is a Japanese

historical romance Historical romance is a broad category of mass-market fiction focusing on romantic relationships in historical periods, which Walter Scott helped popularize in the early 19th century. Varieties Viking These books feature Vikings during the Dar ...

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

series written and illustrated by

Kaneyoshi Izumi is a Japanese manga artist. Her debut short story, "" ( "Angel"), was published in the September 1995 issue of ''Bessatsu Shōjo Comic'' magazine and won the 36th Shogakukan Comic Award. Izumi also won the Shogakukan Manga Award in the (gir ...

. The story revolves around Aki, a cheerful princess who is treated coldly by others, despite her royal title. One day, Aki meets Hakusei, a slave boy with golden hair and blue eyes. The two form a bond, overcoming their differences in status; however, danger awaits them. The manga premiered in

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics ( manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the ...

's ''

Betsucomi , known as before 2000, is a monthly Japanese manga magazine published by Shogakukan. It was conceived as a or "special issue" of its sister magazine '' Shōjo Comic''. It is released on the 13th of each month. Serializations Current * ' ...

'' magazine in the November 2007 issue (released on October 13). It was serialized on an irregular basis until the June 2010 issue (released on May 13), after which it was serialized every other month. The final chapter was published in the January 2017 issue (released on December 13, 2016). Shogakukan collected the individual chapters into fifteen bound volumes under the Flower Comics imprint from August 26, 2008, to March 24, 2017. The manga is licensed in France by Kazé Manga. In 2015, ''Joō no Hana'' won the 60th

Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major manga awards, and is sponsored by Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga and features candidates from a number of publishers. It is the oldest manga award in Japan, being given since ...

for Best ''Shōjo'' Manga.

Volumes

Reception

Volume 2 reached the 14th place on the weekly

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike i ...

manga charts and, as of August 1, 2010, has sold 45,260 copies; volume 3 reached the 12th place and, as of January 30, 2011, has sold 42,495 copies; volume 4 reached the 18th place and, as of July 31, 2011, has sold 45,389 copies; volume 5 reached the 17th place and, as of February 5, 2012, has sold 64,506 copies; volume 6 reached the 26th place and, as of August 26, 2012, has sold 33,083 copies; volume 7 reached the 11th place and, as of March 9, 2013, has sold 71,625 copies; volume 8 reached the 19th place and, as of September 1, 2013, has sold 59,147 copies; volume 9 reached the 13th place and, as of March 9, 2014, has sold 67,088 copies; volume 10 reached the 17th place and, as of August 31, 2014, has sold 47,811 copies; and volume 11 reached the 27th place and, as of March 1, 2015 has sold 40,701 copies. The series has a staff grade of 15.47 out of 20 on the French manga website Manga-News.com. In 2015, ''Joō no Hana'' won the 60th

for Best ''Shōjo'' Manga.

References

External links

* * 2007 manga Fantasy anime and manga Historical anime and manga Romance anime and manga Shogakukan manga Shōjo manga Winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo manga {{manga-stub