Customer Reviews

The Lapis Lazuli Crown Vol. 2

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're into the shoujo genre, then this two volume series is for you. Perhaps with a little more funding and direction this could have been a very Card Captor Sakura-like series. But it still has merit as a short series. All of the shoujo archetypes are contained in the story: a spunky heroine, a mysterious prince, a competitor/love rival, and "slice of life" school scenes.

The first problem is that it's rather short, despite being a good read for the listed price. In a way you'd like the heroine Miel to be more developed as a character instead of being so one-dimensional at times. It's true she wants to catch the prince's eye in the beginning of the story because her family is poor, but that line gets old fast. Deep down the reader wants to know more about her motivations, her family (where are her parents?), and her thought process as to how she came from "I want to marry the Prince" to "I want to be the Prince's support." In a two volume series, there's not much time to waste, so the reader jumps from the early days when she first met the prince (and their relationship rather inexplicably becomes more than friendly a little too quickly), to when she gets accepted to the Academy to train her magical power, to when she gets accepted into the Palace to serve the prince. That's a lot to take in in just two volumes!

For whatever reason, Kawase-sensei doesn't develop the characters enough to really root for them, but just enough to make you want to turn the page.

The trade off to the lack of character development is that there is political intrigue underlying the plot, which makes it better for a young 'tween audience, but in the end, even that seemed rushed to a conclusion, like the author ran out of paper or something. It's true that Miel was able to prove her ability in the end, and fulfill her goal of "being of use" to her hero the prince (and it was quite impressive, by the way), but it was over so quickly it left me saying, "What? That's it?" There was no pomp, no ceremony and all that build up and conflict was resolved on two pages. Also, I'm not a fan of triangles or anything, but the prince's rival was cast aside with very little thought, in my opinion. He didn't even get page time to help Miel in the end...

I'm not saying this story could have been stretched to Naruto standards, but 3 - 5 volumes would have given the reader a little more satisfaction. It could have rivaled Meru Puri in my opinion. So in the end, I'm glad I bought it and it was a pleasant read. Artistically speaking, the tones and the style are simple but pretty enough to appeal to its target audience so I am recommending it.