Barajou No Kiss, Worth The Read

Barajou no Kiss is a Japanese shoujo manga which began its serilization in 2008 in Monthly Asuka. It can be found in four tankobon volumes published by the well known entity, Kadokawa Shoten. It was written and illustrated by manga-ka, Shouoto Aya.

It is a reverse harem manga. Instead of one male lead and several female leads, it has one female lead and several male leads. Anís Yamamoto is the lead female and has at the beginning of the series, four men who wish to woo her for she is their Rose Princess. The four men are known as the Rhode Knights, her protectors whom she can summon through the use of cards. In order to summon them, she must kiss the card on which their images are engraved. Wherever they are, whatever they may be doing, if she kisses the card they will magically appear. It doesn’t matter even if they were in the middle of getting dressed.

As with many shoujo anime which have magic as a major element, there is a guardian beast. The guardian beast, Nifuna, removes the choker which Anís Yamamoto’s father gave her. A choker he warned her never to remove and for good reason, because once it was removed strange things began happening to her. One, being the revelation that she is the Rose Princess. However, it appears that Anís’ father may be on the side of wrong doers and thus she must decide where her loyalty lies.

With four suitors wishing to win her hand, there is a comical twist which places this into the realm of romantic comedies.

The manga-ka (artist) appears to have a good grasp on anatomy, even without the story, each panel is well drawn. It is pleasing to the eye, but its more of a page turner with the events taking place. The plot is well developed and each chapter leaves one longing for more. The only question left unanswered is, whom will Anís chose as her “True Rose”.

There is a drama CD available in Japanese, but so far despite its popularity, Barajou no Kiss has not seen an anime adaptation. No doubt however that there may be discussion in future as long as sales of the tankobon and drama CD’s continue.

It is well worth a read, but seems to have themes to it that would, were it to be turned into an anime give it a TV-14 rating as per the US standards of TV Parental Guidelines.