Genre:  Drama, Fantasy
Rating: Teen (13+)
Price: $10.95

Najika finds that the relationship between her and the Kitazawa brothers, Sora and Daichi, becomes extremely strained in the fifth volume of Kitchen Princess. This after Sora told her he was her Flan Prince and Daichi leaned in to unexpectedly kiss her.

It was her first kiss and she’s left to pick up the pieces just as the second round of the National Western Confectionary Competition starts. The theme? “A dessert that stimulates the five senses” — as if that won’t be tough.

Sora promises Najika that he’ll return with a special ingredient for her recipe. But when he doesn’t return, fears start to come to the forefront. And with a tragedy possibly imminent, will Najika be able to cook and bake her way around sadness?

Later on in the volume, spring break hits, and Najika is left alone, bored and devoid of money to travel back to her hometown. What’s a kitchen princess to do? Well, Fujita knows and he sends her to a bakery that needs a much-needed helping hand. Yet stubbornness stands in the way of Najika baking her way into money.

Once again, Najika lays down plans to show that she has what it takes in the kitchen, despite the fact that outsiders don’t believe her at first sight. Najika obviously isn’t empty in the confidence department — at least when she’s in the kitchen.

Najika and her competition take the back seat in this volume as she sees her relationships with both Sora and Daichi taking turns she wouldn’t expect. But at the end of the day, if she can rely only on herself, she won’t find much happiness.

As Kitchen Princess progresses, the characters have gotten to be much deeper than would be expected. And with that, Najika finds she can have faith in others.

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