Natsumi and Kobayashi Miyuki - Kitchen Princess, vol. 02-07 (Eng. trans.)

Does anyone know the origins of "プリン" (flan)? I know パン is from Portuguese, but I remember being confused by プリン when I was there.

Now that Najika's in the prestigious Seika Academy to find her Flan Prince (as one does), she must battle all the people who think she has no place in the special class! Sadly, the battles are not literal, although there are a few cook-offs involved.

And then there is a plot twist at the end of volume 5/beginning of volume 6 that was extremely unexpected. It briefly made me think this would not be quite as typical of a shoujo cooking series as it seemed, but things appear to have gone back to normal by volume 7. Maybe.

( Spoilers are actually surprising )

I'm not reading for deep characterization or surprising plot. The assorted food battles and espousing of food philosophy—"Best ingredients! Fancy plating! Exquisite taste!" vs. "COOK FROM THE HEART!"—are what make the series for me, and as the series continues to talk about food a lot, I will continue to enjoy.

Also, I am now so hungry for omurice and Japanese curry! And Japanese-style Italian pasta with an egg on top!

Nakajo Hisaya - Sugar Princess, vol. 02 (Eng. trans.)

More shoujo fluff! I read volume 1 of this nearly a year ago, so I don't remember much, save that Nakajo had awesome sketches of figure skaters in the chapter breaks.

I'm also a little confused as to the status of the series. I thought it was a 2-volume series, and I'm fairly sure the Taiwan version has a "fin" character on volume 2, but Wikipedia hints otherwise.

So, Shun and Maya are working to save their rink! There is, of course, a nefarious plot against them, plus obstacles such as Maya's lack of money for a new skating outfit to surmount. Overall, nothing surprising happens, but I was still charmed by Maya's youth (she's 13, younger than most shoujo heroines I read) and Nakajo's knowledge of the sport. There isn't a ton of figure skating in here, but I enjoyed what I saw.

I think I mentioned it in my write up of volume 1, but I very much appreciate that the scope of this is so small, that it's not Maya turning into a figure skating prodigy and going to the Olympics or something. My impression is that Nakajo's figure skating fannishness works for her in that respect; she knows what's more within the realm of possibility. Although I still laughed when we find out Maya's Sekrit Power, because it wouldn't be a sports series without one!

I also found the lack of romance refreshing.

Cute but probably not interesting to people who don't care about figure skating, although it's possibly suitable for a much younger audience than some of the shoujo I read.