Sunday, July 19, 2009

Captive Hearts, Volume 3 by Matsuri Hino

Suzuka Kogami is still trying to find a way to free her devoted servant Megumi Koroishi. His family was long ago cursed to serve her family by the Dragon God who watches over the Kogami family when a famous thief stole the Dragon Scroll from the Kogami Princess.

In this volume, Suzuka decides that the family records hold the answer to the puzzle, but unfortunately, nothing comes of it, though Suzuka does discover the Koroishi family crypt, with the ashes of the dead family members who served her own family.

Then Keito gets an idea to look in China, where her father and mother were killed. Suzuka thinks that is another good idea, as that is why her father was in China to begin with. Keito takes Megumi with him on the trip, but has to return home when Megumi collapses in the Beijing airport, hurt by being deprived of Suzuka's presence. They must return on the same day they left, scotching that idea.

And then We find out the true story of how the long-ago thief became a servant of the Kogami family, and not surprisingly, it has little to do with an actual curse and more because of love on both sides, as well as sacrifice.

And then someone returns to the family home: Rui Sakuriyama, the child of a maid of the house who loved Megumi ever since she was a child. She's returned to be a maid to Suzuka, but she still wants to marry Megumi and free him from the family curse so that he's free to love. Free to love her, at any rate. But is her love strong enough to overcome the curse of the Dragon God?

Another fluffy volume, although we finally get to see the origin of the curse, and we see it is both more and less than is widely known. Yes, it is a curse, but the curse wasn't given maliciously, but to ensure the Kogami family was protected and cherished, the same way the Dragon God protected and cherished the Kogamis.

And there's also a bit of competition for Megumi's heart. Suzuka wants to free Megumi so she'll be sure he loves her for herself and not simply because of the curse. While Rui wants Megumi to be happy- happy with her. So, based on the Japanese "purity of motives determining who wins the boy", I can already predict that Suzuka will win Megumi, curse broken or not. Suzuka wants to free him out of love, Rui out of possessive love.

This isn't a bad series, but there's not much about it that would make me immediately want to run out and buy it. I am perfectly fine with reading it as the library purchases copies. Recommended, but not to buy, just to read.

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