Lapis Lazuli no Oukan by KAWASE Natsuna

This was licensed and published in English as The Lapis Lazuli Crown. I started reading this over a year ago, but the scanlating group dropped it and only recently were the remaining chapters uploaded, so I thought I might as well post a short review. :3

Before the series review, a note about the new category.【Spotlight】is where Kyfni (or one of her partners-in-crime) will review completed series, since there’s no point in creating a category for them when they aren’t going to be used again, right? So of course, spoilers abound. (:

Also, updates to the fanart will be late this week because my thumbnail-creator (i.e. Photoshop) doesn’t like me. :/

【Lapiz Lazuli no Oukan】

I’m a fan of KAWASE Natsuna; except I’m not sure what it is exactly about her works that appeal to me. The art’s pretty average (cute, yes), and the plot isn’t deep or particularly unique, so it’s probably the magic. A lot of her series have some kind of sci-fi/fantasy element involved, which is arguably my favourite genre~

Radi and Miel; radi like 'radiant' and miel is French for 'honey'~

The protagonists of this story are Radi and Miel(/Mieru), a prince and the descendent of an aristocrat. In their world, they are two of a handful of people who can use magic (channelled via precious stones like Lapis Lazuli, also the national gem), but for one reason or another Radi never uses his magic publicly which causes a certain degree of mistrust from his subjects. His brother Citrona on the other hand (who is four years younger) has immense magical power, and it’s no secret that one of the highest ranking aristocrat families want him to control the crown’s barrier instead (the most important duty of their kingdom, since the crown has a lot of power sealed within it). The catch is, Citrona’s power is unstable;

That’s the basic plot, but I found that it wasn’t want struck my interest. I liked to read about the girl with unnatural strength, whose goal was to ’seduce the crown prince’ yet unknowingly met him on the street. She’s not a very good magic user, but her determination to enter the palace and help him was what drove the story forwards; and her enormous strength proved to be beneficial in relation to her magical capability.

It was cut a bit short due to an untimely ending, but it was wrapped up pretty nicely along with a few omake panels at the end of the volume. We probably could have benefited from a few more chapters, but again, it wasn’t the plot that held my attention in this case. The heroine was strong not only physically, and the hero was fun to follow. To be honest, their personalities were a bit bland, but it was nice to read something without the thousand servings of drama per chapter.

Happily ever afters are best, though I would've liked to see how Radi would have dealt with all the marriage proposals he predicted Miel would receive... :3

There are some side stories with her family and friends, and this guy who makes Radi jealous (teehee) but I loved the interaction between Miel and Radi the most. They’re just so… pure? Love was a theme, but it wasn’t a “love will conquer all” manga. I’m not really sure how to say it other than that, but it was fun watching Miel mature and Radi… well, be Radi.

The tone is mellow, and I’ll probably re-read this a couple of times. It’s memorable because it’s sweet, and the bits of humour are more adorable than funny. Also, I rather like Radi with long hair; he actually looks like he’s 18. xD

【Rating】8/10 ;; for being a refreshing read, and the magic gives it bonus points. ♦