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Duck Prince Book 2: Swan's Dilemma
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Just about everyone should be familiar with the
story of The Ugly Duckling. We all heard it at least once when we were
children, and in some ways, we've seen retellings of it in films and
television. Wasn't it every other show that, when Jenny Jones was still
on, she had an episodes dedicated to such a concept. The Duck Prince
though is Japan's answer to that same story, and although I'm not
someone that's necessarily into shoujo, this one actually is one that I
think anyone can relate to, and from the first volume, I was very
entranced.
The first volume set out the groundwork for the manga. Reiichi Swan was
your less than average looking kid in junior high, complete with a bowl
haircut and glasses. Nicknamed Helmet, there was one girl that he was
desperately in love with, but never said anything out of fear. Helmet
though would disappear, to an extent at least. A terrible accident left
Helmet in a coma for a year, and when he finally revived, he was
different. He had grown taller, he no longer needed glasses, and he had
beautiful long hair. It seemed like a enw life of him at last.
Wrong!
Reiichi was actually changed by a magical spell cast by Mister, a dog
belonging to the love of his life, Yumiko, and now Mister wants his
help. He wants to find the man that turned him into a dog years ago (and
he happens to be working at the school that both Reiichi and Yumiko
attend) or he's going to reveal Helmet's secret. But, things get even
worse. Reiichi might be attractive, but when he gets close to Yumiko and
there is any sort of physical contact, he reverts back to his old self.
And then it gets worse.
The last volume found Reiichi testing the rules behind his reversion,
and that involved a rather unattractive heavyset girl named Rikako. Now,
she thinks the two of them are dating, in fact, everyone thinks that,
and he needs to find a way to break the truth to her gently. Yumiko on
the other hand is trying to find out what happened to the real Helmet,
and due to circumstances, Reiichi does end up in his old form, and
Yumiko thinks that she's seen a ghost as the rumor is that Helmet might
be dead. And, now he's having trouble changing back, and even after he
does, things get even wilder. Mister finds the one he's looking for, and
Reiichi finds out something even more disturbing involving his sister.
The second volume keeps up with the comedy and wacky situations, making
this a manga that's more than just you're average shoujo. I still feel
that with the overall story, just about anyone can relate to the
feelings since everyone has gone through some awkward time in their
life. I will say that the situation with Reiichi's sister though came
out of nowhere, but this is going to have to be something that you're
just going to have to read for yourself, but it's very unexpected. I'm
still hoping that at some point this will get turned into some sort of
anime (OVA, series, or otherwise) but until that day comes, we've got
the manga, and this second volume is even more enjoyable than the first
one was. The Duck Prince has charm, class, and a fair amount of humor to
make it stand up above the other shoujo titles, and that's a winning
combination.
-mike-
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Genre:
Romance / comedy
Written
By::
Ai Morinaga
Art By::
Ai Morinaga
Pages:
180
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