Two Flowers for the Dragon 4
Posted: February 9, 2010 Filed under: Two Flowers for the Dragon Leave a comment »Nari Kusakawa – CMX – 2009 – 7 volumes
It’s a real shame I fell behind on this series. It really doesn’t deserve it. It’s almost like a younger version of Apothecarius Argentum. The stories are nothing alike, and this one is a bit more fun and playful, but they are both very good at the same things. I’ve got the fifth volume now too, and I’ll be covering it this weekend.
In this volume, the main two plot points are the deepening of the relationship between Kuwan and Shakuya, and Lucien getting his memories back. The former is something that could be spotted a mile away after the traumatic end of the last volume, though it was still a sweet moment, and I loved the strange way the handmaidens tried to get Shakuya to dish on what had happened between the two and their attempts to get a peek at her tattoos.
Lucien’s story was the more interesting one, though. He gets all his memories back, so he remembers just was a manipulative little kid he was, along with everything that happened at the Oasis when he lost his memory during a sandstorm. As expected, it wasn’t an accident, he was assaulted, but now he remembers the face of the assailant. I was surprised at first, since I thought it might be Kuwan, but the characters all point out that he’s been removed from any suspicion after putting his life on the line last time. The actual assassin appears later, in a story involving Shakuya’s main handmaiden, Lupina.
The Lupina story at the end is really one of my favorite moments of the story so far. It’s got the best of everything about this series in it. Lupina meets the assassin prior to his picture being circulated, and falls in love with him a little. When she realizes who he is and what he’s done, we are left to wonder what Lupina will do. Her feelings are wonderfully analyzed and on display, and she was so happy to get a taste of what Shakuya has so much of. Will Lupina warn him? Cover for him? Or be a good friend and loyal to Shakuya? It’s an absolutely wonderful little sub-story, and I loved that it spotlighted one of the better side characters.
But yes. More later.
