By Wataru Mizukami
Del Rey, 182 pp.
Rating: T (13+)

Sachiko is cruelly shot down by Akihiko, her “four-eyed prince,” on page one. But she doesn’t let it get her down, since that’s the worst thing that could happen in her day. She goes home to say farewell to her grandmother, who is moving away to a nursing home, then packs her bags and goes to live with a mother she hasn’t seen in fifteen years. To her surprise, Akihiko greets her at the door of her mother’s apartment. They are now step-siblings, which effectively negates the work she did earlier in the day to get “the worst thing that can possibly happen” out of the way. Even more surprising, Akihiko lives another life as “Akira,” a popular host and a whole other personality that Sachiko is completely unaware of.

Typically, I hate “siblings by marriage” plot devices, and Marmalade Boy is the only series I’ve ever really forgiven for using it. I thought this might be an exception, since it sounded like it might use a lighter and more dramatic touch rather than the usual comedic treatment. This is not the case, and what’s worse, the two don’t start to fall in love until after they start living together. To be fair, the sibling situation is much less creepy here since there is only one parent between the two, but still… it’s not something I like to think about.

The main problem with this series, my tastes aside, is that it leans heavily on plot devices. We have the step-sibling device, the fact that Sachiko is madly attracted to boys with glasses, Akihiko’s split personalities, and there’s even school contest and hot springs chapters in the first volume alone. There are also strange logic holes scattered throughout, like the fact that Sachiko does not recognize or suspect Akira and Akihiko are the same person, even though she followed him and the only difference seems to be the glasses (though later, he claims they are two different personalities, but Akihiko has so little personality to begin with that this is difficult to grasp). It’s also strange that Akihiko is apparently way better-looking without his glasses, something that comes up several times. The plot devices are mixed together and used well, but there’s nothing outstanding about either the plot or the characters in this first volume that makes me want to continue with the series.

Character development is nearly absent, and the only progress made is the fact that Akihiko no longer seems to hate Sachiko. Neither one of the two possess any strong personality traits, and though Akihiko and Akira are supposedly opposite personalities, it’s hard to tell the differences. I think the main difference is that Akihiko is quieter and pretends to be a good student, where Akira holds down a job and is a ladykiller.

There are lots of shojo series that make use of plot devices, and that’s not an immediate turn-off. But when the plot is flat, the characters are flat, and there is no chemistry in the relationship, that makes the series a bit harder to read. Four-Eyed Prince is cute, its sense of humor is decent, and there’s nothing particularly wrong with it, but there are any number of other series that make for better reads.

Volume one of Four-Eyed Prince is available now.

Review copy provided by the publisher.