Firefly Wedding ‒ Episodes 1-2
When I was a wee lass, I liked to say that my kinks were consent and healthy relationships. I thought I was so smart, eschewing unhealthy dynamics in romances and picking them apart for signs of abuse. While I do think these things are worth a conversation, especially in stories aimed at younger readers, I've come to realize that the appeal isn't always in wanting to see the main characters achieve an aspirational ideal of love or to project yourself on the heroine. Just like in any kind of story, sometimes the joy is in the thrill and tension of watching when two people who have no business falling in love come together. Such is the case with Firefly Wedding.
As I foreshadowed in my preview guide entry for the series, Firefly Wedding offers a great deal to unpack. Satoko, the 16-year-old daughter of a noble family, believes that a woman's greatest worth comes from marrying well. Thus, she has devoted herself to become an ideal wife, despite her imminent death from heart disease. Right away, the story plays with expectations: Satoko may have a resentful stepmother and a spoiled half-sister, but she's not the emotionally neglected Cinderella type one may expect from her outlook and situation. The fact that she and her father actually appear to be quite close speaks to the idea that these societal expectations are much larger than within the family.
Nor do her beliefs demand she be emotionally fragile or passive. This isn't My Happy Marriage, and when her stepsister Miwako tries to pick a fight over marriage prospects, Satoko snaps back that she's worked hard to develop her so-called feminine skills, while Miwako just plays around and has a personality so rancid that even her good looks and wealth are hard-pressed to make up for it.
This early evidence of a silk-wrapped spine of steel is essential to making the rest of the story work: Satoko is kidnapped, presumably on the orders of her stepmother, and condemned to be assassinated. When one assassin, the grinning, empty-eyed Shinpei Goto, offers her some rice and mutilates her attempted rapists, her survival instincts kick in and she offers her one asset in exchange for her life: her hand in marriage.
The dynamic that played out between Satoko and Goto over the next two episodes absolutely fascinated me. Satoko's brash proposal may have saved her life, but she regrets it almost immediately when Goto, sticky with gore, carries her off to a shabby inn and insists on her washing his back. She keeps trying to pull back and find a way out, but Goto refuses to let her off so easily. On the other hand, while he's sworn to make her happy, he keeps pushing her buttons. It would have been easy to write him as a childlike naif who doesn't understand that violence is wrong and devotes himself to his fiancee with the same enthusiasm he applies to dismemberment and murder, but he clearly doesn't trust Satoko either. He shifts rapidly between expressions of adoration and excitement about the future together, pushing her about the reluctance he can see in her to follow through on her promise, and goading her about her short lifespan.
See, Satoko isn't in a place where she can just get away from him. Her kidnappers brought her to Tennyo Island, a secret pleasure island that is one big red-light district, where wealthy men come to consort with high-class courtesans away from society's prying eyes. The island is beautiful, all bright colors and glowing lights, a far cry from the pastel refinement of Satoko's highborn world. Even the oirans’ garishly-colored kimono with the obi tied in front contrast with Satoko's soft color palette. Unfortunately for her, the only women there are brothel workers who have essentially been sold into slavery, and everyone assumes she's a mouthy sex worker.
Thus a pattern emerges: Satoko gets into a difficult situation and flounders for a moment, makes a brash move once she has a moment to collect herself, and regrets it afterward. When Goto abandons her to go hang out with some oiran that he knows, one of them pushes her away and she falls over. A man offers her a bowl of rice in exchange for a dance, but the oiran dumps the rice on the ground. Pressed once again, Satoko picks up the rice and eats it, the gravel crunching between her teeth, before performing a joyful fan dance that entrances the crowd of onlookers. She's in a terrible situation, but it's one that's allowing her to see things she never would have seen and feel things she never would have felt if she had stayed home, waiting for death.
When Goto reemerges, his affect has shifted considerably: he now seems boyish, almost bashful. He leads her to a cliff overlooking the docks and explains just how dire her situation is: since the only women on the island are courtesans, they're held captive. The armed guards at the docks would shoot her if she tried to leave, assuming she were an escaped sex worker. The two stand surrounded by fireflies and he proposes his plan to her: she must become a courtesan and have her contract bought out by a wealthy patron.
Rating:
Firefly Wedding is currently streaming on Crunchyroll. discuss this in the forum |
back to Firefly Wedding
Episode Review homepage / archives
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.