Red River: Vol. 6

by Chie Shinohara

Synopsis
Yuri, a modern-day teen, is trapped in the palace of an ancient Prince of Darkness! She waits there for Prince Kail, her savior and the only one who can send her back to modern-day Japan. While Yuri attends to the prisoners taken by the Dark Prince's armies, hoping they can rise up and fight again, Prince Kail and his brother Zannanza, journey into enemy territory. If they misstep, the consequences will be great -- for both the future of the Hittite empire and Yuri and Kail's relationship!


Review
Once again, Yuri shows some remarkable strength of character in this volume. She tends to the prisoners of war, and those who've been injured and are taken to the infamous "house of rest," where people go when sick, but eventually die. She improves the conditions, so it's more like a hospital. I really respect this aspect of her character, and if it weren't for her being such a ditz when it comes to love, I'd like her a lot more.

Kail continues his remarkably fast campaigns, all in an effort to get Yuri home. Although it's not shown very well, a lot of time passes in this volume, at least five months are spent in the Prince of Darkness's seraglio, and another four after being captured by him, thus bringing us to almost a year since Yuri was brought to Hattusa. Somehow, Kail and Yuri still love each other, yet they continue to speak of her going back to Japan. Even other people are beginning to comment on what a perfect queen Yuri would make, and suggest that Kail should keep Yuri rather than sending her home, but he falls back on the excuse of his promise, rather than reanalyzing the situation and making the logical choice. And, if it were me, I'd be thinking: why would I want to go back home anyway? At home, everything is boring and I'm unimportant. I'd rather stay where I am treated like a goddess, have anything I want, and am loved by a good man. But, you know, I'm pragmatic and logical. I'm not an author trying to artificially prolong my story, and contriving to keep conflicts going so that the story happens on my schedule, not at its natural pacing.

Later in the story the Prince of Darkness is holed up in a stronghold trying to stave off the inevitable. For some reason, he decided to take Yuri with him, despite not having any interest in her these past months. And of course, he only decides to make his move on her right at the point in the story where he has a chance at being interrupted, instead of three months before. It's too bad that the "conflict" has to be so transparent. I still wonder why Yuri's virginity is so damn important. Is it just to create more conflict, without the risk of anything bad happening to Yuri? At that point, it becomes cheap, and the audience figures out that nothing will happen anyway.

The story is still interesting, and the Prince of Darkness has been developed a bit, explaining why he's such a misogynist, even if it is a hasty generalization.

Final thought: I'll keep reading.