'A Bride's Story' is licensed by Yen Press, who have this annoying habit of doing a lot of more expensive hardcover-only releases. As of this writing single volumes sell for $20 apiece- the same price as the double-sized hardcover 'Vinland Saga' volumes Kodansha Comics USA is currently releasing, so getting into this series is an investment. Not necessarily a bad investment, but the higher buy-in cost might scare off people who aren't completely hooked.
-Story-
One thing to know about Mori Kaoru is that she's never in my experience been in a hurry to get to some big, flashy plot point. 'A Bride's Story' works as a 'Slice-Of-Life' series so far, the big twist being that we're being shown a slice of a lifestyle, time, and place radically different from the 21st century First World. Heavy focus is given to developing and describing just how people lived and acted in this time- whole chapters can be devoted to carpentry, bread baking, or embroidery. And this can be both fascinating and even at times emotional. But you definitely have to be in this manga for the journey, not the destination as the central plot moves at the pace of a Silk Road caravan. It's a very good 'Slice of Life', but you need to come into 'A Bride's Story' knowing that- those expecting an epic, heroic quest will likely be unsatisfied.
As a side note, despite Japanese pop-culture's reputation for a love of unsettling 'squick' in almost anything involving sex, 'A Bride's Story' actually manages to pull off an arranged marriage between a 20-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy rather innocently. It's helped by the fact that for most of the first 2 volumes Amira's feelings for her husband Karluk are clearly more maternal than sexual- her realization that's she has a budding romantic attraction for him is a major development that even shakes HER up. So yeah, Japan doesn't have to be completely gross.
-Art-
Mori Kaoru is an exceptionally talented artist with a knack for creating images that can only be described as absolutely lovely. A high level of detail is everywhere in this series- but it goes into full-scale Costume Porn when one looks at how intricately drawn each character's outfit is. The character designs are highly realistic, with only the slightly-too-large-for-complete-realism eyes being a clear giveaway that this is still a manga. Lastly, I want to talk about the occasional bits of nudity in 'A Bride's Story'. I'm normally strongly against fan-service in general, but Mori somehow makes it work here without seeming like the manga is going for lowest-common-denominator titillation. Part of this can be attributed to the fact that it only shows up in scenes where it actually makes sense that Amira would be naked (the bath house for example), partly because it's shown 'seriously' (she's not in some ridiculous pose clearly designed just to give the reader an erection), partly because it's still fairly rare, and partly because Mori is such a skilled artist that sometimes all you can say is "Wow, that is one magnificent woman." I won't say it was necessary, but this is one the best examples I've ever seen done.
-Character-
The main characters are made fairly distinguishable for the relatively short time they have to develop. English scholar and researcher Henry Smith is the highlight of the cast as he struggles to fit into a society he deeply loves but only partially understands (to my knowledge he even gets center stage in certain later volumes, which sounds good to me). That being said, in a slice-of-life series there's relatively little impetus for large scale developments and the lesser cast members can be a bit difficult to keep track of from time to time.
-Enjoyment-
As a fan of history, getting so much detail and time period exploration is a definite positive. However, I also prefer plots with momentum and clear goals- more sedate 'relax and enjoy the ride' stories are harder for me to emotionally invest in. I can't necessarily bash a story for taking a more relaxed approach, but I can say it didn't appeal to my preferences. I'll still keep reading 'A Bride's Story' for sure due to its numerous positives, but it's relatively low on my personal priority list.
-Overall-
The purpose of this review is to make sure anyone interested in 'A Bride's Story' knows what they're getting into. Until a more economical print release is published the up-front cost of this series is pretty high (for example: I can get a 2-volume hardcover release of 'Vinland Saga' or a 3-volume paperback release of 'Rurouni Kenshin' for the same price as a single one of Yen Press' 'A Bride's Story' volumes). It will definitely appeal to fans of historical fiction and romance, but the relatively large financial investment one needs to make in this series might cause less-than-fully-devoted fans to have second thoughts. In Short: Very Good = yes, Expensive = also yes.
