Day 5: Kitchen Princess

Technically it's Day 5...it's just really really early on Day 5. I thought I'd mention one of my favorite mangas..Kitchen Princess!! A manga about a girl with a talent for cooking and that includes recipes in the back from each issue...of course I'd like that!! Not only does this manga feature intricate drawings of every food imaginable but the plot line itself is as moving as Nicholos Sparks novel (author of A Walk to Remember) The story follows Najika Kazami, an orphan and an excellent chef from Hokkaidō, and her arrival at Seika Academy, an escalator school. Not only does she plan to become a great chef like her deceased parents, but she also sets out to find her "Flan Prince", a boy that saved her from falling into a river and gave her a cup of flan with a silver spoon with the school's emblem on it. She promised him she would make the most delicious dessert in the world. However, as soon as she is placed into Class A, the special class, she has to deal with the constant insults of Akane Kishida and her group. Things become better, however, when she befriends Sora and Daichi Kitazawa, the school's most popular brothers, and possible candidates for the status of her "Flan Prince". The tenth and final volume has just been released in the US. I must warn you though, some of the events in this series are not for the faint of heart but it does end nicely. The English version is printed by delrey manga. And I have recently heard that a new book entitled "Search for the Angel Cake" will follow. In this book Najika faces a new challenge, and it may be her toughest one yet. Before their tragic accident, her parents, both famous pastry chefs, made a promise to the grandmother of a classmate of Najika’s: to duplicate a white cake the elderly woman once tasted abroad as a teenager. Now Najika hopes to re-create the cake herself.

To get an idea of the type of illustration I will include this beautifully-colored manga scan.