Rating: 
Summary: A manga with a new twist
Review: A great new twist on the genre. Usually It's the girl from "now" gets thrown into the mystical world, here the mystical get thrown into the "now". Aspects of Courtney Love are easily seen in Ai. From having to survive in Tokyo to a Heart-Shaped Box to falling in love with a blue-eyed singer/songwriter/guitar player. I'll be honest with you, I don't like Love, she a great artist, but she does piss me off; but this is a must have for any manga fan.
Rating: 
Summary: Courtney Love, Manga-ka?
Review: Ah, Courtney Love. Wiether she wants to be an actress, rockstar, or even a manga-ka (Japanese comic book creator), she never fails to grab people's attention. With all the legal trouble she has under her belt lately, it seems that one would think with all those court dates and rehab appointments, that Love wouldn't be able to release her much-hyped manga, Princess Ai. But, low and behold, volume 1 is out now.
Taking many elements from her colorful past, we are introduced to Love's alter-ego, a young girl named Ai. She is a princess from a place called Ai-Land. Having somehow traveled to Tokyo, Japan from Ai-Land, our tough, but naive, princess secures a job singing at a local club and begins her path on discovering who she is and why she ran way from Ai-Land.
While the plot is a miss, the story itself is on a scale of 50/50. While this isn't Great Expectations, the dialoge is weak and sometimes makes no sense. For example, if Ai is always comaplaining about having no memories, then why does she "suddenly" remember certain events? Some are given explainations, but most of the time, they fly in like a blinded bat: They have no guidence, but are put in to keep the story going.
Whiel reading, the entire volume made me uncomfertable. It reminded me too much of Courtney Love. Granted authors, comic book artists, ect. will base some of their personality traits into their characters, but Princess Ai was like reading something by or even listening to Courtney. Thus, this made the characters and even the romance between Ai and Kent VERY perdictible. You knew how each charcter was going to act, especially Ai and Kent (whom Love based it on her late husband, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana). Even the constant refernce to Ai's heart-shaped box chain is a direct referance to Cobain's song of the same title...come on, Courtney, leave those petty, cheesy referances to fan-fic writers!
The only thing I loved about this manga was the art. Misaho Kujiradou's drawings are stunning and make you want to turn the page to see more. But, the only flaw to them are that her charcters designs of Ai and Kent are a little too similar to that of Love and Cobain. Other than that, Princess Ai is not a so-called "Shojo-Goth Romance" manga. It's more of a poor example of auto-biographical comics gone horrible wrong.
Rating: 
Summary: I went into this hopeful.
Review: I wanted to check it out since Courtney Love is a good musician in my eyes, despite the fact that a lot of people dislike her. I purchased this yesterday (July 15th, 2004), and I'll be returning it within the next few days. I could not finish this title, that's something I've never done with a manga title before.Mostly, I kind of chuckled in the beginning, since the dialogue was kind of choppy, but it kept getting worse. I could deal with the almost constant 'heart-shaped box' whenever she mentioned her locket-box. It was annoying, because it made it flow strangely. But then you meet Kent, Ai's love interest, who suspiciously looks, acts, and has a name similiar to Kurt Cobain. I realize Princess Ai is supposed to be Love's self-insertion manga, she's mentioned it before. But the more I read, a few things became very, very apparent to me. It reads like a second grade storybook, because the dialogue phrases things in awkward ways, and not only once either; they keep repeating themselves. Secondly, Ai's supposed inability to recall memories seems to be defeated very easily, but she has to mention that's she's receiving a memory each time she does. And lastly, I feel, although personally this is my opinion, she's trying to make money off her deceased husband. Because Kent is similar to Cobain, and the number of times 'heart-shaped box' awkwardly is mentioned is uncountable. I don't know if this is due to a bad translation. Was it published in Japan before now or was it an English release first? Another thing that bothered me was that the manga's bad guys seem very see-through. Their logic makes little sense to me, and I'm pretty intelligent, and I read parts of this manga to different people I know and none of them could get it, either. Maybe it's because I didn't finish it, I don't know if there's more. I'll admit that. About 2/3rds into the manga, I just gave up. I couldn't read after her 'heart-shaped box' turned into a 'heart-shaped necklace' that 'beared the same crest as the book' she had found at Kent's library job on campus. The dialogue and everything completely overtook me and I couldn't read it anymore. The plot is very shallow and I'm surprised this was released, it seems more for children than adults. On the plus side, the art is absolutely gorgeous. It's the best thing about Princess Ai, and it's a shame that it had to go to waste as it was. This however, is a good example of how pretty art does not always mean there's a good story, but rather covers or a lack of thereof. My review is probably a frustration to people who enjoyed the story. But to me, Princess Ai is all glamour with no calories of intelligence. I had my choice between the second volume of Eerie Queerie and this title, and I took a chance because I was feeling bold. I regret my decision and will be returning this title for the other instead.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful introduction.
Review: I'm a big fan of Courtney, this manga is actually the way I found out about her. I've already read the entire first manga, very pleased with it. I just hope Courtney Love doesen't have to do anything else for it, she's not the most dependable person. I have found a few things -- a girl cosplaying as Ai, posters, japanese trailer, japanese manga. Maybe there will be an anime? I don't see why they would get some of the greatest people in anime, remix one of courtney's songs just for princess ai just for some little tiny trailer. That would be a lot of work to make the characters into anime form and everything. So I look forward to an anime, since the manga is so popular and all. :)
Rating: 
Summary: A Well-Scripted Teaser
Review: The first time I heard about Princess Ai the name "Courtney Love" made me do a double take as I read that she was the manga's co-creator. I didn't know how this would work out because manga and Courtney Love were two things I liked but wasn't sure how well they'd go together. Like....videogames and peanut butter: I like both of them, but it would take a very skilled developer to get me to play a game based on one of my favorite sandwich ingrediants. I had faith though because it was being published by TOKYOPOP and I have yet to be disappointed by their dedication to their work.
Princess Ai features breathtaking artwork by young artist Misaho Kujiradou (who also co-writes the manga), and I found myself initially reading the book just to see the artwork on each new page. It's just that good. The story itself is as generic as the music industry's pop machine, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. You won't find anything that will shock you as far as the plot's concerned, but I did find something better than a good story.
It may sound strange to those that know nothing of America's Sweetheart, Courtney, but I found myself really feeling for her. I didn't feel connected to Ai so much as I felt I was getting to see an actual living person's struggle with love, loss, fame, and identity. The clunky manuscript in the beginning of the novel is forgiven by this alone. The writing does flow more smoothly in the final two chapters of this first installment of the Princess Ai trilogy (Volume 2 comes out February 2005) involving the reader that much more what with beautiful art and emotional characters. The journey through Princess Ai Volume 1: Destitution may seem like a wasted investment, but readers who stay faithful to the last page will find it to be a labor of love.
Rating:
Summary: Great New Manga!
Review: The new manga created by Courtney Love is a must for Shojo fans! The story of the lost Princess Ai searching for her past while following her passion to be a singer fits perfectly in with other fantasy/romance Shojo titles. Most of all, the artwork is beautiful! The artwork has the same feel as my favorite American manga series: "Shutterbox" by Rikki Simmons & Tavisha; so, if you are also a fan of "Shutterbox" you should definitely check out "Princess Ai."
Rating:
Summary: LOVED
Review: The story is very interesting and it makes you want to know more. To know more about Kent and AI and just all of the characters. It has a very cute and good little love story in it as well as a little bit of action and music. The songs that AI sings in the manga are very beautiful; I wish I could actually hear someone sing them!
And just a warning the story is very addicting!
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Drawings and Great New Fashions!
Review: This manga is about a girl named Ai who is from the planet Ailand. She suddenly finds herself in Tokyo, Japan and all she remembers is her name is Ai and that she is the princess of Ailand.
She meets Kent, a rocker, and he helps her discover her great singing talent. Ai gets a job where she puts her great body and vocal talent to good use! She gets into some scrapes where she's able to fight her way out and even grows wings at one point.
This book has very good drawings by manga-ka Misaho Kujiradou. The drawings in this book are better than the plot itself, but that just makes the manga even more enjoyable. All-in-all, I'd recomend this to anyone who is looking to see some great drawings or someone who likes fashion/romance mangas with a bit of sci-fi thrown in.
Rating:
Summary: I lovvies it!
Review: This story is great! I love the storyline and the artwork, and I love all the hot guys :3
I really don't know about Courtney Love, but she seems like a great story writer :)
I really reccommend this to manga newbies and mnaga-ka everywhere! I really enjoyed it and still get teary at when Kent leaves..so sad! ;-;
Rating:
Summary: why you would want to buy princess ai?
Review: Two things make a manga something you would buy-
1. story
2. artwork
Princess Ai seems to be well provided with both.
I guess why this book caught my eye is that it was co-written by Courtney Love. Whether or not you are a fan of hers doesn't seem to matter, if you like the story.
Although the story was fitting, I found it very predictable, but sometimes it did surprise me. I think it sounds like a modern version of an old fable...
I found this website very helpful, when trying to decide whether or not to buy it-
http://www2.fanscape.com/tokyopop/princessai
It has the first chapter or so and a trailer.
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