The Prince in His Dark Days, Vol. 1 (2024)

This kind of reminds me of a genderbent "Can't Lose You" (in that a rich person gets a stand in pauper...who ends up living their life better). But I guess they're both just variations on "The Prince and the Pauper".

Mostly enjoy this, though Atsuko is...well a deeper level of bleak then I've ever reached, so that sometimes is vexing. I like Ryo and by the end his motivation makes better sense.

I do think we need at least ONE more genuine, warm adult in the series. Right now every one we've seen has been...indifferent, or two faced or callous except Subisawa (the butler) and that's disheartening.

I do wonder as to what the extent of Itaru's secret is. It's only briefly touched upon and by a character who's best interests it is to NOT ask deep questions of Itaru. There's an odd translation choice made (which is explained in the back glossary a bit more) that may or may not complicate the reality of Itaru's situation later.

Overall quite enjoyable and worth trying! It's a shoujo that skirts the line of josei in my opinion (if you are a fan of shoujo more like "Mars" by Fuyumi Soryo or the more serious aspects of "Hana Yori Dango" you may understand what I mean), with understated dry humor and a hovering dark edge to it that would appeal to a little older crowd.

This sounds like a pretty solid concept. All the mixed reviews are throwing me off but then I have to remember to take them with a pinch of salt because a surprising amount of them were written by people who've never read manga before. Did this happen to be a lot of people's first manga or something? I've never heard of it until now, but it seems interesting enough. Hopefully it does end up being good...

I had never read any manga before, so this was a new experience for me. Particularly there was the issue of reading from right to left and from what Westerners would consider the back cover to the front cover.

Since it's Japanese, I guess it's not a surprise the story is a little weird. A rich boy abducts a poor girl because he wants to wear her schoolgirl uniform. Later he goes missing and so the rich boy's half-brother decides to offer the girl a million yen (something like $10,000) to be his stand-in until he can be found. Her alcoholic father is in deep with the yakuza, so she agrees.

She cuts her hair, wears contacts, makes a "muscle vest" to disguise her figure, and even takes to smoking to try to deepen her voice. She's drilled on his mannerisms and handwriting and all that and yet there's one issue they don't address: the girl is dark-haired and the boy she's replacing is blond. She never dyes her hair either. What's the point of drilling her on all this other stuff if they don't make such an obvious change? And yet the boy's mother and schoolmates don't seem to notice anything.

Anyway, I don't really have much to compare this to but it was an interesting read. The story is a little odd but otherwise OK, at least if you're open-minded.

That is all.

Bought this because the cover was pretty but..... meh.

Olipas tämä ahdistava tapaus. Pähenkilö on juopon isän köyhä tytär, joka on kuitenkin hyvä koulussa. Häntä syrjitään koulussa köyhyyden takia, sillä hän ei voi käydä kylvyssä tai pestä vaatteitaan. Hän huijaa huijareita eli vie rahat sediltä, jotka haluaisivat ottaa hänestä tuhmia kuvia. Hän päätyy erään rikkaan pojan nöyryyttämäksi, joka huomaa heidän samannäköisyytensä. Poika katoaa ja palvelusväki pyytää tyttöä sijaistamaan poikaa. Pojan vaatekaapista löytyy myös tarkoin varjeltu salaisuus: poika tykkää pukeutua naisten vaatteisiin. Sekä päähenkilön että pojan äitisuhde on surullinen.

This was super sloppy. A lot of things were just randomly thrown in there. It got a little better towards the end so idk. I'm going to read the second one because I have it, but if that one isn't any better I probably won't continue with this series. So sad cause it's such a nice cover :/

4 stars. Different

Of course the ship must be with Ryo 😆😍😍😍

Holy cow, that was dark. I mean, I kind of knew that going in, but it was darker than I expected.

The Prince in His Dark Days is about a girl named Atsuko who looks a lot like a rich boy named Itaru. Itaru goes missing, and so she gets hired to act as a body double. Considering her dad was about to make her work in a brothel a "friend" of his runs (it's not explicitly said, but I'm pretty sure that's what they were going for) to pay off his debts, getting the heck out of dodge and getting paid for it seems like a pretty good deal, and so she accepts the job and is determined to do it well.

So if the title wasn't enough to tip you off, and the description didn't set off alarm bells, no, this is not a silly lighthearted "1st world problems" nonsensical romp like Ouran High School Host Club. There is a surprising amount of black humor in here, though.

As the title suggests, this gets into some dark territory, including mature themes, so it's not for everyone. Don't let that scare you off though, as this is a pretty good drama already.

Bit of a slow start, but I am interested in seeing where it goes

Cross Dressing Prince & the Pauper

This is a pretty dark book considering the 17-year-old Atsuko lives a miserable life with an abusive father who puts his interests before hers and her family lives in poverty meaning she needs to do whatever it takes to survive. Throw into that there are depictions of verbal abuse and bullying in school and it is no wonder Atsuko has not succumb to depression if not for the happy memories she had of her mother. When a spoiled son of a powerful business man and his associates finds her she is dragged to his mansion for his amusement just to discover he and she were almost identical in their face. Considering her life when it is discovered that the young lord has gone missing she is asked to take his place until such time as he can be found and she will do whatever she can to fill the role for that juicy paycheck they are offering while also trying to not fall in love.

The art in this volume is pretty nice and although it was a bit hard to see the abuse and bullying going on I can't help but hope for the best for main gal pretending to be a boy. Will she ever get over her fears of affection? Will she be able to keep up the ruse? WILL SHE CRACK UNDER THE PRESSURE!? The great thing about being rock bottom is you can only go up. :)

REVIEW OF VOL.1-3.

I've never read this book before or even heard about it but then I saw it at the bookstore and decided to read it. The art is aesthetically pleasing to look at and simply adorable. I liked the characters in this book because they were pretty original and didn't follow any of those stupid anime tropes. As I was reading, I noticed that this book focuses on exploring LGBT issues. The first volume was a great start and got me reading to volume three, but right now I'm waiting to read volume 4 and I hope it will be as good as all of the previous volumes. The characters have developed a lot throughout these three volumes that I have read.

Totally unrelated, but for whatever reason I keep getting confused as to why Itaru and Atsuko have different hair colors when Atsuko is supposed to look like Itaru ( yes I'm serious, I hope it's not just me ). Maybe this was intentional so we don't get confused?

Overall, it's a pretty good manga series. If you liked Ouran High School Host Club, you will probably love this manga just as much because they're kinda similar in a way. Also recommended for shoujo and anyone who likes LGBT mangas, or even mangas that revolve around rich people in general. It's also like a reverse harem at the same time.

This has been on my radar for a LONG time, but I’ve been feeling mixed (I’ve removed it from my TBR a few times even!), and the mixed reviews don’t help! However, I was pleasantly surprised. It’s not super great and only hit its stride 2/3 into this volume, but I’m curious to see where it goes. It’s definitely quite dark (it lightens up a little as it goes), and it communicates a lot without saying it. If you’re on the fence because of the mixed reviews, it’s a pretty quick read, and I think it will interest quite a few people if they give it a chance. I’m giving it 3 stars for its weaker aspects, but by the end, it’s a solid 4-star read (if only it was like that throughout). Definitely don’t pick this up as your first manga!!

Warnings for (underage) sex work (non-intercourse), assault, abuse, alcoholic parent, bullying, domestic abuse against a child (idk how to write them all properly)

I'm really attracted to the art in this series--something about it feels so exaggerated (those massive hands!) but also really nicely balanced at the same time. The story is unbelievable and cliche, though, and the characters seem shallow as well as cruel. So... I'd like to keep reading it for the art, but don't have much hope for anything else.

A Spin On The Prince And The Pauper

Basically, this is a manga Prince and the Pauper, with gender bending and a bit of darkness. If that sounds like something you'd like, then you probably will like it. The art is pretty standard.

I enjoyed it and will continue on with the series.

I loved this -- no quick fixes, no perfect solutions, some damaged people in a difficult situation and enough wish fulfillment to make it fluid. I love Atsuko's determination to survive which serves as bravery.

I like the idea that Itaru had secrets he couldn’t share with anyone, but all the characters seem like awful people to me, at least with this volume. Not sure how I’ll fare with the next three volumes.

This was an interesting manga. It's a little hard to follow sometimes. I don't know if it's because I read it on my kindle, but some of the cuts between scenes were hard to understand, and it tended to jump back and forth in time, which was confusing.

Okawa is, I guess, a forgettable high school girl who gives up everything for a boy she’s never met. She easily acts as a double for Itaru, the heir to the Nogi group.

The story read okay so far. I love the title, but the story isn’t shaping out to what I thought.

This book was bizarre...and very uncomfortable to read.

A life swap story with a twist, shy female pauper to Prince, The Prince in His Dark Days won my heart. If you're an Ouran highschool fan this book will be right up your alley.

3.5

Read the first two chapters. Quite liked the drawing style but didn’t really care for all the manhandling our MC goes through, and have a feeling it’ll continue throughout.

A little too weird for me, so even when I'm somewhat intrigued of where the story is going to lead, I don't think I'll read the next volumes.

I'm tempted to read the next volume, because the story does interest me...

I very much enjoyed this manga. Each character has depth and the artwork fits the story nicely.

I like this. But there is some pretty dark content.

Neat concept

But it kinda hurts my soul. It's kinda like ouran host club but not fun at all. The next volume is downloaded so we'll see

This book was not at all what I was expecting and I'm so happy about that.
Really looking forward to seeing where it goes.