Shangri-la is the story that follows the Cupid one in vol. 5 of Love Stories. I'm tired, so...this summary'll be short.

The story begins with a plane crash in the Himalayas. It's cold, it's snowing, and a very famous, young, beautiful Japanese actress (don't you hate how they've always got everything..??) is lost there in the snow. She's saved by this handsome man, and taken to what seems like a completely different, isolated world--Shangri-La.

The girl wakes up in a large pool of water, maybe a couple feet deep (max.). She's surrounded by other women, and she's dressed only in a flimsy shift-type thing. She's bewildered and scared, and runs out of the room. She is caught and they accuse her of behaving immorally (women aren't allowed outside the bathing room place with only their underwear on--which, I take it, is the shift thing), and deserving punishment. The handsome savior from before shows up, and it turns out that he's the king of Shangri-La. He's raising a whip, about to beat her for her transgression, when she faints dead away from fear. He lowers the whip, and says something to the effect of, "Wuss." It seems that he was only playing, and wasn't really going to beat her.

What we learn about Shangri-La is that it's a beautiful, peaceful, and prosperous place somewhere out in the Himalayas, isolated (but not completely) from the rest of the world. The king/emperor person really wants to modernize Shangri-La, but doesn't know how to since he doesn't really understand what's going on in the rest of the world. He's seen the actress before, though...I guess he has some way of connecting to the outside world...he also sends a notice out that she's still alive and safe in Shangri-la, and sends directions so someone can come get her. Anyway, the actress decides to help this earnest king "modernize" Shangri-la...and proceeds to cause quite a sensation with her ideas...

Meanwhile...slowly the king/emperor and the actress find themselves falling in love...but the king has to have an arranged marriage (tradition), and the actress has to return to the outside world...

Her agents eventually come to get her, and are excited over finding a real Shangri-la in the middle of the Himalayas. They want to take tons of pictures and maybe shoot some films, etc., and they exclaim that it'll make for great publicity for this actress. Before she leaves, the king/emperor gives her a beautiful gown--it's actually a traditional wedding dress used in Shangri-la. He's not there at her departure, though, and she wonders where he could be. She's heartbroken at having to leave Shangri-la, but feels like she has to go back to her "real" life.

On the plane (or was it a helicopter), she listens to her agents enthuse about how great an opportunity this is, blahblahblah, and how they've taken loads of pictures to publish. She's looking out the window..and sees the emperor/king watching her depart from below. He's riding a horse, and he rides after the helicopter. It's his way of sending her off--he's going to follow as far as he can. She realizes just what she's missing...and how meaningless it would be for her to go back to her old world. So she bids everyone goodbye, grabs the camera out of her agent's hands, and jumps from the helicopter (yes i'm pretty sure it was a helicopter now...). She lands in a deep snowdrift below, with her agents yelling at her like crazy from the chopper. The king/emperor catches up with her, and chides her for being careless. They have a happy ending, getting ready to go back to Shangri-La to start their own new world.

awwwwww......

Go back to Love Stories...or you can go back to anime & manga...