Title: Pin to Kona
Original Title: Pin to Kona
Author: Ako Shimaki
Artist: Ako Shimaki
Year of Release: Sep 24, 2009 - Sep 24, 2015
Genres: Drama, Romance, Shoujo
Status: Completed/Translation ongoing
Chapters (Translated in English): 6
Volumes & Chapters:
16 Volumes in Total
Summary
In the world of Kabuki, where family social standings are highly valued, Kyonosuke is inept even though he is born as the son of a duke of a famous household. Ichiya while being born in a family that has no connection to Kabuki, is trying to move from the absolute lowest rank to the top using just his ability. Through some kind of karma, these two completely opposite boys have fallen in love with the same girl, Ayame.
That’s where the story begins.
Kyonosuke, who wants to be liked by the Kabuki loving Ayame, cries tears of regret because he would throw away all his powerful connections if he could only have real ability. But what if Ichiya, who wants to be the center of Ayame’s attention, was adopted into a famous household…?
My Thoughts
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Review covers 28 chapters
I do not know how it was possible that I as a total Japan culture freak missed this fantastic title. But even if we take it in account, I have been postponing reading this story once I found it, because it’s not fully translated. Yes, it’s the truth, I’m reviewing only16 chapters today, or 7 volumes. There are 16 volumes in total with 68 chapters. It will be at least another year until it will be fully translated on my favourite manga reading website. But enough with my gloomy narrations. Let’s get to the story, try to hook you onto it so when you finish we’ll make a “waiting-for–an-update” club. *grins.
The story will follow Kyounosuke – a son of a famous Kabuki household. Wait, you have no idea what Kabuki is? Well, it’s a Japanese theatre, where only men can play. Yes, even the women roles are played by men. If you want to know more about it, you can ask google-sensei. So, I hope you’ll look into it, but I’ll be moving on. Don’t forget that it’s a love story, and we have a very strange love triangle or I can even call it a square. So, let’s establish it. Met our participants – Ayame – a very straight forward high school student, who is living in a run down house and is always working in order to. Hiro-kun or Hiroyuki (I hope, I’m saying his name correctly here). He’s also n Kabuki, however, he is not a descendant of a well-established family. And lastly Yuna – a young lady of the house where Hiro-kun is apprenticed. Are you ready to build our love square? Let’s start Kyou-chan falls in love with Ayame at the first sight, but he gets rejected, so who does Ayame love? She loves her childhood friend – Hiro-kun, but hasn’t seen him in a long time. Is this also an unrequited love? There’s the conflict of interests. It seems he does love her, but he still uses Yuna to achieve his goals. And lastly we have Yuna who is head over heels in love with Hiro-kun. So, here you go a love square!
But that’s enough with describing these love affairs. For 26 chapters there are a lot of things happening. We get to see how all characters develop either into their better or worse self. We’re surely looking at Kyou’s rapid development. Though his idiotic faces were back in the last chapter, however, he totally deserves that happiness of being near Ayame, he worked for his love! Ooops… am I spilling too much here? I hope not… the character that made me laugh was surely Ayame, when she finally understands her true feelings it’s so interesting! I mean, I was finally having a celebration that her thick headiness has been breached. And lastly my least favourite character. Surely Hiro-kun and Yuna. I hated ojou-sama right away, she was a typical woman, that I hate reading in the mangas about. And while in the beginning I supported Hiro-kun, in the end he disgusted me all together. The worst part is that I still support his choice of using every mean to achieve the position that he wants.
Are you ready to immerse yourself in the everyday life of a kabuki theatre artist? Are you ready to explore the issues of life or ordinary as well as “elite” people? I hope you are up for it, otherwise you’ll be missing a fantastic manga! Enjoy it to your fullest and don’t forget to share your thoughts below! Stay tuned for more reviews as well as promos. Don’t miss your next favourite book or manga! Happy reading!
XOXO
Katie
P.S.
If you have noticed this is the 3rd time I’m featuring Ako Shimaki’s works and I still have one more on my reading list!
