is a shōjo manga series by Natsumi Ando

Natsumi Ando

is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known for Zodiac P.I. as well as Kitchen Princess, for which she won the Kodansha Manga Award for children's manga in 2006.-Works:* * * * ; English translation: Zodiac P.I....

. It debuted on December 29, 2008 in the February 2009 issue of Nakayoshi

Nakayoshi

is a shōjo manga magazine published by Kodansha in Japan. First published in December 1954, it is a long-running magazine with over 50 years worth of manga publication history. The target demographic for Nakayoshi is aimed at young girls between...

magazine, where it is still serialized.

North American publisher Del Rey

Del Rey Manga

was the manga-publishing imprint of Del Rey Books, a branch of Ballantine Books, which in turn is part of Random House, the publishing division of Bertelsmann. It was formed as part of a cross-publishing relationship with Japanese publisher Kodansha. Some of the Del Rey titles, such as Tsubasa...

 announced in September 2009 to have licensed the series for North America. Del Rey released the first volume, but shortly after Kodansha announced that they would be taking over from Del Rey on a case to case basis. On December 12, 2010, Kodansha Comics officially announced that they would be continuing Arisa in North America starting in May 2011.

Story

The manga revolves around Sonoda Arisa and Uehara Tsubasa, twin sisters separated by their parents' divorce who promise to send letters to each other to keep in touch. They finally meet again for the first time after three years. Tsubasa is envious, but proud, of her sweet, popular sister, in comparison to her own school life where she if often referred to as "The Demon Princess" and Arisa suggests they switch places for a day. Tsubasa enjoys herself posing as Arisa and at the end of the day she finds a note addressed to her sister in her shoe locker. Arisa reveals that life isn't as happy for her as Tsubasa thinks and she pushes herself out of the window saying "You don't know their secret and you don't know my secret". The bushes manage to save her from death but she falls into a coma. Tsubasa reads the note she found for Arisa that reads "Arisa Sonoda is a traitor" and becomes determined to find out who is responsible for the note that may have led to her sister's attempted suicide. She continues to attend Arisa's school in her place to investigate. She finds out that Arisa's class (2B) has a secret. Every Friday, during fourth period (the only period without a teacher's supervision), the students get out their cell phones and write a wish to the "KING". The "KING" grants only one wish, mostly resulting in violence...

Characters

A 14-year-old delinquent who is called "demon princess" in her school. Although the title character is her twin sister, Arisa, she is the main character. She attends school in her sister's place in order to find out why Arisa tried to commit suicide. She has purple eyes and wavy blonde hair (although she is shown to have the same straight, darkish pink hair as Arisa in the flashback).

Tsubasa's twin sister. Arisa is described as a sweet and kind girl. She was known as the class representative. She was the former KING but was replaced by an unknown person after falling into a coma when she tried to commit suicide.

A mysterious boy in Arisa's class. Manabe is the only boy who doesn't get along with his classmates. He has purple eyes and blondish tan hair. He eventually finds out that Tsubasa had pretended to be Arisa to find out why she attempted to commit suicide and assists her in finding out who the new KING is. His password is 8001, and gave his account to Tsubasa so she could help figure out who the new KING is. It may seem that he has feelings for Tsubasa.

Tsubasa's close friend who helps her as she tries to figure out the mystery behind her sister's attempted suicide and the sinister things going on at the school.

Arisa's best friend. Normally cheerful and easy going, she also has a sinister and dark side. Mariko had never been noticed by others until Arisa had become her friend and had done as KING told her to in order to get her Arisa back. She eventually transfers schools because she believes she is a nuisance to the class but Tsubasa tells her that she will always remember her as a special friend, believing this is what the real Arisa will say.

Arisa's boyfriend. His is very kind and gentle to Arisa. However, he doesn't know that "Arisa" is in fact Tsubasa in disguise. His password is 4632.In chapter 28 it was shown that he was the king.

A mysterious transfer student. His mom is from Portugal and he transferred due to his father's job. He likes to hang out on the roof because it's "closer to heaven". He had a heart surgery when he was little and has a scar from it. His password is 7426. He appears to be the king that replaced Arisa when she is in a coma.

A mysterious girl who comes later in the story. She and Manabe are childhood friends, and she is currently getting help from Manabe to fulfill her wishes. Her wish is to get revenge on Arisa. She was the KING's first victim. Due to a failed suicide attempt

Failed suicide attempt

Failed suicide attempts comprise a large portion of suicide attempts. Some are regarded as not true attempts at all, but rather parasuicide. The usual attempt may be a wish to affect another person by the behaviour. Consequently, it occurs in a social context and may represent a request for help....

 as a result of a 'traitor letter,' she lost the ability to move her legs. Her password is 3903.

Manga

The manga series was written and illustrated by Natsumi Ando

Natsumi Ando

is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known for Zodiac P.I. as well as Kitchen Princess, for which she won the Kodansha Manga Award for children's manga in 2006.-Works:* * * * ; English translation: Zodiac P.I....

. It is being published in Kodansha

Kodansha

, the largest Japanese publisher, produces the manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon, Evening, and Weekly Shonen Magazine, as well as more literary magazines such as Gunzō, Shūkan Gendai, and the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten. The company has its headquarters in Bunkyō, Tokyo...

's shōjo manga magazine Nakayoshi

Nakayoshi

is a shōjo manga magazine published by Kodansha in Japan. First published in December 1954, it is a long-running magazine with over 50 years worth of manga publication history. The target demographic for Nakayoshi is aimed at young girls between...

 from December 29, 2008. Kodnasha
has published seven volumes. The first was published on April 28, 2009 and seventh on March 4, 2011.

North American publisher Del Rey

Del Rey Manga

was the manga-publishing imprint of Del Rey Books, a branch of Ballantine Books, which in turn is part of Random House, the publishing division of Bertelsmann. It was formed as part of a cross-publishing relationship with Japanese publisher Kodansha. Some of the Del Rey titles, such as Tsubasa...

announced in September 2009 to have licensed the series for North America. Del Rey released the first volume, but shortly after Kodansha announced that they would be taking over from Del Rey on a case to case basis. On December 12, 2010, Kodansha Comics officially announced that they would be continuing Arisa in North America starting in May 2011.