[Review] Four-Eyed Prince Volume 1

Last Updated on Tuesday, 09 February 2010 00:04 Written by Jade Thursday, 04 February 2010 09:59

Review by: Jd Banks
Created by: Wataru Mizukami
Publisher: Del Rey

Four-Eyed Prince doesn’t reach 20-20.

Really, Four-Eyed Prince’s only strong feature is its artwork. Unlike my vision, the art is crisp and clear. There isn’t a load of toning to busy the background and the scenes are very engaging.

However dynamic the art appears, the story’s outlook is relatively rose-colored glasses. When Sachiko Ohashi gets her heart stomped on by her crush, the distant Akihiko Masuda. Then, when her grandmother is shipped to a nursing home, Sachiko has to move in with her m other. To make matters worse, Sachiko learns that her stepbrother is none other than Akihiko. Sachiko quickly realizes that Akihiko doesn’t just wear glasses for his eyesight. He has a side job as a waiter, and being quite the ladies man, Akihiko hides his secret by wearing glasses. While Sachiko tries to figure out her new stepbrother, they inevitably fall in love, ultimately making the manga’s ending transparent as glass.

Alongside the cliché story, the characters aren’t very lovable or commendable. Sachiko is a pushy, daydreaming brat trying to change a guy. Akihiko is nothing more than a two-faced player with abusive tendencies. As the characters try to relate through their sob stories, they just come across as fake. It’s a standard practice in high school romance stories for one of the characters to have a sad backstory, but Four-Eyed Prince doesn’t get it quite right.

Furthering the fuzzy qualities, Four-Eyed Prince has awful pacing. Everything happens at once. Sachiko’s grandmother leaves her in her mother’s care, and bam! Sachiko finds out Akihiko’s secret, and suddenly they get along, bossiness and fights notwithstanding. It might work in a soap opera sense, but it’s over the top here, even for manga. Pacing is one of the most important elements in any medium, and when it is completely ignored, you might as well go blind.

The prescription? Pick up a better manga. Four-Eyed Prince isn’t good for healthy eyes or minds.

Rating: D

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