Nano was raised as the betrothed to a noble family. With strong dark spiritual power, she was a force to be reconned with even at a young age. With great power brings and breeds jealousy. When Nanos cousin starts to pine after what has been rightfully hers since she was young, she starts plotting a way to get Nano out of the picture so she can claim what she desires.

Nano becomes tainted after her cousin gets away with her plan to remove Nano from the eye of her betrothed. Now Nano is shunned not only by her family and the ones she holds dear but by her whole village.
A high-ranking noble enters the village to do business and steals Nano away as his bride. This noble is more than what meets the eye.

The story is full of some of our favorite tropes. It has a unique magic / Spiritual system.
I sat down and read this from start to finish and really wish I had book two available to continue the journey.
I deeply enjoyed the connections and relationships that you see in the making as well as the stark difference between Nanos life in the village and her new life in the capital.

The art was beautifully done.
Plus, the MMC is swoon worth both in art and his actions ;)

Thank you NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for he Digital Copy to review.
#AyakashiHuntersTaintedBride #NetGalley

This romantasy manga follows Nanao, a girl born with immense dark spiritual power, raised to be the bride of the clan’s heir. But when she’s marked by a monkey ayakashi, she’s deemed unclean, and forced to act as a servant by her family. Her life changes when Yako, the head of another powerful clan, whisks her away to become his bride.
Much like My Happy Marriage the story follows the Cinderella trope: a mistreated quiet girl rescued by a handsome stranger. But rather than being a pure relationship, things are much more complicated, with Yako wanting Nanao purely for her power via her blood, which helps tame Yako’s vampire-like curse.
While there isn’t much character development so far, the world-building is quite interesting. The story introduces a spiritual system where five elemental clans protect the country from demons. Women posses dark energy, men light, and women serve a supportive role—most notably preparing breakfast imbued with energy to power their male counterparts. This made me think of Kakuriyo, which makes sense since the same creator wrote both.
The art is rather pretty and fits the style of the story well, and I always enjoy a good historical-based story as you always learn a little something from it every time. Also, while the description compares it to Noragami, I didn’t see any sort of resemblance, but I guess I’ll just have to keep reading the series to see.
Overall, The Ayakashi Hunter’s Tainted Bride is a promising slice-of-life great for fans of Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits and My Happy Marriage.
NOTE: I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley for review purposes only. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

<b> I received an e-copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</b>

Nanao was promised to the next head of their clan as a bride because she had the greatest dark spiritual energy of anyone in the clan. She is reared to be the perfect bride but one day someone throws her precious gift from her future husband beyond the protective barrier. She bravely steps out to retrieve is only to be marked by an orangutan ayakashi as the demon’s bride. The ‘monkey’ seal is considered a curse and Nanao is forced out, to live in a shed behind the main building, not allowed to be seen by anyone without a monkey mask to cover her face and not allowed to talk to anyone.
But she still has her uses and the new wife for the future head of the family, her cousin, uses her to cook breakfast, the most important duty for the wife of the clan. Other than that she is used more or less as a punching bag. She endures for many years until a chance meeting with the head of another one of the five clans has her whisked away to be his bride. So begins her life anew as the future bride to Yako.

If you have ever read or watched My Happy Marriage and loved it, you will probably love this one as well, judging by the first volume. It follows a lot of the same threads. A young woman used as a servant, abused by her family becomes the future bride to a man with powerful spiritual powers. Eager to please and not be sent back to the life they left, she does whatever is asked of her, determined to prove she can be useful.

Overall, I have to say, art is gorgeous and the flow of the story is well done. The only part I found a bit odd was how they presented the ending. A page or two of diary entries and then a couple of pages that seem to be straight out of the light novel version of this story.

It sort of gives a combination of "Apothecary diaries" And "Kakuriyo bed and breakfast for spirits" you get the historical context and teh potential love triangle with the spiritual aspect added in and I can't wait to see what's going to happen next! I'm super bummed the first book just came out in March because I want to keep reading and I know that it probably hasn't been published yet :'(

This is such an intriguing start to a series. I love the tension that is built and the curiosity of the main character. I'm excited to see what comes next!

Really enjoyed this Nanao is so cute and you really feel for her being mistreated. When the 'ayakashi hunter' discovers her and claims her for his bride and takes her home you just know that even though he has his own use for her that their relationship is going to develop into a sweet romance not without some trouble from her previous fiance along the way.

Such a great start to Nanao and Yako’s love story! I cannot wait to read the next volume! Definitely reminds me of My Happy Marriage (which I love!) but with a great twist I didn’t see coming. It makes me even more excited to keep reading. The art style is gorgeous too.

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the e-arc!!

i'll start by saying i loved the lore with the ayakashi and the clans, it was all very cute!! Yako and Nanao's slow burn starts and i cannot wait to see how this goes!! i like the way Yako actually treasures Nanao and is slowly undoing the trauma and abuse that she went through in the byakurenji clan thanks to that spirit seal. the give and take between husband and wife seems pretty equal for now, him taking her out of her clan to be his wife and her giving her blood.....

Reito is also going to make his move too. this seems to be one of those romantasy mangas and i am excited to see where this heads next!!

not Nanao finding out that Yako doesn't like natto. 100% relate Master Yako. natto is gross.

An interesting setting in a world like ours but with spirits and evil demons that need to be fought or corralled. The main character - Nanao, after being badly treated by her would-be fiance, is rescued by a nobleman looking for a specific type bride. But what could be another abusive situation is made into a mutually supportive one when Nanao is given voice and agency . It will be interesting to see what conflict will develop in the next volume between the husband and Nanao's former fiance.

Thanks Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for the chance to read this title.

I loved this volume! Beautiful art and a lovely story to go with it. I'm already invested in Yako and Nanao and I love the found family of demons and humans Yako has going on.

If you are a romantasy fan looking to branch out into manga or just looking for something short, this might be for you.

I liked the art, the details in the clothing and how it mixed Western and Japanese fashion and mentalities. The only thing that bothered me a bit was how the magic system and world were never explained, but that might just be me not being familiar with the culture and folklore.

I loved that the heroine, while downtrodden and seemingly accepting of it, did have thoughts and feelings of her own and tried her best to advocate for herself in her situation, even if it was by guaranteeing that her new husband liked her, which is the only power available to women in patriarchal societies. I did hate that the hero saving her for his own is presented as the same as romance, because I was not a great fan of the lack of communication and consent and the difference in power.

While the heroine is the ostracized Cinderella type that remains sweet and unjudging no matter how badly she is treated, I do love how the villain in this book is not the big bad supernatural evil but a man who the heroine fell in love with and was prepared to serve and honour as her husband for her entire life only to be cast aside and mistreated for years. And then he turns around and decides that he still wants her and blames everyone else for keeping them apart, once someone else saw the value in her and took her away.
That is a much scarier and dangerous villain than any fictional monster.

I hope the hero becomes much nicer to Nanao because she deserves the world.

Thank you to Kodansha Comics and NetGalley for this DRC.

En este primer tomo conocemos a una chica cuya vida cambia por completo cuando es maldecida por un ayakashi. Como resultado, su cuerpo emite un olor insoportable (huele a mono) y para evitar que los demás la detecten, debe llevar puesta una máscara con forma de cara de mono. Su familia la aísla y su prometido rompe el compromiso, dejándola completamente sola y marginada.

Pasado un tiempo, un misterioso chico llega desde otra región para visitar su casa. Tras un accidente inesperado, él decide unilateralmente que se casará con ella y se la lleva a la capital. A partir de ahí, comienza una historia que mezcla romance y magia.

Me ha gustado mucho este primer tomo. Ha sido una introducción sólida, con un buen equilibrio entre drama, folklore japonés y desarrollo de personajes. Aunque por ahora no pasa mucho a nivel de trama, sí que deja con ganas de saber más: ¿cómo funciona la magia en este mundo? ¿Qué secretos guarda el protagonista? Y, sobre todo, ¿cómo evolucionará la relación entre los dos?

Seguramente continúe la serie, ya que este primer volumen ha sentado una base interesante tanto para el desarrollo de los personajes como para la construcción del mundo.

This has a very interesting story and such nice art. I cannot wait to see the second volume. I liked the main character and how cute she is and the main male character seems the typical silent type, but a little changed with how he is with his demons. There was also nice clues into what to expect for the next coming volumes.

Thank you for allowing me to read this arc. I had enjoyed myself reading this. I like seeing the relationship between the two leads develope. I was uncomfortable reading the beginning since I felt that the mistreatment that the female lead went through was a lot. But I am also glad that the book doesn't gloss over how her treatment has affected her, and that just becasue she is in a better environment doesn't make her magically better from what she had to for through for years. Over all I am looking forward to reading more from this series.

If you're a fan of shojo, romance, and stories like 'My Happy Marriage' then you'll love this one. The art style is gorgeous, and I'm really excited for the next one! I'm sad it's not available yet.

I really enjoyed this manga! The story of a young woman cursed and mistreated, and the mysterious man who comes in to save her-declaring her his wife! I can’t wait for the other volumes to be released!!

I am obsessed. Will be adding this to my manga collection. There's just something about a good girl being wronged by those she trusts and getting saved by the dark hero. The art is also beautiful and expressive.

This book was provided by NetGalley but all opinions and reviews are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me access this book! This was an enjoyable take on common manga, tropes with unique characters, interesting lore, and nice character development. The author (and artist) know how to make you both love and hate characters. The art style is sooo gorgeous. Excited for the next volumes!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Nanao was fiancé to a high clan member until she was tainted by an Ayakashi. After being tainted, she was subject to mistreatment and basically made a servant. When a member of the Benitsubaki clan comes to visit, he sees Nanao for the beautiful woman she is, and takes her as his wife.

This a great manga to read if you’re a fan of “My Happy Marriage”. The story was very cute and I overall enjoyed it. I was actually upset when it was over. The artwork was amazing and the storyline should be pretty satisfying to those who like similar manga.

Thank you NetGalley and Kodansha for providing me with a free digital copy of this manga in exchange for my honest review

really interesting story. I love the art style so that is what drew me in initially. Funny enough I had started reading this online somewhere and then forgot about the story and when I got this e-arc of it I was like wait a minute this seems familiar and was excited to start it over again. Cannot wait to read more volumes of it.