Iinazuke Ryokan, by SHIMAKI Ako

> Manga > Iinazuke Ryokan, by SHIMAKI Ako
  • Title: Iinazuke Ryokan
  • Author: SHIMAKI Ako
  • Publisher (JP): Shogakukan
  • Imprint: Flower Comics
  • Year: 2005
  • ISBN (JP): 4-09-138389-0
  • Licensed in North America?: No
  • Also Known As:
  • Publisher (US):
  • ISBN (US):
  • Anime Version? No
  • Live Action? No

Bought this for the cover, plain and simple. The guy is a hottie. Totally. The guys get better and better looking with each series this author does! There is another series by this same author that I will be reviewing soon too. This volume contains three one-shot romantic stories. I am a total drooling fangirl over the guys in this. They are cute and surly 😀 The cover story takes up a little more than half of the book.

It’s the heartwarming story of Sanae who has travelled to the countryside to a very beautiful old (and expensive) traditional Japanese hotel (a Ryokan). She is engaged to Shinichiro, the son of the owner. It is an arranged marriage, and Sanae hasn’t even met him yet. On the way to the Inn, Sanae gets a little lost in the woods, but is saved when she encounters Ryosuke, a very handsome (but surly) guy who who works at the inn. He leads her there, but along the way Sanae manages to nearly kill herself and Ryosuke when she stumbles and falls. Ryosuke saves her (again) and they finally get to the inn. Sane is shocked when she meets her fiance for the first time. Shinichiro looks remarkably like Ryosuke! However, his demeanor is completely different. Where Ryosuke is surly, Shinichiro is friendly. He likes sweets while Ryosuke hates them.

To settle in at the inn and make a place for herself, Sanae begins to work there, learning the ins and outs of the business and how the inn operates. None of the employees (other than Ryosuke) know that she is the fiancee of the hotel heir. Sanae works hard, and while she is clumsy, she is also very resilient and willing to learn and work. She also keeps being thrown together with Ryosuke who is quick to criticize her. They banter a lot. Naturally we have a love triangle forming here… Sanae with two guys who look almost exactly alike! But Sanae is engaged to be married. Any feeling she may have for Ryosuke can go nowhere. And what are Ryosuke’s feelings exactly? Why does he look so much like the heir, are they the same person? Many Mysteries and a bit of romance ensue 🙂

The next story is about a girl named Noriko who meets a strange guy on the street who knows who she is, where she lives, and asks if he could live with her! WHAT? Obviously, Noriko isn’t keen on the idea of letting some random stranger move in with her, but her hands are tied when he threatens to tell her papa about seeing Noriko making out with her boyfriend! Ahh blackmail, another fun shoujo plot device ^_^ His name is Yasuo, and he has a reason he wants to be with Noriko, and he doesn’t have much time! This story is extremely cute IMHO 😀

I am honestly not exactly sure what is going on in the last story… the heroine reads way too many books, but has a particular attachment to this story about a cloaked hero. A guy in her class uses the classroom curtains to do a sort of cosplay of the cloaked hero, and our heroine seems to believe that he’s really the storybook character ^_^;; It’s an odd (but again, cute) romance 😀