Maddies Manga

Nanao, though beautiful and immensely powerful, is shunned by her family. After being attacked by an ayakashi, she was doomed to live a live of abuse and solitude. Just when all felt hopeless, a mysterious man looking for a wife makes his way into her family’s domain.

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Before we start the review…

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Who wrote this manga?

This manga was written by Midori Yuma and Mamenosuke Fujimaru.

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Info about the volumes

• There are currently 10 volumes out in Japanese.
• There are currently 5 volumes out in English.

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You can check out Volume One of this series for yourself below.

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What’s this series about?

In this manga-world, women are judged by their “dark spiritual power”, and men by their “light spiritual power”. As the story begins, we are introduced to the female lead Nanao’s family—an incredibly influential family that prides themselves on their clean bloodline and spiritual powers. As Nanao was born with incredibly strong dark spiritual powers, she was set to be wed to the heir of the family, Reito, and live a life of luxury.

One day misfortune struck her in the shape of an ayakashi attack, and her family all but abandoned her. As the ayakashi left a mark on her forehead, she was now seen as “tainted goods”. She was seen to be so defiled that she was no longer allowed to show her face to those living within the family compounds, let alone stay engaged to Reito. She was also forced to wear a monkey mask, stay absolutely silent, and take abuse from everyone who passed by her. While she still had those incredible spiritual powers, it didn’t earn her any respect.

One day, a man named Yako enters the family compound. Though the reason for his visit isn’t disclosed, Nanao’s family is quick to keep her, the shame of the family, hidden away from him. Eventually the two of them do meet while she is being beaten due to a misunderstanding, and Yako swoops in, declaring that he has decided to take Nanao on as his bride. Someone with such amazing dark spiritual powers shouldn’t be subject to abuse, after all.

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My thoughts on this volume (spoilers!)

This series is touted as a “Noragami meets My Happy Marriage” story, and I feel like whoever wrote that was stretching. While it’s certainly a Cinderella story, much like My Happy Marriage, the only similarity it has to Noragami is the fact that there are ayakashi in both stories. I almost feel like it does a disservice comparing itself to Noragami—they are nothing alike.

Now that my little complaint is out of the way, let’s get into what I did and didn’t like about this one. I am always a fan of a good Cinderella story. I love stories where good characters get revenge on evil characters, and I enjoy watching hard work pay off. The stage is set in a rather stereotypical way in The Ayakashi Hunter’s Tainted Bride, with Nanao starting to almost believe that she deserves the abuse after enduring it for so many years. It forces her to be complacent, so when her saviour does eventually come, she at first doesn’t want to tag along with him. I feel like I’ve read this specific storyline quite a few times, but I like it every time. I enjoy watching a female lead go on to learn how to love herself and how to accept love from others. Overall, this setup was very well done!

After Nanao’s mask is removed for the first time in years, her original fiance, Reito, suddenly sees a problem in the way that she’s been treated. Now that he realizes she’s beautiful, he doesn’t want to let her go. He goes as far as trying to make her a concubine against her will! He is a perfect match for his new fiancee, who has done her own fair share of evil. So, we have our pair of main villains who very much deserve their comeuppance. I am ready for some form of justice to take place against them.

What didn’t work for me in this story, was the twist. It’s revealed that while Yako did indeed travel to Nanao’s family’s domain to search for a bride with strong spiritual powers… That’s not the only reason he took Nanao. He took Nanao…because she was so abused that he didn’t think she’d have anywhere to go when he revealed his big scary secret. And boy is it a big scary secret. Because Nanao has been abused all of her life, she doesn’t understand that this man is incredibly dangerous and that she should probably leave him right away. So, she instantly accepts him for what he is, and tries to fulfill her duties as a wife for him.

I found it a little painful watching Nanao go from a bright and cheerful child, to a quiet young women who can only think of her “wifely duties”. I was hoping that when Yako took her away, her life would slowly get better and she would make friends with the ayakashi that reside in his house. Perhaps she would still use what she was taught when she underwent “wife training” back at her family’s compound, but that would be just one of the many things she did. That’s what I hoped for, but sadly, that’s not what happened.

I really hate seeing strong female characters being taken advantage of by men. While Yako is painted as her saviour, he really just kidnapped her to use her for his own selfish needs. At least in his manor, there is no one throwing rocks at her. The bar is on the ground.

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