Kitchen Princess

Kitchen Princess
	Cover of the first volume of the English release as published by Del Rey, depicting Najika
キッチンのお姫さま; (Kitchen no Ohime-sama)
Genre	Cooking, Drama, Romance
Manga
Written by	Miyuki Kobayashi
Illustrated by	Natsumi Andō
Published by	Kodansha
English publisher	NA: Del Rey Manga (former); Kodansha USA (current); UK: Kodansha;
Magazine	Nakayoshi
Demographic	Shōjo
Original run	September 2004 – October 2008
Volumes	10
Light novel
Kitchen Princess: Search for the Angel Cake
Written by	Miyuki Kobayashi
Illustrated by	Natsumi Ando
Published by	Kodansha
English publisher	NA: Del Rey;
Demographic	Shōjo
Published	March 19, 2008
Volumes	1

Kitchen Princess (Japanese: キッチンのお姫さま, Hepburn: Kicchin no Ohime-sama) is a shōjo (targeted towards girls) cooking, romance manga series written by Miyuki Kobayashi and illustrated by Natsumi Andō. Appearing as a serial in the manga magazine Nakayoshi from the September 2004 issue to the October 2008 issue, the forty-seven chapters were compiled into ten bound volumes by Kodansha, and published from February 2005 to November 2008. It also includes recipes for each featured dish at the end of each chapter. The series marked the first time that Ando illustrated a manga that was not also written by her. Set in modern-day Japan, Kitchen Princess follows Najika Kazami, a cheerful thirteen-year-old who searches for her "flan prince," a boy who rescued her from drowning as a young girl and brought a little happiness to her life after her parents' death. In March 2008, Kodansha published a related light novel, Kitchen Princess: Search for the Angel Cake, written by Kobayashi and illustrated by Ando.

In 2006, Del Rey Manga licensed the series for an English-language translation in North America. It published the ten volumes from January 2007 to July 2009. Following Kodansha's decision to publish in North America through an imprint, Kodansha USA released a four-volume omnibus edition from June 2012 to June 2013. The series has been well received by English-language readers, with the appearance of three volumes and one omnibus on various bestseller lists and the series appearing twice on ICv2's annual list of the top twenty-five manga properties. Critical reception ranged from positive to lukewarm, and the series won the 2006 Kodansha Manga Award for children's manga.