Dawn of the Arcana (also known as Reimei no Arcana) is a romantic fantasy manga about an arranged marriage between the prince of the kingdom of Belquat, Caesar, and the princess of Senan, Nakaba. The two countries are constantly at the brink of war, and even within the two societies, there is unrest between fully-human people and half-animal people. The half-animal people, called "ajin," are considered inferior to fully-human people and are treated with disdain and like slaves. Our heroine, Princess Nakaba, is not treated well among her royal peers due to having a commoner in her lineage, and also because she employs an ajin as her retainer, a half-dog man named Loki.
The main romantic conflict of this manga is the relationship between Caesar and Nakaba. They are forcefully engaged, but will they ever like each other? Also Loki has a bit of a forbidden love towards Nakaba, which would never work in either Senan's or Belquat's racist societies.
Rather than only focusing on the romantic triangle, Dawn of the Arcana also has quite a bit of political drama. Caesar's family doesn't approve of Nakaba due to her less-than-noble lineage and due to her national origin. Also, the two countries are secretly bulking their military power in event of Caesar's and Nakaba's marriage not working out, or if one country violates their peace treaty in any way.
There is also an element of the supernatural: Nakaba has the ability to see glimpses of the future due to a secret ability called the Arcana of Time. Nakaba is able to foresee natural disasters, potential riots, and even assassination attempts, though whether or not she's able to prevent it is another matter.
This combination of political unrest, supernatural prognostication, ingrained societal racism, and romantic interests trying to sort out their feelings despite everything made a compelling and unique combination that held my attention more intensely than the average romantic shojo manga. I found also that the characters were well-crafted. Nakaba is a strong female character whose lack of options or actions was normally due to reasonable, extenuating circumstances as well as being something she is always fighting against, and when her Arcana of Time presents her with options, she isn't too afraid to take action. Caesar starts off a bit irritating, but becomes a practically textbook example of a jerk with a heart of gold. Loki maintains an air of mystery and whose actions come to have backing from nicely defined motives.
While the fantastical, political conflict is not as in depth as more mature media or as in depth as actual real world, historical examples, I feel that it does a good job of placing an appropriate amount of pressure on the characters, guiding their action, and giving them goals. The art of the characters is also very nicely executed. The costumes and faces I found to be very beautiful, although sometimes the backgrounds were a little sparse or were rarely represented, while I found the paneling to be delightfully dynamic.
Ultimately, if you don't mind a slight fantasy setting, and are looking for a solid shojo, romantic manga that has beautiful artwork, solid characters, and an overarching political plot that seeks to enhance the romance, then I would call Dawn of the Arcana a solid recommendation. It has nice pacing throughout its 13 volumes; it is not an overly expensive investment; and it has a solid, emotionally compelling ending that wraps up the plot nicely.
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