The Cherry Project 2

Ｔｈｅチェリー・プロジェクト [The Cherry Project] #2

by Naoko Takeuchi

The story about a girl named Chieri (nicknamed “Cherry”) who began ice skating ever since she saw the handsome ice skating champion Tsuzuki Masanori skate. She pursues her dream of being Tsuzki’s partner, all the while facing her rival, ‘Princess’ Canty. With the help of her friends, and her own courage, can Cherry win the heart of the boy she loves so much…?

Genres: Manga, Comics

192 pages, Paperback

First published November 6, 1991

About the author

Naoko Takeuchi (武内直子) born March 15, 1967, a manga artist (mangaka), lives in Tokyo, Japan. Takeuchi's works have a wide following among anime/manga fans. She has become a well-known mangaka worldwide. Her most popular work, Sailor Moon, rose to become one of the most recognized manga/anime figures to date.

Takeuchi is married to Yoshihiro Togashi, the author of the YuYu Hakusho series and Hunter × Hunter series.

Please note that anime related books are listed under Kōdansha.

Reviews

[Canette Arille · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic story! I love it so much. I cried while watching the illustrations! Are very beautiful!

[Nadja · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Band 2 ist Cherry für mich zu oft alleine unterwegs (Training, Training, Wettkampf). Die Dynamik in der Gruppe ist ein grosser Teil, weswegen ich die Serie so toll finde. Und wie oft in Dreiteiler ist der Mittelteil halt am schwächsten. Der Zeichnungsstil ist aber immer noch hervorragend und der Band endet wieder super spannend.

[Bibliothecat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review for the complete series



The Cherry Project is a tricky one but let's start by saying that it absolutely shines in the art department. It's by Takeuchi Naoko so it probably shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the art is gorgeous - add to that the ice skating theme and you have yourself a very aesthetically pleasing manga.

Unfortunately, a good manga requires more than pretty art. I won't say that The Cherry Project necessarily a bad plot, but it is cliché overload and, as far as my personal reading taste goes, brings along some of my least liked tropes. I think one big pet peeve of mine is when the teenaged characters can seemingly do whatever they fancy or just switch to new schools on a whim.

Chieri - also called Cherry - loves ice skating but she's only ever done it has a hobby. One of her biggest drives is the young ice skating champion Tsuzuki. They - conveniently for the plot - happen to bump into each other just when Tsuzuki is looking for a partner as he wants to switch to partner ice skating. Chieri catches his fancy and, instead of talking to her like anyone with common sense, he and his friends set up a series of events that influence Chieri's decisions to eventually want to become a professional ice skater. There are certain romantic elements behind these secretive actions, but a lot of it is rather questionable and unrealistic. I just can't get my head around why these characters don't simply talk about their plans rather than scheming in the background.

I struggled to relate to the romance between Chieri and Tsuzuki - there wasn't a whole lot of chemistry and I don't think that Tsuzuki was particularly good to her, regardless of what all the characters kept saying. The rest of the characters only existed to root for Chieri and Tsuzuki - they had no character depth of life of their own whatsoever.

To be fair, this manga is from the early 90s and deserves a bit of slack when it comes to clichés - Takeuchi is most certainly one of the authors who created a lot of what we know consider manga clichés. At the time of its publication, it might not have been all that clichéd - but it doesn't change the fact that these aren't exactly good clichés nor that it makes it a more enjoyable reading experience.

Despite my ranting, I will say again that I don't think this is a bad manga by any means. I do believe it deserves some slack and the art alone is a good reason to still give this 3-volume series a chance. It's also always a worthwhile experience picking up older works just to see some of the development manga has made over the years. This was a reread and I did like it less than the first time around, but I will keep it in my collection for collectors and historic value.

[Amanda mcguire · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

[Spudpuppy]

sometimes you just have to do an accidental quad I guess

[Μ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Είναι γλυκούλι, αλλά ακόμη και για shujo το παρακάνει με την υπερβολή. Όσο ταλέντο και να έχεις δεν γίνεται να καταφέρεις εκπαίδευση πολλών ετών σε επίπεδο πρωταθλητισμού στο καλλιτεχνικό πατινάζ μέσα σε μερικές εβδομάδες, ούτε γίνεται να δίνεις επί 10 ώρες εξετάσεις με εντυπωσιακά αποτελέσματα σε ένα άθλημα στο οποίο οι τοπ πρωταθλητές δεν μπορούν να αγωνιστούν για παραπάνω από 10 λεπτά. Περνάει εκνευριστικά λάθος μηνύματα κατά τη γνώμη μου.

[Neel Soman · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Significantly better than volume 1 now the that plot's picked up a bit. Hampered by some bad translation that's not the author's fault.

When's this getting an anime huh I think story-wise it's certainly better than Yuri on Ice...

[Princesita_1786 · Rating 5 out of 5]

me sigue gustando mucho!

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it, great story and characters and love that its by the same author of the Sailor Moon manga series! : )