i'll start off by saying that the manga was enjoyable. it was a light read, and i liked that the romance wasn't overly heavy. it may get boring to some people, but i think it suit the overall feel of this manga where the focus was on her directing.

however, as far as the plays went and the realism in that direction, i think this manga fell short. though it may seem like the heroine works very hard, tries her best, goes through a ton of hardships, etc. you never really see her FAIL anything. almost everything she has done with directing has been received well in some manner or another which i disliked. it was kind of mary sue.

overall, somewhat enjoyable and realistic in some ways but not in others.

I liked the heroine and it was great watching her grow and progress. Subject is pretty original and interesting. The romantic subPlot was sweet! Happy ending too. Though it's very slow... Got bored past ch. 40... Still, very nice slice of life kind of manga. It makes you feel content and peaceful when you read it.

This manga certainly has a message of "never give up" and Sasaya is a fiery spirited but modest and intelligent girl who tries her best in the theater. I felt that the manga should have put a little more effort in the art style, showing people in different light than the monkeyish look for Sasaya most of the time. Honestly, I'm annoyed also that the word "granny" has been mentioned almost every 2 pages, which I think was enough to make a good point of the importance of her grandmother in the first few chapters, but needless to say unnecessary as well as irritating when it's continued throughout the manga.

I read it in one day..and I'm at the verge of crying because it's done. This people is absolutely amazing.

All these comments can be divided in two groups: Hate and Love
That doesn't matter, it's something all great manga's have to face (for those who don't get it, I'm one the LOVE-side)

Characters:

Sometimes (well loads of times) manga's can have very shallow characters, but if you like that, you'd better find something different. Every character in this manga had it's own character, some pleasant, some not. What I found great, was that they had the ability to change, not change major and become a whole different person, but change like real people do, and alter their opinions.
The leading Character, Yuu, was a good example of that, not only did she develop in character, she did as well in her goals.

Setting:

Original, at first you may think this'll be about Yuu becoming an actress, but together with Yuu you'll find out that it was not acting that encouraged her, but the actual play itself. The love for the play will grow and that was a very fun factor.

Art:

Well, I'm not a fan of this kind of art, but it wasn't bad. At moments it was really good. I couldn't really see much feeling all the time, but for this story it was suited.

At first I didn't want to read it, I thought it would be really boring. But since it fitted so many of my criteria, I was ought to give it a try: GLAD I DID THAT!

And shojo fans, don't mind the josei tag, it has more of a shojo feeling to it sometimes.
Don't ignore it either, because this is a story about a person rather than a romance, that'll only come in subtle. Though I'm a big romance-fan I didn't mind at all, and that proves how great this story is.

But in that being said it did have its faults. First off the good, this manga is truly one of those hidden treasures you find. The emotions were so real, the insecurity that Yuu-chan felt wasn't one dimensional, it really puts to shame the shojo we have going around now days. It was not predictable mostly because there was nothing to predict, but the whole journey of discovering the path Yuu and her friends take was completely unconventional. But I didn't really like the ending i thought it was rushed, though the closing statement was beautiful it was the whole leaving-for-a-different-country that i didn't like. The romance WAS slow, it was almost non existent and by the time i realised what was happening Yuu-chan was getting kissed, it was so unexpected! Not the person but when it happened. This manga was great, left a lastly impression but not the best manga out there.

If you begin reading this with hopes of a shorter Glass Mask, throw those expectations away and start with a blank slate.
In Ashita no Ousama, Yuu's dream begins to take shape within the first few pages. As the well paced story develops so does her dream. Instead of a heroine with a narrow view of a perceived dream, Yuu is willing to widen, or switch roads altogether, to find her true dream and achieve it. She shows both the dependency on peers and self-relience that anyone would expect from a college student who dives headfirst into a world she's never experienced before.
As for the romance between Yuu and Ishii, it takes a distant second place to the plots' focus. Don't be put off by this if you're a romance reader; the subtleness of it adds to the manga's attraction.

The cover art looks fine, and the summary may sound a tad boring(sounds a bit like the typical cliche...country girl become city-chic) but it's actually not too bad. The main character's very extraordinary in the sense that her enthusiasm seems to be bottomless. I actually quite like her. She's has a very bright and open personality that just draws other people to her, whether they like her or not. The most interesting part to this series, which I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned or not, is that I thought this was very interesting, because usually the main character will stick to the first goal and doesn't change.

I was also a bit surprised by the romance in this series. It's actually very secondary to Yuu's main goals and while it does progress, it never overshadows the main plot, which is Yuu reaching her goals. Well, maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised. This is josei, and not shoujo, after all.

All in all, this was a pretty good read. I feel like it does have a lot of shoujo-like qualities(at least in the character Yuu), but much of the storyline itself(such as character development, etc) are more josei-esque than anything. A fascinating read, and I think I will take up one of the reviewer's suggestion to read Cat Street.

Wow....another series that made me read for more than 4 hours for 6 volumes. My normal reading speed is 1/2 hour per volume. But literally, I felt this volume was longer than 6 volumes. So much dialogue, yet so much story and character dept as I continue reading.

The art doesn't look pretty or anything at first glance, but don't let that turn you down. The story will take a huge role over the art because you will find yourself hoping for what's next. The story doesn't drag out or anything. Every chapter is a stepping stone to the next with no feeling that it was a filler chapter.

Characters....character developments is a 10. Here, the prodigy is someone who is working hard toward her dreams and she finds support from the people around her. She have her failures, but we can't help but cheer her on.

Though the art is not good, but the plot, the characters, all of them make this manga more and more beautiful and valueable. This is one of the first josei manga that have strong effect to me, every every words the main character talked to her descent grandma touched the deep core in me. it's so touching. Even more, this josei manga is so pure (no smut, only one or 2 kisses in the whole manga), the romance is so light but we can see it obviously :")

I mainly started this for the josei romance part and there was only very very little of it. For me not enough to justify the tag.
The topic of theater and film industry was the major and isn't really my stuff (except for Bushin Gikyoku) thus the setting wasn't my kind of taste... neither the drawing style. Too simple eyes. I like them more expressive. On top I couldn't even stand one of the characters there (Kazuma Rin). He appeared to me like a cunning dork and I couldn't even stand to see his face.

The development of the involved characters is steadily progressing and drives this story. They display and describe their own obstacles clearly with ways to overcome them without much dramatization (just what you'd expect from a josei). It's the strong point of this manga but also its weak one. Honestly it often bored me. Everything went so smooth after all.
There wasn't enough emotional depth or interaction with each other but for business. The few romantic moments (2 in all 6 volumes to be precise) came somewhat out of the blue and disappeared like they appeared into nothingness without further comments. Private relationships were totally neglected but that would actually shape characters and make them appear human/real. This manga fails in that. But if you aren't looking for something like that anyway, then I'd suggest you try 1-2 volumes and if it's to your liking stick to it but don't expect anything lovey-dovey.

... Last updated on March 15th, 2010, 10:05pm