Her Majesty’s Dog 7 by Mick Takeuchi: B-

From the back cover:
Someone from Amane’s village is out to ruin the young shamaness’s life! Framed for a crime they didn’t commit, Amane and Hyoue return to the island in disgrace… and this time, they won’t be allowed to leave. Forced into fulfilling her duty as head of the Kamori family, Amane discovers that she is prisoner to a destiny that could keep her and Hyoue apart forever!

Review:
Once again, the back cover blurb is inaccurate. Yes, Hyoue was suspected as the perpetrator of a crime, but that accusation was dropped. Amane’s actually instructed to return to the village because a photo of her and Aoi hugging was printed in a tabloid.

The pattern of goofy plots mingled with some decent character moments continues. My favorite chapter is the first one, in which Takako takes center stage and frets about her tendency to butt into other people’s problems. The worst is the chapter in which Hyoue wants to buy Amane a birthday present (that’s not the bad part) and ends up working in drag at a bar to make money. It’s played like “tee hee, isn’t this the most hilarious thing?” but really, it is inane.

Amane’s kimono-wearing uncle shows up in later chapters and reminds me a lot of the president of the talent agency in Skip Beat! After a big reveal about Amane’s “destiny,” there’s a scene where he councils a hot-headed Hyoue that bears similarities to scenes between Shigure and Kyou from Fruits Basket. Except not nearly as good.

There’s still no word on the assassin/defectors subplots, and I seriously doubt that they’re ever going to get mentioned again. There is something about “outside influence” causing some trouble amongst the Kamori clan, but it seems like something entirely different connected to the yawner of a reveal on the final page.

Wasn’t this series supposed to be getting good about now? I’m still waiting.