Set in the Hittite empire, this volume is the last in the series of the saga of Yuri and Kail.   She has to be sure before she accepts his proposal.  Their world will celebrate with them.  And the future?  A  few snapshots of what is to come for the empire.

Yuri is not a kid anymore.  She takes her place next to Kail with a mix of twenty -first century independence and ancient subservience. Their future stretches out in front of them. Yuri is a queen passionately in love with her husband, yet very involved politically.

Extra episodes are the bulk of the book. The extra episodes start with a story about the character Kikkuri and the horses. It is based on an ancient tablet  of  horse training instructions which is found. Another extra episode takes place 15 years later and Yuri is still strong and adventurous. In trying to help out another girl, they get into some trouble. They need help to get out, it sure is a benefit to be a member of the royal family at times like these.  The last extra episode takes the most pages of the book.  It is Ordontes Love Story.  Not being who they seem to be in the beginning, the characters quickly fall in love, but duty pulls them elsewhere. I can’t say much without ruining the story.  Purpose, duty and love all compete.

The book begins with “Will you marry me?” and ends with “We ride to our future in the Rising Sun”.  A recipe for romance, it’s like a Shojo sandwich but it’s the meat in the middle that counts.  Aimed at an older audience (not younger teens), this manga is a serious drama with an historical setting.  It was refreshing to see an unusual setting. In my opinion, the setting is the real star.  The story couldn’t take place anywhere else, most of the storyline needs the cultural differences (from our own current societies) to be tolerable.  The time travel element gives us a character we can identify with.  Without these, the series would have been a lot easier to put down. 

With the end of the series finished in the first quarter of the book, it’s the extra episodes that are the real interest.  The author takes a tiny bit of historical evidence and creates a story around it.  We see the next generation and descendents of Yuri and Kail as the central characters in these stories. 

Overall

If you are interested in the series, it’s best to start at the beginning.  That is where all the real action/drama is.  If you are already involved in reading them, of course you can’t miss this conclusion.

The lack of emotion in the characters’ eyes was disappointing. Their faces are too blank, and it was a missed opportunity to connect better to the audience. Overall, the drawing is crisp and clean, everything is easily discernible. My favorite part of the graphics was the lean toward the art deco style, the patterns against the dramatic black background were striking. 

ComicsOnline gives Red River Volume 28  3 out of 5 galloping steeds.