At times, A Bride’s Story has been pushed aside for Mr. Smith’s Story. He’s been in the manga from the start, but he’s been a star or the perspective character for large portions during the course of the series.
However, with the manga sunsetting on its run in Harta to find a new home elsewhere, perhaps A Bride’s Story is also sunsetting the frequent Smith chapters.
Before I talk about Smith, let’s talk about a real bride’s story — or rather, brides’ story. The twins Laila and Leily see Smith arrive in town, and they volunteer their home to host a welcoming banquet — and “voluntold” their husbands in the process. But hey, they can’t be rude or be seen as children, so the four of them get to work on throwing a banquet.
The girls’ mother has reservations about her daughters hosting, so she compromises by naming herself supervisor. And, well, good thing, as they would have left the fire burning with no one watching it! From there, their party seems destined to end up in a sitcom-like disaster. But fortunately, they do manage to pull it off — and make a new friend in Talas, whom they invite on a swim.
Kaoru Mori has stunned readers for 12 volumes about the beauty of Central Asia, so I guess it’s only fitting that after all this time she turns her skills to under the sea. Story-wise, it’s not that important that the desert-living Talas gets to experience the sea for the first time in her life, but man, how else would we see her draw fish and seals? Plus, while the twins aren’t proficient in hosting, they are in swimming, and they make sure Talas has a wonderful time.
But the peace of floating of the water doesn’t last for long. Smith and his crew are aiming to see Amir and Karluk again, but while in town, he’s told the Russians are attacking in that area. Smith is understandably torn between continuing on and turning back. Ultimately, he decides to continue toward Amir and Karluk’s village but tells his guides/bodyguards to warn him they sense things don’t seem right.
A Bride’s Story has been mostly about everyday life in this region in the late 1800s, but now the tension is rising. The manga never leaves Smith’s team once they depart from the twins’ village, so we have no idea how Amir and everyone else is faring. Mori promises the next volume will return to them, and if they or the other people there are forced to flee or fight, well, we’ve already gotten a taste of that here. In this manga, you can never go wrong with minimal dialogue, and even these scenes of danger are exquisite.
But ultimately, for now, it seems Smith’s story has come to a close. I enjoyed him and Talas, and seeing Laila and Leily still being a bit immature despite being married was quite fun. But despite that, I really want to see our original bride and her husband!