Hatsukoi Rocket (Happy Princess) – bonutzuu’s manga archive

I have no idea why the localized Thai version called this book Happy Princess, but oh well.

This is a one-volume collection of one shots by Taamo, published in 2005 by Shogakukan.

The first story is Hatsukoi Rocket. Tsuyutani Sakura constantly dreams of living on the moon as its sole ruler. However, as she grew closer to Arai who sat in the seat next to her, she wanted him to be on the moon as well. Slowly, she found that she’s happier with him than alone on the moon. However, another girl confessed to Arai, angering Sakura. She decided to confess to him on the day that they would change the seating arrangement. They started dating.

The second is about a midnight train. Kayo is a middle-school country girl who had a one-sided crush on the handsome station staff from Tokyo. She wanted to get prettier for him, but wasn’t sure if she was seen as just another girl taking the train. She decided to give him her family’s homemade ohagi, but lost confidence when she saw his chic friends from Tokyo bringing him cool city stuff. However, her parents still went ahead and gave the ohagi to him on Kayo’s behalf, and he said that they were delicious. Kayo told her family about her dream of going to Tokyo, but was rejected for it. Heartbroken, she ran to the station to take the midnight train to Tokyo, and the handsome station staff obliged. She asked him for his name, and he replied that it’s Nakahama with a difficult-to-write kanji. Kayo woke up and found that her train ride to Tokyo was just a dream. She rushed to the station and confirmed whether his name was really Nakahama, and he was surprised that she even knew the kanji. Kayo decided to be bold and confessed that she liked him. Nakahama said that he would like to hear her say that again, only after she became an adult.

The third is about shooting stars. Mariko and Ken are childhood friends who once believed a prophecy about the end of the world, and hid in the school building together. The prophecy was a hoax, and they grew up into highschool kids. Mariko was into horoscope, but her fortune is not compatible with Ken. Later, Ken invited her to a meteor shower together, and wished upon a shooting star that she would like him as well. They confessed their love to each other and began dating. Mariko stopped letting the cards make her life decisions for her.

The fourth is about Valentine’s day. Namikawa Makoto absolutely hated the day because he never got any presents. He skipped school that day, but found that Sasaki Rika, the girl he kinda likes, was about to throw away her chocolate. He asked to have them, and she handed them over. The two grew closer, to the point where Rika revealed that the chocolate was meant for her sister’s boyfriend, whom she slept with even though she knew it was wrong. She quickly brushed it off, and grew increasingly teasing of Makoto to hide her own insecurities. Makoto was angry with her for that. On Valentine’s day, she left a letter saying that she really liked him, and that she was not teasing him for his reactions. Rika was about to throw Makoto’s chocolates away, but Makoto asked to have them anyway. The two celebrated Valentine’s day together.

The fifth is about a teacher Sugimoto Takashi who had a crush on his highschool student Okamura. He denied his feelings for Okamura, but upon realizing his feelings, Sugimoto broke up with his girlfriend. Okamura also broke up with her boyfriend just before the graduation ceremony. Sugimoto congratulated her for graduating. Later that night, Okamura waited in front of Sugimoto’s house to press him for what he really wanted to tell her. Sugimoto gave in and confessed that he liked her. She told him that the feeling is mutual.

Well, it’s a one-shot collection so…I don’t know. The first one was really cute and I liked it a lot, however, as the book goes on, it gets more…questionable? I don’t mind the age gap in the second one and the story was kinda cute, the third was so-so, the fourth was kinda toxic, and the fifth was, well, it’s a teacher-student relationship, whatever your take on that is. I probably won’t recommend this to anyone since I didn’t like it too much.

I gotta say, thought, I love how Taamo-sensei draw the guys, especially Nakahama. There’s something about their expression. I wish the author would draw historical manga since I think her art style is perfect for that genre.

That’s all I have to say on this manga. See ya in other entries.

(I later realized that Taamo-sensei also wrote Taiyou no Ie and Snusmumrik no Koibito. She also wrote a historical manga called Koi to Tsukiyo no Himegoto, which I’ll be reading later.)