Firefly Marriage was in the Top 10 romance manga list for a reason.
It follows the story of a sick noble girl who gets kidnapped and tries to save herself by offering one of the kidnappers her hand in marriage, which he accepts.
Their story of a fake-pretend relationship morphs into something that is not that fake.
Characters' personalities elevate this simple premise. The plot progression is nice, and the ideas are interesting.
For a manga that just started serialization this year to be placed in the Top 10 of a prestigious Kono Manga ga Sugoi list is pretty cool, and that's exactly what happened to Firefly Wedding (Hotaru no Yomeiri). And there's a reason for that, as it's one of the most intriguing shoujo series right now on the market.
A bad heart captures a bad boy
It started publishing in January 2023 and currently, there are 27 chapters available. It's a story set in the Meiji era that focuses on Satoko Kirigaya, a girl from a wealthy family who's not very interested in marriage but believes that she should tie the bond with someone for the sake of her family. No candidate, however, captures her heart, or they all decide not to pursue her after learning that her health is not perfect.
One day she ends up being kidnapped by a group of bandits, but a mysterious assassin, Shinpei Goto, hired to kill her, saves her. She persuades him to spare her life, asking him to marry her. It works, and now they are in a weird fake-pretend relationship.
She's destined to die, and so is he
While the premise feels wacky, the story is elevated by the characters, because their dynamic is what makes the story stand out. Sure, Shinpei seems like your regular psychotic yandere at first, one that truly enjoys killing his targets and lacks empathy, but as the story unfolds, he gradually, organically develops genuine feelings towards Satoko.
He shows proper emotional growth, and maybe Satoko has the same healing power that Tohru from Fruits Basket has. We can't say for sure for now, as the series is ongoing.
But we already can tell that Satoko is the best girl. She's not only beautiful: she's intelligent, independent, thoughtful, strong-willed, and she stays true to herself even after everything that's happened in the story. Her interactions with Shinpei are charged with banter that comes from them being completely opposite, but through that blooms something that feels like a believable progression.
This is a pretty brutal story by Oreco Tachibana, the author of Promise Cinderella. It's beautiful: the characters look great, the action is easy to follow, and the paneling is very clear. Reading this manga is simultaneously easy and engulfing.
The plot moves quite quickly, but there's still enough time for the characters to feel properly developed, and their reactions to the events happening are pretty natural.
There's always a looming threat of Satoko's health condition worsening, there's always Shinpei's unpredictability, and there's always this tension between them, this suspense that doesn't go away.
This manga is one of the most interesting romance stories in 2023, and as the year comes to an end, we advise you to check it out.
The plot is thick and the romance is tangible.
Summary:
Firefly Marriage was in the Top 10 romance manga list for a reason.
It follows the story of a sick noble girl who gets kidnapped and tries to save herself by offering one of the kidnappers her hand in marriage, which he accepts.
Their story of a fake-pretend relationship morphs into something that is not that fake.
Characters' personalities elevate this simple premise. The plot progression is nice, and the ideas are interesting.
For a manga that just started serialization this year to be placed in the Top 10 of a prestigious Kono Manga ga Sugoi list is pretty cool, and that's exactly what happened to Firefly Wedding (Hotaru no Yomeiri). And there's a reason for that, as it's one of the most intriguing shoujo series right now on the market.
A bad heart captures a bad boy
It started publishing in January 2023 and currently, there are 27 chapters available. It's a story set in the Meiji era that focuses on Satoko Kirigaya, a girl from a wealthy family who's not very interested in marriage but believes that she should tie the bond with someone for the sake of her family. No candidate, however, captures her heart, or they all decide not to pursue her after learning that her health is not perfect.
One day she ends up being kidnapped by a group of bandits, but a mysterious assassin, Shinpei Goto, hired to kill her, saves her. She persuades him to spare her life, asking him to marry her. It works, and now they are in a weird fake-pretend relationship.
She's destined to die, and so is he
While the premise feels wacky, the story is elevated by the characters, because their dynamic is what makes the story stand out. Sure, Shinpei seems like your regular psychotic yandere at first, one that truly enjoys killing his targets and lacks empathy, but as the story unfolds, he gradually, organically develops genuine feelings towards Satoko.
He shows proper emotional growth, and maybe Satoko has the same healing power that Tohru from Fruits Basket has. We can't say for sure for now, as the series is ongoing.
But we already can tell that Satoko is the best girl. She's not only beautiful: she's intelligent, independent, thoughtful, strong-willed, and she stays true to herself even after everything that's happened in the story. Her interactions with Shinpei are charged with banter that comes from them being completely opposite, but through that blooms something that feels like a believable progression.
This is a pretty brutal story by Oreco Tachibana, the author of Promise Cinderella. It's beautiful: the characters look great, the action is easy to follow, and the paneling is very clear. Reading this manga is simultaneously easy and engulfing.
The plot moves quite quickly, but there's still enough time for the characters to feel properly developed, and their reactions to the events happening are pretty natural.
There's always a looming threat of Satoko's health condition worsening, there's always Shinpei's unpredictability, and there's always this tension between them, this suspense that doesn't go away.
This manga is one of the most interesting romance stories in 2023, and as the year comes to an end, we advise you to check it out.
