Deimos no Hanayome
Bride of Deimos

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Bride of Deimos is always one of my favorite books to re-read when I'm in the mood for it despite its flaws and outdated views on men and women's roles in society. Many might be turned off from our main heroine, Minako, because she is not very interesting to follow. She's kind, pretty and loves many stereotypical things girls from the 1970's-1990's would such as boys and cute things. She's also not heavily involved in the plot, though her actions can and have influenced it. What keeps me coming back despite many flaws it has is that Bride of Deimos is good for what it ... is; an anthology of horror stories that can be seen as moral lessons for things such as human greed, lust, envy, etc. Minako just happens to be caught up in these lessons from time to time as a way of slowly progressing the story.

Deimos is the only character that feels fully fleshed out with a range of emotions and personality. He is the main reason many readers like myself continued reading. He may be a selfish lovestruck demon who won't stop stalking and tormenting Minako despite her firm stance on not wanting to be his bride, but he's very good at his role and that makes him so entertaining to watch. Speaking of watching Deimos, the art is so beautifully expressive from artist Yuho Ashibe and I actually own the art book which I highly recommend getting if you end up becoming a fan of the series or at least a fan of the art.

Bride of Deimos is worth the read if you like horror with a tragic, twisted one-sided romance and can forgive the writing in regards to the plot and outdated views. Keep in mind this was published in the 1975's-1990's so modern audiences were not the target audience because of the difference in societal norms back then vs now. It may also be a pass for many due to the nudity. I personally didn't see any issue with it due to how nudity was drawn and used in the plot. It's more tame than nudity in today's manga and is not overly used but can still be a turn off for some readers. The last slight turn off is the fact that the manga is not fully translated in English or any other language besides Japanese to my knowledge. You can read up to volume 9, chapter 52 in English using unofficial translations but the series has 17 volumes total. Buying the books is an option but the demand is high so they are very ridiculously expensive to get in English up to volume 7.

Bride of Deimos is an anthology of horror stories. Each chapter has a different tale in it, and they all represent the bad aspects of human nature. It's very similar to Petshop of Horrors in that regard. Though it's not as brilliant as Petshop of Horrors. Though to be fair, I can't find all the chapters. Only 52 chapters are available to read. Per those chapters, the story is an 8/10. It was building up interesting on the overarching plot, but it wasn't quite there yet.

Venus and Deimos are the most flashed out characters. We ... know a lot about Minako, but she's more of a flat character. She's a great flat character, but she's still flat. Minako's purpose is to be good and nice. She's selfless and always tries to help others. She's a foil to Deimos, who is driven by his own wants. Deimos is also evil and does evil acts, while Minako is always trying to do good. Deimos doesn't trust humans, while Minako will believe any story a human tells her. That is the plot outside of the manga horror stories.

Similar to Petshop of Horrors, there's a gag. In Petshop of Horrors, it was Detective Leon trying to arrest Count D. In this story, it's Deimos trying to make Minako his bride. They're inferior to Count D and Detective Leon as characters, which is also why it didn't as good as Petshop of Horrors. Though unpopular opinion, Deimos actually drags the duo down. Yes, Deimos is fleshed out, but he's shown to be a massive hypocrite. It'd be fine if the narrative would acknowledge it, but it never does. I'd rather he not be fleshed out, then to be some unlikable and hypocritical jerk...

Still, I do recommend the series. Outside of Deimos becoming an annoying hypocrite, the stories are great and the art is beautiful.