Manga Review: Kageki Shojo!! Vol. 2 by Kumiko Saiki
The Kouka School of Musical and Theatrical Arts is an exclusive all-girls’ school which feeds into the prestigious Kouka performance troupe where all roles are played by women. This series focuses on the members of the Centennial Class, the 100th cadre of girls competing for the next generation of stardom.
Volume 2 opens at the beginning of summer break. Sarasa Watanabe and her new best friend Ai Narata head to Asakusa where Sarasa grew up. We meet Akiya Shirakawa, Sarasa’s childhood friend since the days they learned Japanese dance together. Ai has a little trouble because of looking like “that girl who was in JPX48”, which she happens to be–her time in that idol singer group ended badly. Fortunately, since Sarasa is something of a local celebrity herself, people don’t concentrate on Ai as much as she feared.
The rest of the volume is a deep dive into Sarasa’s past. She is related to a prestigious Kabuki family, and studied Kabuki style theatre as a child, from whence she picked up her talent for mimicking other actors’ styles. She even got to be in a play once in an emergency. But Sarasa was forbidden from continuing in Kabuki, both because she’s a girl (Kabuki troupes are all male by tradition) and also because of family drama. (She’s not related to the family in the proper way.)
Akiya back then had stage fright and wasn’t sure he wanted to become a Kabuki actor, but has now grown experienced and enjoys his profession. He’s able to help Sarasa get past a crisis of confidence, and Ai learns something about Kabuki. All too soon the summer vacation is ending.
Even without having read the first volume, I got involved in Sarasa’s and Akiya’s story, the past sorrow and the current hope. The art works well for the story, with attention to costuming and set detail.
Content note: There’s bullying in the backstory, both by children and adults to children. The manga as a whole has other disturbing events; I’d put this as senior high level on up.
There’s an anime adaptation now, which I’ve heard good things about. Recommended to fans of the dramatic arts, but especially girls.
And let’s see the anime opening!
