Karin, while trying to save the children, gets captured by kidnappers... Karin's destiny starts moving fast, as she meets Yur, a foreign young man trying to save his little sister! The Oriental picture scroll, is finally coming to an end!
This is the last installment of the manga Harem Days The Seven-Starred Country. It is actually a different arch entitled Where the Flower Went. That arch gives you a glimpse into the lives of the princesses and what their decisions have brought into their lives. They all have a happily for now ending. The regular characters from the original manga all make appearances. The love story between Hisu & the Emperor continues in this arch as well. They both play a decent part in all the stories. There is love, action, adventure, & personal growth that happens in all the volumes of this arch. It was nice getting to see how each of the princesses chose to continue their lives. Whether still in the harem or not. There is not a volume for Princess Fuyo, but she does play a good size role in the background of most of the stories. Continuing on into this last volume. There is not a volume that shows what happened to the exiled princess. The one who's father and uncle were executed for their crimes. All the others do have a volume though.
This volume is the story of Karin. The princess from Rencho. Her story actually is this whole volume and part of the volume before this one number 13. She has not yet made the decision on whether or not ahe was going to stay in the harem. She was uncertain of herself and wasn't sure what she wanted for yet. You watch her grow and become more confident. As she makes her own choices about her life and how she wants to live it. She gets involved in a kidnapping by accident. Then she is bought by a mysterious stranger. Who is a foreigner to the Seven-Starred Country. She soon finds out his reasons for being involved with the kidnappers and buying her were honorable. She slowly learns more about him and his motives. Before long she is developing feelings for him, but she's still a princess belonging to the emperor. Will she leave the harem, her friends, and all she cares about for a unknown future? Will she be strong enough to help get back the kidnapped children? Will she make the right decisions for her? It does end in a happily for now. She does seem happy with the decisions she made. Though it must have been daunting to be able to make decisions for her life mostly for the first time. Up until that point she hadn't had a lot of input into the big decisions that were made about her life. She made small daily decisions, but who she would marry, where she would live, mostly how she would live, even down to what she would wear. All those decisions were made by others. After she's given more freedom to make those types of big life decisions she gets a little frozen. Kinda stuck afraid to make the wrong decision. Until she sneaks out of the harem with Hisu one day. Then her eyes are opened to some of the possibilities she has in front of her. After she is kidnapped it turns what she was possibly planning for her life upside down again. It does turn out for the best. Though it is a bit of a bumpy road there.
I liked this story very much. The artwork is fantastic too. I truly enjoyed the whole series and look forward to seeing what else the author produces. If you like a good solid story line with a little bit of everything in it and good artwork in your manga reading. You'll enjoy this. Give this series a try.