Backstage Prince (Japanese: 極付 楽屋裏王子, Hepburn: Kiwametsuke Gakuya Ura Ōji) is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Kanoko Sakurakoji. It was serialized in Shogakukan's Betsucomi and Deluxe Betsucomi magazines from 2004 to 2005.[2][3][4] Shogakukan later collected the individual chapters into two bound volumes under the Flower Comics imprint.[5][6] Viz Media licensed the manga for an English-language release in North America, first serialized in their Shojo Beat magazine from October 2006 to March 2007 and later published in two volumes in March and June 2007, respectively.[7][8][9] The manga is also licensed in Germany by Egmont Manga & Anime.[10]
Backstage Prince | |
極付 楽屋裏王子 (Kiwametsuke Gakuya Ura Ōji) | |
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Genre | Romance[1] |
Manga | |
Written by | Kanoko Sakurakoji |
Published by | Shogakukan |
English publisher | |
Imprint | Flower Comics |
Magazine | Betsucomi Deluxe Betsucomi |
English magazine | |
Demographic | Shōjo |
Original run | 2004 – 2005 |
Volumes | 2 |
Akari is an average high school girl who fails to see why the other girls in her school are so interested in Ryusei, a young, talented kabuki actor also attending their school. Akari happens to run into Ryusei and accidentally ends up bruising him in the stomach with her bookbag. Later, by chance, Akari ends up following a cat all the way to a kabuki theatre and runs into Ryusei once again.
To make up for her mistake, she volunteers to become Ryusei's assistant until he is healed. The reclusive and socially inept Ryusei accepts only because Akari gets along with his pet cat, the very one she followed all the way to the theatre. When Ryusei is finally better, Akari realizes she has fallen in love with him and Ryusei has also come to reciprocate.
However, their relationship is put to the test by Ryusei's profession and popularity and those who disapprove of their relationship, especially Ryusei's strict father and Naoki, another kabuki actor who loves Akari.