The Ayakashi Hunter’s Tainted Bride Volume 1 Review
Promised in marriage to handsome Lord Reito of the Byakurenji clan, Nanao has everything to look forward to in life – until one night, she’s attacked by an ayakashi. Scarred by an orangutan spirit, she’s rejected by her fiancé (who then promptly marries her cousin Akemi) and is forced to cover her face with a monkey mask. Treated as the lowliest of servants, called ‘tainted’, and abused by all the family, Nanao endures this miserable existence until she encounters Yako, the young master of the Benitsubaki clan in the forest and he catches sight of her unmasked face.
Back at the main house, Nanao is horrified to find spirit bugs attacking Akemi and Reito’s baby daughter. Yet when she bravely protects the child with her own body, Akemi hears the baby’s screams, comes running and accuses Nanao of trying to kill her daughter. Who should arrive just in time to stop Reito hitting Nanao but Lord Yako? He tells Reito and Akemi sternly, “If she hadn’t noticed, your daughter would be nothing but a skeleton by now.” Helping the injured Nanao to her feet, some of her blood gets onto his finger and to her astonishment, he licks it off. His mood instantly changes to one of triumph and excitement. “This is the spiritual power I’ve been looking for,” he says. “As of today…you’re my wife.”
Yako whisks Nanao away to his estate in the imperial capital – and when they arrive, they are greeted by the staff of the household. Nanao is astonished to see so many ayakashi there, from cute little spirits to others of human appearance, some with their faces covered. Yako explains to Nanao that he kills evil demons and spirits that threaten the capital. “But the ones who pledge their allegiance to the Benitsubaki clan aren’t evil at all. They’re my family.” The fact Nanao can see them is proof to Yako of her spiritual powers. And when he takes her to visit the Onmyo shrine, the spiritual centre of the empire, he goes down on one knee to ask her to help him hunt down the evil ayakashi and protect the capital. “In return I will treasure you. I won’t take any concubines.” This is all too much for Nanao to take in; after the years of rejection in her own clan, she passes out. But later, as she’s introduced into the ways of the household, she begins to relax a little. Although there’s just one thing that Yako hasn’t yet mentioned, one important thing, which is all to do with that strange incident when he licked the blood from her injured hand…
The Ayakashi Hunter’s Tainted Bride is a webtoon with two creators well-known for their earlier fantasy works: Midori Yuma, who is responsible for the story, is also the creator of Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits and artist Mamenosuke Fujimaru is the mangaka for Captive Hearts of Oz and the Alice in the Country of… series. Yen Press describe The Ayakashi Hunter’s Tainted Bride as ‘Noragami meets My Happy Marriage’ and the parallels with My Happy Marriage are undeniable, especially the Cinderella-style treatment of Nanao as a drudge by the Byakurenji family and the way she’s rescued by a powerful young lord who recognizes that – like him – she has great spiritual powers. However, it’s the delightful details and world-building that bring this story to life. Nanao’s thoughts on preparing the right kinds of food for Yako’s breakfast take two pages but this helps to illustrate who Nanao is and how she’s been trained – and will also remind fans a little of Kakuriyo!
The story is set in an alternate Japan, the Empire of Yamato which roughly corresponds to Japan in the Meiji Period with electricity and Western influences (such as the calendar) to the fore. Humans and ayakashi ended up going to war because of the opening up of the empire. As the capital is constantly assailed by hostile ayakashi, it’s protected by a barrier maintained by five clans (including the Byakurenji) and the Imperial Chamber of Onmyo.
Even though Nanao is sympathetically portrayed in the mangaka’s attractive art-style, it’s early days and we don’t learn a great deal about her in these first chapters where she’s very much the victim. Inevitably, she’s emotionally as well as physically damaged after the ayakashi attack, so even though Yako begins the process of restoring her self-confidence when he takes her away to his estate, she’s still a cypher. Hopefully we’ll get to see more of the real Nanao in later volumes but for now it’s Yako who makes the most vivid impression. Her description of him as ‘with eyes of crimson, sharp features and a burly build’ in the bonus ‘Nanao’s Master Yako Observation Log’ chapter at the end (part prose fiction, part manga) is almost reminiscent of Jane Eyre musing about Mr Rochester whom she also comes to regard as her saviour. Although, I’d be very pleased to see Nanao manifest the quiet self-confidence and perceptive intelligence of Charlotte Bronte’s ‘plain Jane’ in this alternate Japan fantasy!
Hyped as a ‘steamy new historical fantasy romance’, there’s very little in the way of steaminess in this first volume – in fact Yako proves what a considerate man he is when Nanao starts to disrobe in front of him and he hastily assures her that he won’t touch her until they’ve been officially married (the implication being that the training she received at the Byakurenji included how to behave in situations of a sexual nature). But then Nanao learns about his secret (no spoilers!) and we begin to wonder exactly how this unusual marriage of convenience is going to work out for both partners.
Kodansha are bringing us the physical edition of The Ayakashi Hunter’s Tainted Bride in trade paperback format which displays Mamenosuke Fujimaru’s art to good effect. Sadly, there’s no colour art inside, as the cover art is very striking, and given that the Benitsubaki clan has (natch) red camellias flowering at all times on their estate, one can only guess how striking the splash pages must be in their original colour versions. However, there are two pages of humorous little sketches that come after the chapters collected together at the end and two translation notes.
The translation for the physical version reads well (as expected as it’s from the very reliable Jacqueline Fung!) but the digital edition (not seen) is translated by Sarah Kellis. Lettering is by Madeleine Jose (and by Sonya Kravchenco for the digital edition).
The series is ongoing at six volumes in Japan and the next volume from Kodansha is due out in May. If only we could access K Manga in the UK, we’d be able to read ahead – but as that isn’t currently an option, we’ll just have to wait. And as this volume ends on an ominous (and perplexing) pronouncement from Lord Reito, it’s lucky we don’t have to wait too long to find out what the future holds in store for Nanao, the ‘tainted bride’.
Read a free preview at the publisher’s website here.
Our review copy from Kodansha was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.
