Duck Prince Vol.#03

By: Eduardo M. Chavez
Review Date: Monday, January 17, 2005
Release Date: Monday, November 01, 2004



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Morinaga Ai
Translated by:Laura Jackson & Yoko Kobayashi
Adapted by:

What They Say
Love Stinks!!
Reiichi thought that Yumiko liked handsome guys who were cool and collected. But then why is she hanging all over the nerdy-looking transfer student? And why does a gorgeous-girl remind him of Rikako, the fat ugly girl that likes him?

The Review
Packaging:
Once again, CPM Press uses Kadokawa Shoten's original cover art, which features an image of Reiichi Swan with feathers falling around him. On the opposite side, there is a plucked swan crying on the white background. The logo used by CPM is similar to the Kadokawa Shoten version. They have used a duck silhouette to frame the title and place the sub-title directly underneath the logo.

Inside the printing does not look too bad. Morinaga's inking is so strong that I really did not have any issues with some of the slight tone problems. I do not like the random art on the insides of the covers. They tend to often by random action pieces that do nothing for the overall presentation of the GN. CPM includes a character intro at the start of the GN, an ato-gaki (afterward) at the end, which was followed by ads for Comic Party, Couple and Taniguchi works.

Artwork:
Morinaga-sensei's art is all over the place. It is as hyperactive as potentially possible. Her character designs range from longhaired bishies with strong lines, subtle yet expressive eyes and are almost always to scale. There are funky shojo girls with thin light lines, huge detailed eyes and variety in regards to fashion. Finally, comical looking freaks with spiral eyes and super-deformed bodies drawn with lines as thick as the main character's glasses. Moreover, even with that variety, she can make them all prettier or super-deformed (SD bishojo or bishonen must be seen to believe). Fortunately, with this being a take on the ugly duckling this contrast is not as shocking as it might be in other titles, but it sure gives another layer of comedy to an already funny story.


Her backgrounds are pretty bad. While Morinaga does use them a bit, if you look closely one might notice the sloppy crocked lines and complete lack of detail to anything that is not human (or was human). Similar to Anno Moyoco, Morinaga's layout is practically as hyperactive as her writing. It is full of kakimoji (SFX) and manpu (visual effects expressing mood and emotion, occasionally interacting with characters. In a comical story like this that can be fun, but if the tone were more serious I might find it a bit frustrating.

SFX/Text:
As I have not read the original Japanese, I am having a difficult time grading the translation. There are times where the swearing and slang is excessive and there was an aside that was not translated in context. CPM also chose not to use honorifics for this title. With personal interactions being such a vital focus of this title, I am sure honorifics would have added another level of humor of this story. I was also disappointed that they translated the main character's last name. I do not know which way the kanji for his name is read (either: hakuchou, shirotori or shiratori) but it was translated literally to "Swan." I wish they could have just made a note of that in the character intro instead of just changing it. Fortunately, this title is typo free and does not have any major syntax errors.

SFX are now translated with small subs. This is a change for the better that really helped support Morinaga's crazy layouts, as the new SFX do not distract much or compromise art.

Contents: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Reiichi thought being cursed was bad. He has this beautiful body and yet he cannot get close to the person he is in love with. The only people he can turn to are his selfish and evil magician associates, his hideous but sweet "girlfriend" and his abusive and sociopathic family.

Now he has to forget his family. Mental and emotional abuse is horrible, and can cause irreversible damage to a person. Years of this from his family has possibly made Reiichi into the spineless bug he is. Now, he has to put up with physical abuse as well. Even for someone as weak as Reiichi, there is no way he can ignore that. If he is ever going to be strong, emotionally and physically, he will have to find out how to take care of himself. Taking the initiative in regards to how to interact with the more evil members of his family will definitely be progress.

Sometimes Reiichi has to turn to other people for help. He could turn to Mister, but that could end up in frustration. He has always been able to talk to Yumiko, but his curse is preventing that. The only normal person he can really turn to is Omae Rikako. Up to now, that has been a positive thing for Reiichi's confidence. She reminds him of how he was before. But could his friendship give her a false sense of closeness? His heart has always been set on Yumiko, so how will Rikako handle the truth if she were to find out?

Baby steps, Reiichi. Take care of what you can first and then move on to something harder... Easier said than done for this ugly duckling.

Comments
This volume pretty much sums up all of my frustrations with this series. First, we get some clichéd manga concepts taken to an extreme. Mangaka and manga fans joke about the old shojo fallback of a heroine falling in love with her new stepbrother but Morinaga takes that idea to places I wish she could have avoided. The result provides a strange rivalry and even weirder dynamic in this twisted comedy, but it is so unbelievable it is annoying. For a moment, the character appears to actually grow up - in the shape of a backbone and a personality - in this volume as the lead character starts to realize how he had become those that were picking on him earlier. Unfortunately, the mangaka decided to toss out what could have been a cool plot-twist in favor of another gimmick. So where we could have had a cool resolution to this mess, Morinaga decides to keep this pointless idea going.

Duck Prince really has very little going for it. It has horrible art, the comedy is pretentious and overdone, the packaging is not very appealing, and it is so frustrating I find it hard to read. The idea is so great, but Morinaga's sense of humor always appears to get in the way of what could be fun creative stories (look at her other title His and Her Secret from ADV). Now at the halfway point of this series, if it finishes up strong that will truly be as surprising as seeing an ugly duckling turn into a swan.