The Ayakashi Hunter’s Tainted Bride Volume 3

Nanao, the rejected fiancée of Reito of the Byakurenji clan, has been rescued from a life of drudgery by Yako, the young lord of the Benitsubaki clan, and is now his bride-to-be. She’s learned that as he’s possessed by the Tsubaki Demon, he needs to drink her blood to replenish his powers but she is happy to let him do so because he treats her with love and respect, not caring about the fact that she is ‘tainted’.

But now the Byakurenji clan are meddling again. Having spurned Nanao after she was tainted by the orang-utan yokai, Reito married her companion Akemi and had a child with her. Now he is no longer interested in Akemi and wants to take Nanao as his wife. Akemi, bitter and jealous, pays a visit to the Benitsubaki household and confronts Nanao. Yako appears and Akemi, as well as insulting Nanao to her face, proceeds to shamelessly offer herself to Yako, saying, “I would be delighted to bear your children.” Nanao, having listened to her insults for long enough, at last speaks out, saying, “I don’t want to give Yako to anyone else.”

Why has this confrontation taken place? It’s all because of the hairpin that Reito gave her as a gift when they were affianced and that Nanao has kept – not because she still loves Reito but to remind her of all she’s had to endure and, if need be, to use it to take her own life. Akemi has misunderstood the situation. It was to retrieve the hairpin that Nanao ventured outside the barrier back at the Byakurenji manor – and encountered the yokai that marked and tainted her. Now Akemi, carried away with her fury and jealousy, lets slip that she knows more than she should. How did the hairpin come to be outside the barrier? Could it be that she was the one who threw it there to put Nanao in danger from the orang-utan yokai? Realizing too late that’s she’s given herself away, Akemi seizes the hairpin and tries to stab Nanao with it!

Nanao has had to endure much at the hands of her clan since the fateful day she ventured outside the barrier to retrieve her fiancé’s gift. So when Akemi starts to belittle and slander her in front of her husband-to-be, it seems like the last straw. But the storytelling here by Midori Yuma, enhanced by Mamenosuke Fujimaru’s art (Akemi’s expressions become increasingly crazed from panel to panel) make this a genuinely tense and nail-biting read. There’s no escaping the malice in Akemi’s words – or the desperation of a woman who’s run out of options but is still prepared to slander and belittle her onetime friend and companion.

Comparisons are made on the blurb to Noragami and My Happy Marriage but thus far the ayakashi and yokai side of the story has not been developed very much even though it underlies this alternate Japan undergoing a rapid process of westernization. In fact, Yako’s father Yaichiro observes to his shikigami bodyguard, “Young people are unaware of the past conflicts and enjoy civilization and enlightenment.” However, there’s a hint from the author in her brief afterword, saying, “I still feel like this story is definitely still about ayakashi hunting. I wonder why…?” and she should know what’s coming next!

This volume brings the end of the first story arc – and the extras include another short story by Midori Yuma, ‘Nanao’s Declaration of Yako’s Merits,’ with extra illustrations by the mangaka. The trade paperback size does full justice to Mamenosuke Fujimaru’s art but it’s a shame there are no colour inserts as the cover art is, again, very attractively presented. Translation is by Sarah Kellis for the original digital version and Jacqueline Fung for the print edition, with lettering by Sonya Kravchenco for the digital and Madeleine Jose the print editions.

It’s heartening to see Nanao begin to assert herself, supported and protected by Yako – but there are more members of Yako’s clan that might not prove to be so supportive! This volume ends on a cliffhanger with more trouble looming for Nanao, but readers needn’t wait for too long as Kodansha’s bi-monthly release schedule means that Volume 4 is due out at the end of September.

• The Ayakashi Hunter’s Tainted Bride © Midori Yuma, Mamenosuke Fujimaru/KODANSHA LTD.

Our review copy from Kodansha was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.