Carol and Memphis
Crest of the Royal Family (王家の紋章
Ōke no Monshō, lit.
Crest of the Royal Family), is a shōjo manga by Chieko Hosokawa. It has run in the monthly magazine
Princess since 1976, and it got the 1991 Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo.
The main character is Carol Reed, an American teenager from a wealthy family with an interest in Egyptology, studying in Cairo. When her mentor discovers the tomb of a young pharaoh, a curse is put on the excavation team and Carol. The curse sends her back in time to ancient Egypt, where she becomes embroiled in the affairs of Egypt and other ancient countries such as Assyria and Babylonia.
Carol meets Memphis, a handsome young pharaoh whose tomb she excavated in modern times. Despite his headstrong, initially violent nature, they fall deeply in love. This angers Memphis' half-sister, the priestess Isis, who has longed to marry him. Carol, due to her exotic looks and curious ability to tell the future, becomes a major player in ancient history...
Needs More Love.
Read it here.
Compare with
Anatolia Story, where a Japanese girl named Yuri gets tossed into the Hitite Empire (located in what we know as Turkey now) instead.
Oke no Monshou has the following tropes:
- Adorkable and Cute Bookworm: Carol
- Ancient Egypt
- Brother-Sister Incest: Well, this is Ancient Egypt. Isis is madly in love with Memphis and wants to marry him, hence why she hates Carol so much. On the other hand, Carol has to convince Memphis that her older brother, Ryan, is not her lover.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Carol has to explain to Memphis that she doesn't have to get married as a kid and that she doesn't want to marry her brother Ryan.
- Fish Out of Temporal Water: Carol, obviously.
- Guile Hero: Carol has to relay on her knowledge of Egyptian history to survive when she finds herself there.
- Long Runners: Thirty-five years and counting!
- Love Dodecahedron: Memphis and Carol love each other. Isis and Princess Caphra of Libya love Memphis. Prince Ishmin of the Hitites, Prince Minos of Chrete and Jimmy Brown love Carol. Minueh loves Isis. Kapta lusts after Carol, while Emperor Algol of Assyria wants Carol as his queen to dominate Egypt. Phew!
- Love Redeems: Memphis was a huge Jerkass, but Carol has managed to soften him up
- Mighty Whitey: The girl who carries on the story of Ancient Egypt and changes it for the better is a blue-eyed blonde lass mistaken as a goddess or goddess avatar due to her hair and eyes.
- Names to Know in Anime: From the rather... odd OVA: Akira Kamiya (Memphis), Yuriko Yamamoto (Carol), Kazuko Sugiyama (Isis, Playing Against Type), Kaneto Shiozawa (Prince Ishmir).
- Plucky Girl: Carol
- Phenotype Stereotype: Carol is American, so she's obviously a blond, blue-eyed cutie.
- Shōjo (Demographic)
- Time Travel
- Unlucky Childhood Friend: Jimmy Brown
- Weak, but Skilled: Carol has no fighting skills, but her sharp mind and kind heart give her the upper hand.
- Woman Scorned: Oh, Isis.
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