Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Captive Hearts, Volume 1 by Matsuri Hino

Megumi Kuroishi was born as a servant of the Kogami family. His father served as the Kogami's Butler, and the family was down to just the head of the family, his wife, and their daughter Suzuka. So, when the family disappeared and was presumed killed in China, the Koroishis inherited the family mansion and all the wealth that came with it.

Now, Megumi is in college, and he's pretty much forgotten anything about the Kogamis, living a life of wealth and ease. But when the pretty young Suzuka Kogami was found living with a fairly poor Chinese family, he felt only regret at losing the wealth and easy life he'd enjoyed for so long. With Suzuka alive, his family lost everything. He'd still be able to go to college, but he no longer had an easy life.

He might have blamed Suzuka, but from the first moment his eyes met hers, he vowed to serve her faithfully in anything he wished. Megumi was amazed that he'd said such a thing, and didn't know why. But his father revealed the truth: long ago, the first Kuroishi had been a thief, and he'd stolen the dragon scroll that protected the Kogami family. But when he unrolled it, he got a rude shock: the Dragon God watched over the Kogamis, and he sentenced Kuroishi to a hundred generations of servitude to the Kogamis. That curse has been passed down to every generation, and is still at work today.

Suzuka isn't used to being waited on, and her Japanese is very rusty. After a few days of living in the mansion, cooking her own meals, and having Megumi wait on her nearly hand and foot, she finds herself attracted to him, but conflicted. She returns to her family in China. But Megumi, despite the shock he's had an his losing his wealth, has become truly in love with Suzuka, and goes to China to bring her home.

She also feels she is falling in love with him, but because of the curse, she can't be sure he truly loves her, and resolves to break the curse and find out if their love is real on both sides. But does she have any chance of doing so?

The book ends with two short stories: Real Storm, in which a shy girl falls for her teacher who makes her push herself and take chances, and also seems to hate High School girls. Does she have any chance to change his mind, or will her love remain forever unreturned?

The Second is "Let Time Freeze". Two friends, one male, one female, have been friends nearly all their lives. But the girl has fallen in love with her friend, and now he will be leaving for Tokyo to attend college, while she must stay home. She hasn't told him how she feels, except for when he is asleep, and they are both waiting for the bus to go home. Is there any hope for them, and does he feel the same way she does?

The first story sets up the conflict in the manga well, Megumi loves Suzuka, but his family's curse makes her suspect that his love isn't for real and is just a by-product of the curse itself. The situation is explained in very few pages, and then the story is free to unfold in all its humorous and angsty ways. She flees to China, but allows Megumi to bring her back, and must struggle to not give Megumi orders, which her father warned her about when she was young, because of some unspecified bad result.

I also liked the art, and even if the story is mainly fluff, it's not bad- it's actually rather entertaining. But it's not very deep, either. Like a meringue cookie, it evaporates on the tongue, but leaves a nice taste behind. Anyone who enjoys relationship-based manga should give this one a try.

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