Sachiko becomes siblings by marriage with the boy she’s been crushing on!
Creative Staff
Writer/Artist: Wataru Mizukami
Translation: Jamie Jacobs
What They Say
Sachiko is wildly attracted to the quiet, cool Akihiko, the “Four-Eyed Prince”. But now they’ve become siblings by marriage – and must live under the same roof, as brother and sister! And if that isn’t bad enough, it turns out that Akihiko is hiding a surprise behind those nerdy glasses.
The Review!
Technical:
Four-Eyed Prince has a simple cover design with a close-up of Akihiko, our Four-Eyed Prince, in his school uniform against a light blue background on the front. He looks almost bored as he looks out the cover. Arranged vertically to the left is the title in pink, nondescript lettering. The back cover is plain white with a silly illustration of Sachiko goofing around with glasses, and a minimal plot summary above that.
Del Rey generally does a good job producing its releases, and this is no exception. Print quality, binding, and materials are all satisfactory. This opening volume has only three chapters (128 pages) but makes up for it with a standalone, fluffy bonus story “Mean Boy” about a middle-class high school girl touching the heart of her ultra-rich, disagreeable classmate. Extras also include an explanation of honorifics, two pages of mangaka notes, a silly two-page mini manga about Akihiko’s glasses, four pages of translation notes, an untranslated preview of Volume 2, and ads for other Del Rey releases.
The translation reads smoothly for the most part. Sound effects are translated with small text alongside the original, and signs/papers are translated with overlays. The mangaka goes for clean, shojo style artwork, but the eyes tend to be overly large (even for manga) and too close together, giving faces a distorted look. In addition, characters tend to look overly alike, making it difficult to differentiate between them in group settings.
Content:
According to the cover synopsis, Sachiko and Akihiko, the high school’s “Four-Eyed Prince,” have “become siblings by marriage — and must live under the same roof, as brother and sister!” Sounds a lot like the Marmalade Boy plot, but it isn’t — not by a long shot.
For starters, Sachiko is interested in Akihiko from the get-go. In fact, the story opens with him rejecting her confession of love. Secondly, the family aspect never really enters the story. As it turns out, Sachiko’s dad passed away a year ago, and when her grandmother, who has been caring for Sachiko, enters a nursing home, the only relation left to take Sachiko in is her mother, whom she hasn’t seen since the woman walked out on her and her dad 15 years ago. In the interim, her mother remarried and divorced a deadbeat who left her with a bunch of debt and his son from a previous marriage. And to Sachiko’s shock and delight, that son is none other than Akihiko!
All this is merely a plot device to get the two teenagers in close quarters. Once Sachiko moves in, their one parent figure pretty much disappears, and Sachiko doesn’t even try to treat Akihiko as a brother. Instead, she continues calling him “sempai” and plotting ways to seduce him as the story segues to Akihiko’s secret.
By accident, Sachiko discovers that Akihiko has two personalities. By day, he’s the aloof, four-eyed, studious prince at school. But at night, his glasses come off, and he turns into Akito, his charming alter ego who works in a bar in Tokyo’s red-light district (and he’s only 17!). Akihiko isn’t schizophrenic; apparently, his tumultuous family circumstances have forced him into these roles to get by. However, as they live together, Sachiko gets glimpses of the real Akihiko beneath his two masks, and in doing so, gradually endears herself to Akihiko.
As such, the main story is the unraveling of the different layers that make up Akihiko, and the progression of their romance once his true self is exposed. The premise could have led to a cute, fluffy storyline, if not for the fact that Sachiko is so shallow. Other than her obsession with Akihiko, she doesn’t have much personality and isn’t too bright (despite her year-long crush, she doesn’t recognize Akihiko the first time she sees him without glasses). Add to that her pathetic — and not very original — attempts to get Akihiko’s attention, and I find myself wanting Akihiko to cut her off entirely instead of cheering her on.
In Summary:
Four-Eyed Prince starts off as the story of a girl whose family circumstances throw her into close quarters with the boy she has a crush on, but then it turns into a kind of character study as she struggles to make sense of Akihiko’s different personas. There’s not much depth to this study though, as our heroine’s intelligence level is not very high.
This title is rated 13 + for sexual situations (though no actual sex takes place as of Volume 1).
Content Grade: C+
Art Grade: B-
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Del Rey Manga
Release Date: August 25th, 2009
MSRP: $10.99
