Ugh. I was so happy when I saw it. It totally made me giddy again when I couldn't find Ribon Special or Nakayoshi Lovely. Well, as soon as I skimmed through it. I could tell that it sucked. Total waste of my $14.

The plot moves wayy too fast for any development. They cut out too many characters (Keith! Nuuuuu! And Rosemary too! And Maryanne, Jose, Carmen, and a bunch of others. Antonio appeared in only two panels, Julietta for a few pages. Damn.) and didn't have the ones that weren't cut out gain any character development. Not even for Nadja. Too little things happened.

Art was...off. It's cute and all, but it's the type with the skinny and petite characters. (Oscar's shoulders are like Nadja's. My friend made a face when she saw them.)

Stick to the anime, guys. You'll be happy that you did. (They cut out Keith. And Rosemary. And I know that they both have a large fanbase.)

... Last updated on April 3rd, 2010, 6:34pm

Since I love the anime a lot and I was dying once to know more about manga, now that I received it I would like to share it with every other fan that loves this series as much as I do.

Personally, I absolutely love it. The art is pretty. It is not professional like e.g. CLAMP Im a big fan of, but it has a very gentle, shoujo feeling.

About the plot. Reading manga is like watching anime with skipping only to episodes that contain at least a little bit of Francis or Black Rose or any other crucial scenes. In other words, its as if someone took out the best of the story with some needed modifications in order to make it shorter.

The differences - Its true that some characters are cut out, but to tell the truth, Id call it the other way - the ones that are 'missing' in the manga are the type of characters they add to anime to make more episodes of the series. That there is indeed no Mary Anne and Rosemary doesnt turn evil was a great relief to me. In manga there is Nadja, everyone from Applefield and Dandelion troupe (Kennosuke is here from the beginning), Francis, Black Rose, Harvey and TJ, Christian, Leonardo and Thierry, Oscar, Raphael, Rosso and Bianco, Herman the bad guy and of course Nadja's mother Colette and Duke Preminger.

I dont think you can say they cut out Keith. Its only that his true name is not mentioned and the plot around him and Nadja revolves other way than in anime; he just remains Balck Rose and there are certainly fewer scenes of him without Black Rose's costume. This is where Im really happy I read the manga - for the biggest difference would be the way Nadja finds out about Black Rose and Francis and how she feels about them later - its completely different.
Keith/Black Rose does return Nadja's brooch in manga, for example, but its also different. All Black Rose scenes from anime are included, the masquerade ball, Venice, etc.

The ending is a little different, but its a beautiful ending.

Id recommend this manga to all shoujo/romance lovers and Nadja fans.

I uploaded some scans on minitokyo, in case someone is interested in art style (cover doesnt tell much thats why)

When I first started reading this, I loved it! From the looks of it, it was going to become one of my favourites! Unfortunately, I didn't know that this manga is BASED OFF A ANIME and for that reason the story and characters suffered due to being cut short from a 50 episode long anime to 14 chapters.

This manga is cute but I have a very strong feeling that the anime is way, way better. So go watch that rather than read this. Now the ending, for me personally,

... Last updated on December 15th, 2014, 4:51am

Since the reviews below seem to be from people who are just comparing this to the anime, I will give a review based on this as a manga alone:

- The plot is extremely simple and straightforward: Nadja grew up in an English orphanage, but has a brooch which her mother left her. She finds out she may not be an orphan after all - and that there are men after her - so she heads out with a performing troupe to search Europe for her mother. Along the way she meets many people in various cities, charming them all. Along the way she meets the kind, handsome noble Francis and the mysterious thief Black Rose, renowned across Europe!

- This series is just totally adorable. The art is extremely cute and innocent; the style is plain but everything is well-drawn.

- The romance is just what you'd want out of a fantasy romance - with drama, intrigue, conflict, chance meetings and sweet moments. There is no love triangle (unlike the anime) and while you may get a toothache from the adorable sweetness of the romance, the ending is not some sugary-happy Cinderella ending - hooray! But yes, everything in this manga ends happily. No great tragedies or Gone with the Wind

- Yes, you may be confused by characters who are barely there. To talk about the anime for a moment - the manga ran concurrently with the anime series, and it was written by the Toei anime staff (the people who produced the anime wrote this). So they probably tried to cram in as many little side characters as possible while streamlining the plot. Since I read the manga first, new characters popping up really irked me, and I never really got a grasp on anyone except the main characters.

Altogether, I enjoyed reading it for some cute shoujo fluff.