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11.06.2022 at 09:09 pm
Cuttings

大蛇に嫁いだ娘 - The Girl Married to the Giant Serpent

A slice-of-life romance between a young bride and a gigantic snake.

... 「傷モノの娘だ。ちょうどよい」そう言われ、 山の主である大蛇のもとに供物として嫁いだ少女ミヨ。 喰われるのではないかと怯えるミヨだったが、 大蛇は夫婦になれたことを喜んでいる様子。 しかし、大蛇の愛情表現は人間のそれとは大きく異なり――

..."Damaged goods, be she. It'll be fine."

Thereupon Miyo was married off as an offering to the Giant Serpent, Lord of the Mountain.

Though Miyo feared being eaten alive, the Serpent took to her coming and his future married life with glee.

Yet the Serpent expresses love differently than humans do...

Earlier this year I chanced upon this Japanese manga, and bought it on a whim.

It turned out to be an insanely funny read. It's not horror; it's a slice of life/comedy manga, with a distinctively-Japanese twist on interspecies-romance.

The writing and pacing is terrific - and leads you through quite a journey as to how a human married to a giant, cold-blooded snake might have to bear its eccentricities - e.g. its skin-shedding, eating/hunting habits, hibernation through the passing of seasons, etc.

The snake is corporeal; i.e. it's just a really large snake, not some mythical or supernatural entity. This makes for some evocative plot points. (One of which concerned the author's surprisingly diligent research of the serpent's... anatomy.)

You also know a story's going to be wild when it features a nihilistic, cynical, playboy raccoon (with many raccoon wives), who stands in as the unwitting friend, advisor, and comic foil of our protagonist.

I left my positive note to the mangaka on Twitter:

「大蛇に嫁いだ娘」を読み終えたばかりで、すごく感動して、すぐにメモを残したいと思います。

物語の展開や、和風っぽいの挿し絵に加えて、それに季節の移り変わりが並置して、すべてが人の世のはかなさが深く感じられてすごく感心します。凄い政策で、この本を出してくれてありがとうね。

(以前のツイートには間違い(または失礼)があったら、お許しください。日本人じゃないです。マレーシアからの熱心なの愛好者です。)

次の本が来るのをわくわく待ち侘びます!

The author responded happily, and alluded to ongoing hard work on the sequel.


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Words: 259 words approx.
Time to read: 1.04 mins (at 250 wpm)
Keywords:
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