"3 Hearts" by Ichinose Kaoru (scanlated by Omari's Sister)
From the outside, the story seems to be just eye candy (which, no doubt it is) but there is a little more complexity to it than what I saw before. After maybe a little more analysis (and desperate thinking to give this One-shot a bit more cred) Here's what I came up with...
Initially, the "3 Hearts" referred to the 3 precious jewels, yeah? Well, it could also be connected to our 3 stars on the beautiful colored cover page.
Note how it talks about how "the world's most beautiful jewel", love or Rathgozer (as she IS beautiful), "leads hearts astray." The hearts, referring to Jin and Mr. Knight of Kothera, being led astray because she is a rogue. Obviously, Jin was extremely influenced by her beauty (consequently falling in love.) If you notice in the last panel of he manga, Jin calls out Mr. Knight of Kothera on getting tricked as well. Inferring from Mr. KoK's reaction to this, it seems he too was led astray for a long enough time (possibly in an affectionate way) to allow Rathgozer to escape. In fact, he admits to it in the middle of the manga while he's cutting down trees nonsensically in pursuit of her.
Haha, and it seems even to the end of the one-shot, she CONTINUES to lead them off course in many other ways with her beauty and amazing-sauce trickery skills. Rathgozer leads Jin astray from fate's control and Mr. KoK's position defending the jewel--being neglectful (as he was set-up in such a way where Jin believed that he was the bad guy--once again, making enough time for our lovely rogue to escape.) All of that just to explain where the title page was going with the story.
Now, more into the meat (actual storyline) of the manga. In the very beginnings, as I've mentioned before, she's leading the Knights of Kothera away from the castle (their home, comfort zone, place they should be protecting besides the jewel). Then, the flying aircraft (no, it's not random)--brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "fight or flight" which there is plenty of in this manga. More on this later.
Ichinose brings up "The Fool" card, immediately characterizing the three main characters, but also contrasting them. Jin mentions that "the Fool" card can either be a "free spirit" or "an idiot". Seems like Rathgozer is the first, and the guys are the latter. Eventually, Jin learns how to re-characterize himself into a free spirit after being criticized by Rathgozer. Some may be wondering what purpose the random twin companions Jin has on board play as, and I think that purpose to be the rationalized mind. Generally, when thinking of love, recklessness and a boggled state of mind is involved. So the twins are the little bits of consciousness in the back of Jin's head, that a trying to bring him back to reality (failing in the process, but hey, what can you do with a guy in love? Those eagles sure had nothing on that female hot shot.) With that bit of characterization down, let's move onto The Kothera Heart itself.
What's so important about it, that it'd be the sole jewel star of a One-shot that mentions and titles itself after all three? Well, damn, doesn't it just sound cool saying "The Kothera Heart"? Okay, haha, onto more serious analysis. First of all, it's DIAMOND, pure carbon--an element needed for all spans of life (kind of like... love *hint hint*). It's also one of the strongest and precious substances on earth; something sought for all over the world. The comparison is very literal, but it's simple and fits. Despite this, there is also a bit of backbone to how Jin describes the Kothera Heart. He speaks of its brilliance (you can tell, that he's immediately absorbed by it just like his encounter with Rathgozer). He talks about how big it is (like Rathgozer's grand entrance and plea) thus being clearly noticeable. It also refers to her large appeal to Jin as well, because her appearance, like the diamond, also multiplied in magnitude. And the light, she's certainly drawing everyone in, isn't she?
"Let's have a welcome reception, princess" Jin says. Haha, well, once he lets her enter HIS heart, it's GG. He's been caught hook, line and sinker. Now the poor sap is in love with the girl, though he doesn't show too much of it until later. Of course, the consciousness is wary of the situation and is warning Jin about what's going to happen, but... he doesn't listen. Go figure. I'd also like to think, when Rathgozer talks about "countries" she's really talking about "guy's hearts". She runs away from one country, Mr. KoK's heart, to go a different country, Jin's heart. It's a followup to the the welcome reception. After he let her into his heart, she thanks him "for accompanying [her] to the neighboring country as promised." It's got a double meaning, future and present tense. Not to mention she tells him "I'm glad I met you" right after, haha.
Unbeknownst to Jin, he's not REALLY in control of his feelings for her. He only made time for her to explore his heart. Consciousness intervenes again... I think the whole fate and reversal issue explains itself, so I'll skip over that. Until we meet Mr. KoK again, the story takes on a self-explanatory route. Nothing drastically analytic there.
Finally, we get to see the two countries at war (ahh!! I'm continuing my metaphor, scaary). Okay, there's a lot of "fight or flight" action here, like I mentioned before.
Fight, being:
- Jin going headstrong with Rathgozer in love.
- Jin going against fate
- Mr. KoK versus Jin for Rathgozer and Kother Heart
- Female pheromones versus male instinct
Flight, being:
- Rathgozer escaping the fight via FLIGHT
- The flying aircraft
And what else can I say about it. Witty Rathy here, covered the final points of analysis with her grandiose escape. It just goes to show sometimes, being pretty is an extremely powerful tool.
So that's what I thought up of. Not sure if it'll make sense to anyone else or if the author actually intended for any of this. But my hopes are that it'll add some light to the situation and maybe rethink the credibility on this one-shot story-wise...
It's been a while since I ranted on any manga about anything :\ I wish I could analyze this much with my English research paper as well. That's just a whole 'nother problem.
