Hadashi de Bara wo Fume (Stepping on Roses)

So today I read all of the chapters for the manga Stepping on Roses by Ueda Rinko who also did Tail of the Moon. I had decided to read it because I saw that it was just recently released in the United States by Shojo Beat.

The original name is Hadashi de Bara wo Fume translated to Stepping on Roses. It's about a girl named Sumi Kitamura whose older brother Eisuke leaves the family in debt because of his gambling during the Meiji Era. He does have a job for dating older women, but he always gambles the money away. Eisuke constantly brings home children that are orphaned so that they can have a home at his and Sumi's tiny hut. People come by the hut threatening to sell the children away if the family doesn't pay their debts and the rent. Sumi decides to go and sell herself, but then she meets the famous Soichiro Ashida who promises her that he'll give her all the money she needs if she marries him. The only thing is that it will be loveless marriage and he says that they are not allowed to fall for each other. Soichiro is the head of a big company who needed to find a wife to be able to inherit the company. Sumi finds it hard to live as a lady since she's really nothing more than a poor commoner who couldn't even read or write. Soichiro's most trusted servant Kohai teaches her to be a lady and become her friend. Sumi struggles with her feelings though, not only for Soichiro but also for his best friend Nozomu who had given her a bit of money when she was poor so she could buy medicine for one of her sick siblings. Nozomu falls for Sumi and Sumi has some mutual feelings for him, but she also has feelings for Soichiro and she is also married to Soichiro. After she stops having feelings for Nozomu, she falls deeper for Soichiro but trouble arises because Nozomu still wants her and people are out to get Soichiro's position as head of the Ashida family.

Over all the story has a nice vibe to it. It shows some brief nudity but nothing serious. The story has a very nice balance between eastern and western themes. It is set in the Meiji Era, but most of the rich families seem to follow western ways, even wearing western clothes. Sumi is like any other girl in any other story like this one. Of course she is poor, but she also has an amazing good heart and a sweet personality. She always thinks of others before herself and she is incredibly naive about how things work in the world, but she is also hardworking and tries her best at everything. That is the only bad thing about the characters though. Sumi seems very . . . cliche for this sort of story. Soichiro is very mean to her and he only thinks of himself in the beginning, but of course he too starts to fall for her after a while because of how she is.

The only bad thing about this is that you can sort of predict how the main girl and guy get together and their personality seems very obvious too at the same time. Now the different thing about this is how some of the other characters are. You expect Nozomu to be overly friendly and try to woo Sumi in a slow way, but instead he moves way too fast and eventually seems to be so obsessed with Sumi that he seems kind of crazy at the same time. Now the characters develop in a nice way, and it's not too repetitive. It is a bit like other stories, but at the same time it is very different. I recommend it to anyone who likes this kind of story and any shojo fan.