Manga Review: Meteor Prince Vol. 1
Image source: Viz Media.
Hako Natsuno is not your average Japanese high school girl. Sure, she studies, partakes in club activities and fantasizes about finding true love. However, because of her incredibly bad luck, Hako and the people around her are constantly in danger of having something collapse on top of them. Because of these nonstop strange accidents, Hako has been nicknamed the “Queen of Bad Luck.” Needless to say, this has shot down any chance of her having a romantic life. At least that’s what she thought, until a naked alien man named Io crash-landed on Earth and declared Hako his wife.
This all happens in Meteor Prince, a shojo manga created by Meca Tanaka and published in North American by Viz Media. As you may have guessed from the summary, Meteor Prince is a love story. A bizarre love story, but a love story nonetheless. It’s also a funny one too.
Just as the mangaka caricature said in her book, Meteor Prince is an “over-the-top, anything goes manga!” The familiar anime/manga trope of an unusual being falling from the sky and landing right next to the protagonist is made tolerable by Io’s priceless entrance in his birthday suit. Io’s lack of shame over his indecency and the manga’s amusing ways of glorifying it (while hiding the naughty bits out) sets the lighthearted tone of the book. There’s even a bit of a fourth-wall gag, as Hako rewinds the clock to brief the reader on what happened before Io’s unexpected arrival. The book isn’t completely self-aware, but it takes advantage of its fish-out-of-water premise to produce some silly situations.
Not everything is treated as a joke in this book, as Hako’s cursed luck is often the source for drama. Many chapters in the book establish how rough life has been for Hako as the “Queen of Bad Luck.” She can’t even enjoy a nice swim at the beach, out of fear of tidal waves drowning her or anyone unlucky to be near her. So it’s no surprise when Io fakes a fatally injury to win Hako’s affection, she takes it in the worst way possible. However, when a real misfortune comes close to costing Io his life, Meteor Prince goes from heart-wrenching to sickly sweet, as Hako activates his regenerative healing with a kiss. Anyone who’s a sucker for fluffy, romantic moments will be in heaven, as this book delivers in every chapter.
There are a few areas where Meteor Prince could improve, though. For starters, Io is completely one-dimensional. His naive and blunt attitude fits for an alien life-form, but there’s not much behind the surface. He’s presented as the ideal man and outside of his initial creepy approach of trying to breed with Hako, it’s mind-boggling why she would ever turn him down. The side characters made up of Hako’s friends at the Occult Club are interesting, but fade into the background too easily.
The book’s attractive art style is done a disservice by the way the pages are divided. Panels to the far left or right can be hard to read, because of the way the pages are separated. Splash pages that would normally look impressive, such as school of dolphins jumping by Hako at the beach, look less so. There are a some playful visual gags that go unscathed, like Io pushing Hako’s friend out of the way as if she was a rag doll, in order to comfort his crush.
Meteor Prince admittedly has an afterthought vibe to it. Some of the early stories try to cover too much and rush plot points more deserving of time. However, the zany and heartwarming moments are enough to make this book memorable for those looking for a syrupy romance. And considering Meteor Prince’s refusal to drag out material in favor of development, the events set up for volume two will be intriguing to read.
Meteor Prince is now available digitally and physically at retailers.