In a high school like many others, a familiar social strata exists — you have Fujishiro, the image-conscious and popular girl with a gaggle of girlfriends and you have Kurokawa, the shy bookworm. But when Fujishiro’s boyfriend breaks up with her (or rather, Fujishiro learns that she was “the other woman”) Kurokawa is the only person to show her even a little bit of outward sympathy, although inwardly Kurokawa would rather not be involved with Fujishiro. Fujishiro decides to take this opportunity to hang out with Kurokawa more and, to fulfill an itch she’s had, give her a make-over!
There’s not much of a “hook” for this romance. Fujishiro and Kurokawa aren’t in a band together/putting on DJ events, they aren’t competing against each other as academic rivals, and they aren’t playing at being classmates in a yuri-themed cafe, they’re just regular classmates. Fujishiro isn’t sure if she wants to give Kurokawa a make-over or if she wants to date her but that’s the extent of their relationship right now. With so many other yuri series currently being published in the US I just want something more, either a wilder set-up or a really thoughtful look into the characters, like with the Kase-san and series which is also about two girls who are “just classmates.”
I’m also a little skeptical on the trope shorthands used in this series: if Fujishiro really is “popular” then shouldn’t more people in the class like her more? While Kurokawa’s inner, and unearned, resentment towards Fujishiro is interesting, and Fujishiro’s general attitude is fun to read, there are just a number of pieces about these two girls and their story that doesn’t really fit together.
Creator Ajiichi mentions in the back of the book that she really struggled to come up with a premise for this series and it shows; at this rate I wish she had put this half-finished idea on the back burner and instead focused on another story in the meantime just so she had more time to work on this idea and grow this story into something more engaging. With a plethora of manga being released in English now, nearly if not every American manga publisher has put out at least one yuri series in the past few years, Failed Princesess failed to grab my attention and I think I will spend my time reading other yuri instead.