A Bride’s Story vol. 9

It’s taken a few volumes but we’re finally back to this title’s expected level of quality.  The focus is, however, still almost exclusively on Pariya and her rocky road to engagement with Umar.  Pariya’s all for it, except that she finds herself at a loss when it comes to talking casually with the boy.  What’s the most socially awkward girl in the village to do?  Well, she can try to communicate her feelings through the bread she bakes, hang around her father’s shop to see if she can learn more about Umar, or better yet, have him take her to a neighbor’s house several miles away and hope that true love blossoms along the way.  Even if that’s what does wind up happening, Pariya will still have to face down her greatest nemesis:  Embroidery.

One of my concerns with the last volume was that mangaka Kaoru Mori was playing up Pariya’s social anxiety for laughs.  That feeling hasn’t gone away, but it’s less of an issue now.  It’s because the focus on her anxiety feels more like good-natured teasing here.  For all the trouble Pariya’s lack of social skills causes her, she’s not only able to communicate her feelings in the end (after much struggle) but everything usually works out for the best in the end.  This would be tiresome if it weren’t for the facts that it feels good to see the girl’s struggles rewarded and the situations she overcomes are quite varied.

By the end, when Umar is telling Pariya of his plans for the future, it brings a nice amount of closure to this stage of their relationship.  Which means that Mori’s plans to shift the focus to Amir’s wayward brother Azel and his friends is coming at just the right time.  The mangaka has created a wonderful world full of (mostly) interesting characters and it’ll be great to see more of what another group is up to now.