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As much as I love Otoyomegatari, I think it represents one of the real problems of a monthly manga.
I enjoy the new characters Mori Kaoru continues to introduce to this story, and Laila and Leyli are certainly a hoot. But when we get to see these characters so rarely, I’d really rather the focus stay on the core group – at least until their story is at a good place to leave it. I miss Karluk and Amira, who were really the heart of Otoyomegatari for me, and if this were a weekly anime or manga, that’d be OK – because I know they’d be back soon enough. But that’s not the case with a monthly.
I suppose what we’re seeing is Mori-sensei really intended this as “Young Brides Story” rather than “Young Bride’s Story”. And she’s a magnificent talent, so I defer to her on this one. Whatever she draws, it’s startlingly beautiful – and that applies to the two new young brides to be who’ve been the center of the last couple of chapters ever since they saved Henry Smith from drowning. But boy, are these two ever a handful – I don’t know who I feel sorrier for, their father or the two brothers whose father picked out the twins as their future brides.
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What really sets Laila and Leyli apart is that they turn Otoyomegatari into a slapstick with every frame they’re in. I can’t help but be reminded of Monty Python’s “Fish Slapping Dance” when they knock a passerby unconscious with a sturgeon, and their put-upon father’s preferred mode of discipline is to bonk them on the heads as if he were Moe and they were Curly and Larry. They’re insufferable, incorrigible and tireless – their harebrained schemes to find husbands get weirder and weirder, with ever-increasing consequences for innocent bystanders (and their heads). It’s damn funny for the most part, but does feel a little out of synch with the more gentle humor of the earlier arcs.
Where does the story go from here? Well, those two poor boys appear to be headed for a cruel fate indeed if their squabbling fathers can ever figure out the dowry issue. If anything, there’s hope in that they’ve known the twins since they were babies, so perhaps they’ll give as good as they get. I would think this arc will conclude in the next three of four chapters, but from there? Do we follow Mr. Smith as he heads for the big city, encountering new young brides on the way, or return to Amira and Karluk?
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Anonymous
March 2, 2012 at 10:54 ami think chapter 21 already out and translated.
i love how Kaoru Mori draw each character, those twin look beautiful. Am i a lolicon?
Anonymous
March 2, 2012 at 12:56 pm@Anon: Yep, chapter 21 is already out in English 😉
While I agree with Enzo about missing (you wrote 'kiss' instead of 'miss' btw . Not that I wouldn't do that to them given the chance ;D) Karluk and Amira, I consider this arc a bit of a breather, slapstick and all. In chapter 21 the tone already shifts a little more towards those of the previous arcs anyway ^^.
Eli
admin
March 2, 2012 at 5:28 pmYep, ch. 21 post very soon.
Well, those twins are what, 14 or 15? I don't know if that qualifies as lolicon, especially in 19th Century Central Asia…
jebnemo
March 3, 2012 at 3:09 amIt kills me that Mr. Smith didn't end up with Tarasu. Every chapter I hope that something will happen to get them back together before he gets too far away.
admin
March 3, 2012 at 3:38 amThat ship hasn't sailed yet – I think they could still end up together.
Anonymous
March 3, 2012 at 1:38 pm@GE (and anon): actually 15 was a perfectly marriable age in my oh-so-western-world Europe *at least* until the French Revolution if not even later on. Conversely, the more you approached your 20s unmarried, the closer it smelled of spinsterhood. And talking about UK and English sources by XIX century (early), some traces of this can be read in basically all of Jane Austen's novels for instance ^^.
For a more detailed picture allow me to link to this post if you don't mind: http://thepiratebalthasar.blogspot.com/2010/08/love-women-and-marriage-in-xvii-century.html it's related to the background search done by the author of one of my favourite comics as well :p (listen to the period piece allure Enzo, hear itttttt <3) . Of course I'd warmly recommend reading the comic too. Good stuff all around.
Eli
Anonymous
March 3, 2012 at 3:37 pmP.S.: I third the rooting for the TarasuxSmith ship soooo hard ;_;. I both hope and think Mori-sensei will bring her back and tie that arc into the main story (whatever the 'real' main story turns out to be). She does have a thing for such callbacks and reincorporation + ensemble cast after all.
Eli
Znail
March 5, 2012 at 8:08 amWell, Amira and Karluk are high ranked it seems so maybe they go and 'buy' Tarasu for some unnamed member of their tribe 😛