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genrejourneys 's review for:

Firefly Wedding, Vol. 1 by Oreco Tachibana
5.0
dark emotional funny tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

While I’ll be the first to argue the scope and richness of shoujo manga, even the best of us may admit that from time to time (especially when looking at US releases specifically) it can seem a bit “all the same”. Particularly with the tropes of the bad boy/red flag and the sheltered but secretly strong girl, Firefly Wedding is in real danger of becoming a toxic mush of abuse dressed as romance or, even worse, boring.

Thankfully, in this humble reader’s opinion, it isn’t.

From a full commitment to the bit to the wildest, bloodiest meet cute to Shinpei being…like that, it’s got all the makings of not only a great start but a story that knows what it wants. Satoko is such a delight of a lead and the romance, deranged as it is, is also undeniably full of that good old “two people from completely opposite worlds who are absolutely perfect for one another”. But the greater strength here is the underlying tragedy. From that opening to the very nature of what initially binds the two lovebirds together, it’s clear that the odds are stacked high against Shinpei and Satoko. All the more reason to root for them. If the clock is ticking, then every second they could have together becomes one worth fighting for.