Manga Monday: Princess Ai

Princess Ai

Creators: Courtney Love, D.J. Milky
Writers: D.J. Milky, Misaho Kujiradou
Artist: Misaho Kujiradou
Genre: Fantasy, romance
Number of Volumes: 3
Available on MangaFox: Yes

What It’s About

Ai is the only royal princess of Ai-Land, a magical kingdom caught in the midst of a horrific revolution. When Princess Ai makes a hasty escape from her war-torn land, she finds herself in modern-day Tokyo. Confused and in shock, Ai wanders the streets in this strange new land to unravel the secrets that could tear her and her kingdom apart.

Strengths

Princess Ai was a manga series I read as a teenager and it’s stuck with me all these years later as a fun little romp through rock and roll based fantasy. Ai comes to Tokyo to figure out her past and how learning about that will help her people in Ai-Land who are divided between the Humans and Dougen (a race of angel beings). A revolution is raging and as the heir to the Human throne, Ai is being hunted across dimensions and worlds to pay for her father’s crimes. But there’s more to Ai than anyone knows about, especially concerning the feathered wings that are sprouting out of her back.

Manga like Princess Ai are great for when you have a free afternoon. It’s only three volumes long and the story is completely self-contained. There are one or two spin-off manga but they don’t belong to the main story and can be skipped completely. In the face of incredibly long series or series that get updated once or twice a month, it’s always nice to have the beginning and end available to you at the get-go.

Not that that’s the only thing Princess Ai has going for it. This light fantasy tale offers a leading heroine that’s loyal, loud, and stands up for herself, which was great to see in my teenage years. The art is also great. It’s very cute and just as light and airy as the story. The best of the art is absolutely in Ai’s design. This girl’s look slays me! The clothing that’s ripped but still so beautiful, the flowing blonde hair, the angel wings that grow bigger every issue, the girl has an image I wish I could emulate, but you know, can’t because I’m not a rock diva.

Weaknesses

If you’re a Nirvana/Kurt Cobian fan but don’t look on Hole/Courtney Love favourably (which, let’s be honest, most Nirvana/Kurt fans don’t because of the patriarchy and/or ridiculous conspiracy theories) then you’ll see Princess Ai and hate the comparisons it draws from Cobian/Love’s real life relationship.

I’m a huge Hole/Courtney Love fan myself, so I’m not put off by the parallels between Ai and Kent to Courtney and Kurt. I do however think Princess Ai would have been stronger without a romance angle. The romance doesn’t add too much to the overall story and if this had just been about Ai working to stop the revolution on her planet while being a rock diva on Earth? That’s it, that’s the perfect manga.  

Give it a Chance/Leave it Be

Those that are vehemently against Courtney Love might see too much of her in the narrative of Princess Ai and in the character of Ai herself, but for everyone else, this is a light, fluffy, three volume romp that’s a good choice if you’re looking for something you can get invested in all at once for a short time!