Two Flowers for the Dragon 1

I was pretty excited about reading this one, especially since I’ve been on such a fantasy kick recently.  Apparently it runs in Lala, which surprised me because I’m used to this type of fantasy series coming from… mmm, Princess or some other Akita Shoten source.

I feel like I have to compare it to Apothecarius Argentum.  Mostly because I’m on such a kick on that series, but I think both will appeal to me for the same reasons.  The pacing is exactly the same on both of them.  I thought this first volume was kind of slow, but I really like the setup, and this is exactly how I felt about the first volume of Apothecarius Argentum.

It’s much lighter than Apothecarius Argentum so far, and I kind of like that.  The characters are all extremely upbeat, and there’s not a single moper to be found among them.  The plot is somehow both original and a little tired.  Stripped down to its most basic elements, it’s a love triangle, specifically about a girl who was betrothed to a boy who went missing when she was young, then betrothed to another boy who she grew up loving, and the story picks up when the first boy reappears with amnesia and a whole lot more masculinity than he had in his youth.  Don’t get me wrong though, I like that type of story as long as it’s handled in a good way.  And this series has all the right stuff so far.  I like the setting a lot, which is a desert oasis guarded by a dragon clan (the main character is the heir to this clan, and the two boys are members of the other powerful families at the oasis).  I also really liked the fact that the main character had magical tattoos on her hands in the shape of flowers that she got when she was engaged to each boy, and as her love for each boy grows, so do the flowers in the tattoo.  She tries to resist the boy who comes back after so long, but he flower is blooming all the same, because this is a shoujo manga.  She wears black gloves to cover the tattoos.

I’m still trying to get over the fact that the main character turns into a dragon.  This would be awesome if handled correctly, but at this point, it’s taken a bit lightly, and the dragon is very… cartoony, which is just weird.  It’s like it doesn’t quite fit every time it happens.  It could be done well though, and maybe it’ll work itself out as the series progresses.  It would be even better if the other families had animals they turned into as well, because that would make it seem less out of place… but it looks like there may just be the dragon family, since they are the guardians.

The rivalry between the boys is sort of light and noncommittal at this point, which I kind of like, but at the same time, other than the progress of the girl’s tattoos, there isn’t much direction to the series.  That may change though, as it did with Apothecarius Argentum, and the first volume does leave off on a cliffhanger, so that’s pretty promising.

So far it’s a pretty fun fantasy romance, which is often all I look for in a series.  I have a feeling it will improve as it goes on though, so I’m really looking forward to future volumes.