I have no idea why Mori-sensei decided to have “Part 1” be about 6 pages and “Part 2” be over twice her normal chapter length (so basically, a normal monthly manga chapter).  But you know what they say about gift horses (even nice ones), and I’m so starved for content with this series that I’ll take what I can get.  To be honest I find it difficult to stay emotionally  connected to Otoyomegatari at times, what with the long waits between new chapters and the fact that those chapters are often relatively light in story (and dialogue).

I think it’s not coincidental that manga which are superhuman in their execution seem to be subject to production delays.  Mori is nothing like on the level of Inoue Takehiko with Vagabond or Togashi Yoshihiro with Hunter X Hunter of course, but we basically get about seven or eight chapters of A Bride’s Story per year, averaging maybe 12-14 pages.  I’ll refer to what I said about HxH – “We may bitch about Togashi taking ten years to do an arc, but there’s not another mangaka who could do that arc in a hundred or a thousand – so really, we should be grateful for what we have.”

That may have actually been optimistic about Togashi, in hindsight (with no evidence his back issues have gotten any better).  And compared to he and Inoue, Mori’s output with Otoyomegatari is downright consistent.  There’s not much dialogue in this chapter, and no real surprises.  I think we all knew how this race would turn out – it was just a question of how it would get there, and enjoying seeing that depicted.

Azel and Nice Horse (she has a name – Bekhe) certainly pull out all the stops in their bid to foil each other’s chances in the race.  Bekhe is a fine a horsewoman as you’ll find, but Azel fights like someone whose very existence depends on winning – because it does, and that of his clan.  Eventually, unable to get the prize away from Bekhe, he decides he’ll carry his real prize across the line along with the arrow.  There’s something oddly romantic about it, in a steppe sort of way.

Having gotten her father to declare him the winner, Azel makes a request – his cousins need brides too (“a rope thrice braided is stronger than a single strand”).  The father accedes, as long as the women themselves consent to it.  The men are supposed to do the choosing but it doesn’t work that way in Joruk’s case.  The dour cousin (whose name I’ve forgotten, if indeed we’ve been told) rather gallantly chooses Aigul, a young woman who hides her face because she was burned by her abusive first husband.  As for Azel, well – there was never any doubt who he was going to pick.  And he and Bekhe spend a good whole admiring each other’s steeds.

With that, the alliance is sealed.  The Russians are coming, so that’s a good thing.  Presumably that frees Mori to pursue the next twist in the story, though the plot of this series is a river with so may meanders that it’s impossible to predict where she’ll go next (and when it will happen).