This was simply a joy to read. Honestly one of my favorites. Yuri is a great protagonist, and she quickly grew from annoying and weak to being a strong heroine that I ended up adoring. Although there were flaws, there was nothing terrible. If the oldish art stopped you from reading it before, like it stopped me, ignore it and just try reading it! The art style actually really suits the story, and you get used to the style quickly. If you haven't read Red River before, you're definitely missing out on a great story, romance, and all-togethor amazing manga.

My only additional comment is to say that though the manga spans 28 volumes...it only gets better as you read on! There is a point at volume 10 or so when I was afraid the plot would start to get repetitive, but then Yuri is swept away to Egypt and there is a three way war of the countries love triangle that will blow your mind. There is real character development in here, so the original plot lines to change to some degree, but it will be epic! The romance is also amazing/satisfying, it will be hard to find another manga like this.

I don't even know what to say... this manga was incredible and is probably the best historical manga i've ever read! It's 28 volumes but it goes by really fast because every volume had such captivating moments that leave you wanting more. One thing i absolutely loved about this manga was the character development. She starts off as just a normal girl who's scared because she's in a different time and is a bit of a weakling but that certainly doesn't last long because after one volume, she gets stronger and stronger and well let's just say she's probably one of the strongest female leads i've ever seen. She's truly an amazing character who is able to capture the hearts of the people as well as the readers.
The Romance in this manga gives off the feeling of "everlasting love" and that's not exactly something you can easily find in other manga's. It's not overly-dramatic and corny but is presented in a more mature way when it comes to true love. Usually, in historical/action manga's, there isn't a lot of romance but for this particular manga, the mangaka managed to balance Romance, action, adventure, shoujo, drama, fantasy perfectly. There wasn't any cliff hangers and everything was settled and explained in the end.
The art: I am really picky about art and i never actually thought about reading this cuz i mean, i didn't even put it on my list because the art looks old and i can't stand bad art but after reading Kanata Kara (i recommend this too), I gave it a try and IM SO GLAD I READ IT! The art isn't bad at all. You get used to it after like 2 chapters and you just get immersed in the story.
The Ending was perfect. I loved the ending and from the start to finish, everything was just gold.

I highly, highly recommend this manga. I promise you, you won't regret it.

this manga had everything i was looking for. strong female and male lead who are soo lovable with a perfect romance. it wasn't the type of romance that made you want to kill something or drive you up the wall lol. not only the main characters but in fact every character in this manga (aside from the evil ones who you have to hate) are soo lovable and amazing. i love the way this manga makes you laugh cry and hate. it was soo good i couldn't stop reading. i just hated that so many characters i loved died. but it wouldn't of been so touching if it didn't go the way it did. i'll recommend this manga for sure. what made the manga even better was that she got to kiss all those hot guys hehehe <3

I love reading historical romances so I thought that this manga was going to be a really good option for me. It takes a few chapters (like three) to get into it because the female lead Yuri starts out as your typical shoujo heroine: helpless, useless, and freakin stupid. She changes pretty quickly though. She grows a spine and becomes extremely independent. She does her own thing and can fight her own battles. She doesn't have to rely on Kail to save her when something comes up. She has some damsel in distress moments, but they're not that bad. The only thing I can't understand is why everyone falls in love with her. She's kind of like Miaka from Fushigi Yuugi. Everyone seems to be gaga for her and I can't always see why, though she is way better than Miaka. The history in this manga is really interesting to read about and surprisingly accurate. Of course the mangaka takes some liberties, but they are tastefully done. I really enjoyed this and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read a shoujo where the heroine isn't ALWAYS stupid.

... Last updated on May 14th, 2011, 12:58pm

the only flaw I found was that at the beginning, Yuri's character was so weak that I couldn't see her being fit to stand with kail, but that is quickly resolved. A wonderful story, with no flat characters

I'm sorry I wont give you a long speech like everyone else.
But I sincerely loved this manga and all the characters. Even if they're frustrating, thats what made this manga so nice to read. Its necessary to have a villain. LOL so the man can show off. <3

BTW. I love what Zina said at the end of the comment. It is truly beautiful. for some people.(:

... Last updated on April 15th, 2011, 6:04pm

It was initially addicting, but became very redundant. Red River definitely wins kudos for being very unique in its conception, having a modern girl be trapped in an ancient society. The main character Yuri is a much stronger character than you average shoujo heroine, however, she's almost too perfect.At first it was refreshing to see a strong female character, someone that one could relate to, but her flawless characteristics subtracts from the reality of the story. Upon her immediate arrival, she is able to suddenly become a master equestrian and sword wielder, and manages to get out of every difficult situation. She manages to get out of hardship through some combination of luck, and every man in power falls in love with her at first sight and are willing to devote their lives to her. She then goes through this endless cycle of falling victim to the queen's plots, getting kidnapped, having the men fall in love with her, suddenly becoming a military strategist, and so forth. While it was enjoyable at first, this theme gets old fast.

The main villain remains the same from beginning to end, and her plots just become increasingly outrageous. She is powerful, but the joint forces of all the protagonists far exceed her, and it's implausible that she could carry out so many schemes all by herself. Additionally, Yuri and her entourage know she's behind everything, yet even after they gained substantial power to counter her, they always wait for the queen to take initiative. It is only after the events are set in motion that they attempt to stop it at the last minute. Honestly, this story could have been shortened by at least a third, it's clear that the mangaka resorted to using the queen as a plot driver. It is apparent that the mangaka has done some research on the period, but many aspects of the story are at times too fantastical and the complexity of the relationships between kingdoms was too simplified.

Overall, it's worth a try. It is entertaining for a while before the weariness sets in.

... Last updated on December 10th, 2010, 11:11pm

Compared to what we are usually used with shoujo, that is to say a weak and simple minded girl attached to a god like guy... The main character, Yuri is painted as a courageous girl with a strong will... So ladies, you won't feel frustrated because the person you're identifying yourself is brainless.
Also, I've really enjoyed the love story between those two! They do are deeply in love with each other, they kiss a lot (satisfying because you don't spend hours reading a story where they barely kiss once) and developing around their love is successful to my point of view.
In addition, drawings are fantastic (except people feet maybe?)

If you like a good mix of love, action, plot and a nice draw -> JUST READ IT !!!

Now, I've never read a smut before, but sometimes I was like, "Wait. Why are they naked?" This happened maybe only 6 times throughout the entire manga, but it is still as puzzling as hell....

Other than that, I found the story to be kind of slow, but fast enough that I didn''t drop it. Be warned, the mangaka holds no hesitation in killing off characters. They don't kill them off willy-nilly, but be careful not to get too attached to any of them.

Everything other people have commented about the "queen" as the antagonist is true. I won't repeat it again.

The coolest part was that every once in a while, the manga would have a few pages saying "And in the early 19th century, an archaeologist found the records of place-some-activity-here, although no-one ever knew why something-something was something-something." And in the arc before, the something-something's were explained. I didn't make much sense, did I? Anyways, the ties in with real life were SUPER cool.

I, personally, really liked the art, and in particular, the skirts.

The end, in my opinion, almost was amazing. There are two obvious ways the story could have gone, but the mangaka picked the way that I liked the least. It was not a bad ending, but I think it could have been better.

In total, not bad, but not good. I'm not planning on reading this one again. If you are into wars and relationships, read Red River because it may be your cup-of-tea.

Something that I just remembered: The mangaka does something entirely amazing with the relationship at around chapter 30. It was soo beautifully crafted that I was (and am still) in awe. I will reinforce what I said about the manga being good for those who like reading about relationships(and not necessarily only romantic ones).

... Last updated on August 22nd, 2010, 9:20pm