Papillon is a Japanese shōjo manga by Miwa Ueda, who is known for her work, Peach Girl. The chapters appeared as a serial in the Japanese manga anthology Bessatsu Friend and were published by Kodansha in eight tankōbon from January 2007 to December 2009. The plot focuses on an unattractive, ordinary girl's change into a beautiful and popular one. Papillon was licensed for an English-language release in North America by Del Rey, but they only managed to release the first six volumes before going out of business.
Story
Ageha and her sister Hana are twins. At birth, their parents left Ageha in the care of their grandmother in the countryside. Hana was raised in the big city with her parents. However, when the girls were in second grade, their grandmother became ill and so, Ageha was sent to live with her parents and her twin sister in the city. Now, the two girls are in high school and are complete opposites. Growing up in the countryside has made Ageha a bit of a tomboy; she's a quiet, reserved girl who doesn't look anything special. Hana, on the other hand, is outgoing, gorgeous and popular at school. From Hana, Ageha develops an inferiority complex. One day when all of Ageha's classmates leave to attend a concert, Ageha finds herself alone to maintain the booth at school during the school fair. Ageha feels as if she's Cinderella who didn't get invited to go to the ball. Just when she was thinking those thoughts, a boy wearing a horse mask on his head runs into the classroom and hides underneath a table. His name is Kyuu. It turns out he's being chased by some girls. After the girls leave, Ageha is startled by Kyuu who demands that she serve him coffee. As she does so, Kyuu flips through her agenda booklet and discovers a photograph of Ageha and the boy she has a crush on, Ryuusei, who she has known from childhood but since they moved away, they have forgotten each other. Kyuu asks if she likes Ryuusei, and if she wants to be Ryuusei's girlfriend in a teasing sort of way, causing much embarrassment to the girl. Kyuu then tells her that if she believes in her heart that it is possible, it could come true. Kyuu tells her to shout out that she's Ryuusei's girlfriend and that they are going out and her life is very good, which Ageha does so. As soon as she speaks the words, Ryuusei appears at the classroom door and recognizes Ageha as the girl from his childhood that he used to play with. Ageha secretly thinks of Kyuu as Cinderella's fairy godmother and cannot believe that it happened. However, as Ageha and Ryuusei rekindle a friendship from long ago, Hana becomes suspicious or jealous of Ageha's relationship with Ryuusei. She becomes especially annoyed when she finds out that Ryuusei prefers Ageha to her. Hana then begins to formulate a plan to steal Ryuusei away from Ageha. After some time Ageha winds up walking with Ryuusei and Hana to visit her grandma at the hospital. Hana ends up flirting with Ryuusei leaving Ageha out of everything. Ageha begins to feel nervous about how the two are leaving her out of everything and begins to complain that she has a stomach ache. After taking a beak, They begin to go in a taxi home, when Hana tells Ryuusei that they should still go to the hospital to visit Hana's and Ageha's grandmother. After consulting the fact that Ageha will be going home alone, Hana convinces Ryuusei to go to the hospital with her still. Ageha is shocked by how Hana is treating her, and after Hana gets home, decides to confront her. However, when Hana comes home and Ageha tells her suspicions and Hana scoffs it off, saying that she just thought he was fun and nice to be with. And as if as a side note, Hana adds that she is dating Ryuusei, and Ageha is crushed! Later on, Ageha develops a crush on Kyuu-chan and finally confesses to him about this on a ferris wheel where they were supposed to act out how Ageha was supposed to ask Ryuusei out. Volume 2 ends when Kyuu-chan says that he is her teacher but it could work. Kyuu ends up going out with Ageha, and Ageha was ecstatic. But after the first day of the two going out, Kyuu mistakes Hana for Ageha and Hana gets the idea to ruin Ageha's chance with Kyuu. Kyuu takes Hana on a date, still thinking it was Ageha and Hana completely offends Kyuu and carelessly acts rude on the date.
Characters
;Ageha Mizuki ;Hana Mizuki ;Ryuusei Koike ;Hayato Ichijiku ;Ran Ichijiku ;Rui and Mari ;Shindou Shinobu
Release
Written and illustrated by Miwa Ueda, the chapters of Papillon - Hana to Chō were serialized in the Japanese manga anthology Bessatsu Friend from 2007 to December 2009. Kodansha published the chapters in eight tankōbon from January 12, 2007 to December 11, 2009. Del Rey Manga licensed the series for an English-language release in North America. Six volumes have been published.
