REVIEW: The Heiress and the Chauffeur (manga, vol. 1) by Keiko Ishihara, translated by pinkie-chan

The Heiress and the Chauffeur is a historical romance manga. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

This is set during the Taisho era. When Sayaka was little, her mother was killed in a construction accident and Sayaka's foot was injured badly enough that she could no longer walk. In an effort to earn her father's praise and make him spend more time with her, she trained herself to walk again, and to be elegant enough to be called the "crimson lily" of her finishing school. Although Sayaka's father continues to spend most of his time away from her, Sayaka instead grows very close to her chauffeur, Shinobu Narutaki, seeing him as something like an older brother. What she doesn't realize is that Narutaki has fallen in love with her. His overly familiar behavior with her often gets them in trouble, but he's happy to take whatever punishment he's given as long as he can stay by her side.

Still, the difference in their social classes is an issue. In this volume, a jealous girl tries to get Narutaki dismissed, and Narutaki worries that Sayaka will fall in love with someone at a soiree she's invited to.

Narutaki is 5 years Sayaka's senior, so there's a little bit of an age gap, but that wasn't really an issue for me in this series. In this first volume, Narutaki mostly suffers his own unrequited feelings in silence - although there's a bit where Sayaka gets a little jealous of Narutaki and his relaxed behavior with an old female friend, for the most part she's completely unaware of any possibility of romance between herself and Narutaki.

There's a definite thread of "dudes who stoically put up with punishment for the sake of the one they love are hot" here - even the author mentions it. Anyway, I'm generally a fan of "butler/mistress" romance dynamics, and it's relatively enjoyable here. It's not a great series so far, but it's decent.

Extras:

Author sidebars throughout, a 4-page bonus story in which young Narutaki goes off to his chauffeur training, and a brief comic-style afterword from the author. There's also an unrelated bonus story, "Luca and the Bandit," about a pair of siblings who are essentially being held captive in the red light district - Anna is required to sing every night for customers, even though her health is fragile and it puts strain on her. Luca, meanwhile, wants to free her, even if it means helping a thief whose plan is to "take the most valuable maiden in this place." The bonus story was a bit predictable, but nice.