This manga sounds very interesting when the summary is read from the back cover - "Pamela, whose past has been veiled in darkness, journeys to Scotland to find the truth. . . .She finds herself trapped in a nightmare. . . ."

Pamela, an immortal, owns the Tarot Cafe. Her clients are often supernatural creatures. She has a host of friends and enemies and something (someone?) from 500 years ago seems to be haunting her. A dragon? An old boyfriend? A demon? (I have no idea.)

Unfortunately, other than Pamela, everyone looks alike. The drawings are pretty, but I can't tell who these people are. I have forgotten the plots of the previous volumes as it's been so long, but I remember having that trouble when I started with #1. I also can't tell who is saying what. I got to the point where I knew I would never figure it out so I just started looking at the pictures and reading the bubbles to get through it, all the while remaining clueless about what was going on.

This is one of the most confusing manga books I have read. I do like the commentaries on the tarot cards and what they mean. The last story about the old man, the tree, and the boy did make sense, but most of the book was shrouded in some sort of fog for me. There was an evil perfume lady. (At least, I think she was evil.)

I doubt I'll read #6 unless it falls in my lap from the sky. ( )

Pamela and Belus make sure that everything works out all right for the young singer who was going to have to pay for a magical contract with his life. Afterwards, Pamela lets her friends know that she's decided to take a trip to Scotland by herself. Belus and Ash are already not getting along well (they are both apparently attracted to Pamela, and she seems to be attracted to them both as well), but Belus is also suspicious that Ash has something bad planned for Pamela in Scotland. Belus and Ash both follow Pamela when she leaves for her trip. Pamela ends up following a mysterious man in a robe, who turns out to be Victor, the monk who tried to kill Ash and Pamela long ago.

Belus was right to be suspicious of Ash, as Ash's plan is now put into effect - Pamela gets exposed to a perfume that causes a person to fall into a dream, from which they cannot awaken, of their most painful memory of the past. Pamela dreams of the monk, of everything falling apart with Ash, and of Ash's apparent death. The person who made the perfume for Ash has plans of his own (I think this person is a guy, but I'm not sure...) - he needs the life-strength of an immortal being like Pamela to create a perfume that will restore his youth and beauty. He does manage to create a perfume, but Belus replaced one of the ingredients with poison, and the man dies. Belus wakes Pamela up in the only possible way, by letting her hurt him so that she can taste his heart's blood. Although things appear grim, when Belus next appears he's bandaged up and nearly good as new. In the last part of the volume, Pamela's store is visited by an old man who's trying to help his only friend, a young boy who is repeatedly abused by his father. The man, who is actually an old tree, gives up his trunk so that the boy can live and grow up to be a great and kind man.

It's been a while since I've read the earlier volumes in this series, so I had a little bit of a problem following what was going on and remembering who all the characters are - although there's a "story so far" page, it's incredibly unhelpful. The relationship between Pamela and Ash is particularly confusing to me. She loves him, or did love him at one point, but he wants to punish her for some reason. Perhaps he blames her for his supposed death so long ago? One scene from Pamela's past also seems to indicate that at one point Ash actually told Pamela that he could never love her - did she blank that memory out, or was she so in love with him that she couldn't believe he could possibly mean what he'd said?

Unlike Ash, Belus seems to genuinely like (maybe even love?) Pamela. He was certainly willing to risk dying in order to wake her up. I'm not sure how great his risk of death was, since I think he's nearly as difficult to kill as Pamela (who is immortal). Pamela still seems determined to believe that their relationship is entirely based on the contract that they have with each other, rather than any deeper feelings, but I wonder how long that's going to last.

The final part of the volume was a bit jarring, since it was such a sudden departure from the overarching storyline involving Pamela and her past, but it was still a sweet story. It was kind of cliched, though, and I'm sure I've seen stories like it before, where some ancient tree or something gives up its life for the human being it cares for.

As far as extras go, there's a several page long preview of the first volume of Sang-Sun Park's Ark Angels, in which a trio of sisters from the future try to rescue animals on the brink of extinction. In this preview, the girls are trying to save one of the last Guam Fruit Bats. It's a bit goofy, which, in my opinion, doesn't really fit Park's art style.

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

Pamela is slowly becoming the main focus of the series and in this instalment she travels to Scotland to try and find out more information about her past. She uses a perfume that lets her relive her memories, but this is at a cost as she is forced to relive the negative and painful ones so she is stuck in a nightmare. It is up to her friends to help her, but can they get to her in time.

As always the artwork is stunning and I was mesmerised by the drawings. It continues straight from the end of volume 4 and I cannot wait to see what happens next as we are drawn further and further into Pamela’s life and her past. ( )