deimos no hanayome (Bride of Deimos) - Ikeda Etsuko & Ashibe Yuuho

Status: Ongoing

Genre: shoujo, horror, drama, psychological

Deimos and Venus are beautiful twin deities who loved each other. They incurred Zeus' wrath when Venus chose Deimos over Zeus, and got cursed. Venus got imprisoned underwater with her body slowly rotting away, while Deimos had his appearance turned into a demon with horn, black wings, clawed feet, and scales. The only way to stop Venus' body from rotting is for Deimos to find her reincarnation and offer the body for her to possess. Since then, Deimos had been wandering the earth looking for Venus' reincarnation.

Ifu Minako is a girl so beautiful, men fall in love with her and women get jealous of her. It turns out, she is the Venus' reincarnation Deimos had been looking for. Deimos tries to lure her to the underworld by threatening her and harming people that get close to her. 

Characters

Ifu Minako

A beautiful girl and Venus' reincarnation. She was a cheerful girl in the beginning of the series, but became subdued and less outgoing later on. She is also prone to attract supernatural happenings and possession. Her life has increasingly become more miserable after the appearance of Deimos, who harms and kills men who get close to her. In order for Deimos not to hurt people around her, she tries not to be involved in romantic relationships.

Deimos

A former deity who got cursed and turned into a demon-like creature. He wants to bring Minako to the underworld so that Venus can possess her body and stop her body from rotting. He is powerful and can disguise himself as a good looking human, even though mirrors and his shadow reflect his true form. During the time he was looking for Venus' reincarnation, or when not pursuing Minako, he travels around and cause horror and death in his wake.

Venus

Goddess of Love and Deimos' twin as well as lover. She got cursed and is imprisoned while her body slowly rotting, and her right eye gouged out. Although imprisoned, her spirit can go to human world briefly, with her hair covering the empty socket of her eye. As Venus is a very jealous woman, she attempts to harm any woman who catches Deimos' interest. 

A Love Story..? (Spoiler Alert)

Throughout the course of the series, it appears that Deimos has grown some sort of affection towards Minako. It is evident from his hesitation to give her body to Venus, and in some occasion even saves Minako from harm, including from Venus. He seems to be torn between his devotion to Venus and his growing affection towards Minako. Meanwhile, even though Minako still hates Deimos, she is not as scared as she was in the beginning of the series, and got used to his presence. She seems to be attracted to Deimos and cares for him a little, even though she struggles to deny it.

deimos no hanayome originally ran from 1970s to 1980s, after which it got discontinued. I first stumbled upon this manga when I was small and was disappointed that there was no conclusion. However, since 2008 a new serialization began, continuing from where it left off with minor character design changes. When I saw the new manga in the bookstore I was like, wait, isn't it that manga I read very long time ago?? And bought a copy. lol

What I like:

• There are several manga which depicts relationship between a human and a demon, but I think Deimos' portrayal is the closest to a powerful and evil demon. Usually his type of character has some sweet spot or something towards the heroine, but Deimos barely has any. No tsundere demon in this manga xD
• I actually like the classic style of manga drawing. It's a nice change from recent manga drawing style.

What I Don't Like:

• Minako seems like a helpless victim, especially in early part of the series. Fortunately, she somewhat changes later on. 
• On the remake, somehow there is less interaction between Deimos and Minako.

Despite being annoyed at Minako and Venus a few times, I actually like this manga. I hope this time, the mangaka will conclude this manga. I want to see how it ends, lol.