There's two genres of anime and manga that I find myself gravitating towards, and those are old-school shoujo or historical fiction. I just find stories that take place in time periods long before I was ever born to be really fascinating. That said, there's a lot of rules one has to follow when writing a story taking place in certain time periods. You have to make sure the clothing, word choices, social norms, technology (or lack thereof), locations, and general flow of events are accurate to the time period in which it takes place. Basically, do your homework, or you run the risk of distorting history or falsifying facts. For example, if you have a story taking place in the 1920s, you can't have the characters use modern slang or know about things like TikTok. Back in the day, shoujo manga often dipped into telling stories taking place during certain eras of Japan's history. I know the Heian and Taisho eras are pretty popular settings for some stories. One such manga, The Heiress and the Chauffeur by Keiko Ishihara, takes place during the latter, and having read it, I can safely say that while it isn't going to bring the house down, it's a pretty nice, serviceable shoujo manga that's definitely an underrated gem.

But what's the story, you may ask? 17-year-old Sayaka Yoshimura is a girl from a rich family who is both revered and scorned by her classmates at an all-girls school. Her father works overseas, but she is well-liked for her grace, intelligence, and decorum. Her faithful servant, chauffeur Shinobu Narutaki, has been by her side since they were young, and the two are like brother and sister, but due to their starkly differing social classes, normal interaction between them is considered forbidden, to the point where Shinobu isn't even allowed to touch her without wearing gloves. People suspect that Sayaka and Shinobu are in love, something the both of them scoff at, and Shinobu isn't making things easy on them due to often ignoring decorum. Since a romance between a high class lady and the hired help is explicitly forbidden, they can't afford to be caught in a scandal. But maybe, just maybe, there might be some truth to those rumors after all, and various events will put their already suspicious relationship to the test.

The Heiress and the Chauffeur is Keiko Ishihara's first officially published manga—or, at least, the first series she made that isn't a one-shot, but one wouldn't really know that just by reading it. While some details about the Taisho era are incorrect, something Ishihara herself acknowledges at the end of the first volume, the effort she puts into the period details is still pretty on-point, from the clothing and patterns used for said clothes to the very strict social class divisions that dominated Japanese society at the time. It helps that her artwork is pretty competent, with characters and backgrounds drawn well, along with plenty of usage of typical shoujo manga style effects such as flowery filters and scrollwork. Ishihara does have a tendency to layer panels on top of each other a lot, but thankfully she knows not to do that too much and makes sure to keep the story moving visually.

Since the manga is pretty short and has a relatively small cast of characters, Ishihara knew she had to really flesh them out and develop them as much as she could in the time she was allowed, and I think she succeeded. The romance between Sayaka and Shinobu progresses quickly but naturally, and they, along with the rest of the characters, are engaging and nicely fleshed out. One thing that does make The Heiress and the Chauffeur stand out among other manga with similar premises is that she's able to seamlessly blend the mood of Taisho-era shoujo culture with modern shoujo manga sensibilities, with Sayaka herself being the best example of this. She's classy and elegant, but has her fair share of flaws that she has to overcome and becomes much stronger and more assertive as the story progresses. All the other prominent characters also have their strengths and weaknesses, they all serve their roles nicely, and all of them have great chemistry with one another. I do like the direction that Ishihara took Kazuko, who seems like she'd be a stereotypical alpha bitch, but turns out to be so much more than what she starts off as. I even like Sayaka's father as a character, even though it's made clear he's a product of both his environment and the time period he was raised in. I also appreciate that Ishihara didn't make Shinobu into another boorish, patronizing, unnecessarily forceful male love interest. He actually respects Sayaka's wishes and personal boundaries, helps her when she's in trouble or asks for it, but also steps back and lets her grow as a person and I definitely love that the manga makes an effort to show that Shinobu does have a life outside of just being Sayaka's chauffeur, what with the little details about his backstory and the fact that he worked with a woman named Fumi before going to work for the Yoshimuras. Thank you, Ishihara, for not making him into another douchebag love interest! Seriously, other shoujo mangaka ought to take lessons from Ishihara in regards to how to write a good male shoujo manga love interest. (coughcoughMatsuriHinocoughcough)

In all honesty, the manga's only real flaw is that it's so short. I wanted to read more of The Heiress and the Chauffeur and learn more about the world Sayaka and Shinobu live in, along with the other characters and their lives. The manga's pacing is pretty brisk, but it never feels like it's moving so fast that you're unable to digest what's going on. I definitely appreciate a story that's constantly moving forward but still gives itself and the readers room to breathe. But really, what makes The Heiress and the Chauffeur so good is the fact that it's able to blend the old and the new seamlessly in a way that makes it feel fresh, but still manages to pull it off in a way that both makes sense for the setting and provides a very satisfying ending, elevating it into something truly good. Again, I just wish The Heiress and the Chauffeur was longer, but hey, sometimes it's better not to overstay one's welcome. It also helps that the manga is pretty easy to find, and both physical and digital copies are available everywhere for pretty cheap. Since the manga is only two volumes long, you can read the whole series in a day.

It's funny. When I first read this manga, I originally rated it lower, but rereading it now, I think it's a lot better than I thought. The Heiress and the Chauffeur is a short, sweet, genuinely romantic hidden gem that deserves to be unearthed. If you're looking for a nice romance/shoujo manga that avoids a lot of the more stupid and problematic cliches of its contemporaries, give this one a try.