The "Princess Princess" manga, written and illustrated by Mikiyo Tsuda, was first serialized in the manga magazine "Wings", with the first "tankōbon" volume being released at August 2002. The series was published by Shinshokan in five volumes. Once the first manga series ended, a sequel entitled "Princess Princess +" started serialization in the May 2006 issue of "Wings". The first manga series has been licensed by Digital Manga Publishing, with the first volume released in November 2006. Mikiyo has commented that "Wings" preferred her not to write it as a shōnen-ai series. The anime series of "Princess Princess" based on the manga that preceded it aired in Japan from April 5 to June 21, 2006 and had twelve episodes. The opening theme is by Atsushi Miyazawa, and the ending theme is by team-F. The series premiered on Toku in the United States in January 2016. A live action drama based loosely on the series, named , aired on TV Asahi from June 28, 2006 to September 13, 2006, for ten episodes. The D in the title is for "drama". Mikoto is the protagonist of this series. The story deviates from the original manga in that a new character named Otoya Hanazono, who is dissatisfied with the half-hearted efforts of the current Princesses, creates his own team of Dark Princesses to rival for the students' attention. The drama also excludes Mikoto's girlfriend, Megumi, and like the anime series features shōnen-ai overtones that are not as present in the original manga. A visual novel based on the series named was released on October 26, 2006 for the PlayStation 2 in Japan. Casey Brienza described the anime as "phony" and disliked its premise of forced cross-dressing.