Synopsis
Kiona is a dwarf who makes children’s toys in her studio when she isn’t working at the local day care. Kaash is an elf who specializes in magical items. They meet one day at a local flea market; after saving one of Kiona’s friends from a cursed dagger, they go out to dinner that night. Kiona and Kaash learn that they have plenty in common despite the cultural differences between elves and dwarves. Could romance be in the air? The very first page of the series depicts their marriage, so you better believe it!
Elf life
Ever since the success of Delicious in Dungeon, fantasy manga has become progressively less epic and more mundane. Once heroes traveled the land to defeat the dark lord. Now they build toilets, learn new languages, and sell houses to dragons. The Elf Husband and Dwarf Wife, a new romantic comedy series by children’s author Yoshika Komatsu, is no exception to this trend, though (like the listed examples) it has its admirable qualities.
Elves and dwarves have been rude to each other ever since J.R.R. Tolkien codified genre fantasy with The Lord of the Rings. Elves are tall, magical elites; dwarves are squat, hairy iron-workers. Despite the best efforts of critics to remind us that Tolkien’s fantasy “races” (ethnic groups with distinct physical characteristics that put them in conflict with each other) are imaginary, racist constructs, artists return to this well over and over. Perhaps because it’s a convenient way to discuss the differences that exist even between yourself and your neighbor, or the unexpected similarities you might have with a stranger.
Dwarf life
The Elf Husband and Dwarf Wife can’t escape this story, although Komatsu does at least complicate it. As a female dwarf, Kiona is stronger and more resilient than Kaash. When he travels to the nearby woods to purge a cursed dagger, she’s the one who keeps him out of harm’s way. In this way, the use of fantasy flips romance’s traditional gendered power dynamic so that vulnerable Kaash must learn to rely on Kiona rather than the other way around.
Kiona and Kaash defy fantasy stereotypes in other ways too. Unlike other elves, Kaash has little inherent magic, and relies on tools (like an amazing swiss-army-knife-fan) to solve problems. Kiona on the other hand is anxious around men, which is at first played as a joke but later revealed as trauma. The two of them embody their respective cultures in other ways–Kiona is blunt and to the point, and Kaash is a meticulous archer. But they have just enough nuances that you can’t generalize either as “dwarf” or “elf.”
A life together
Other aspects of The Elf Husband and Dwarf Wife are under-cooked. While magic can do all kinds of things in this series—possess people, move objects, heal the sick—the first few chapters do little to explain where it comes from or how it is practiced. The setting is similarly vague, with towns and forests that on the page look indistinguishable from other manga fantasy worlds. This isn’t to say that vagueness is inherently bad; too much world-building kills the imagination. But a few more memorable details would go a long way.
What the series does have is a kind of practical coziness to it. There are no villains in this series (yet) except for dangerous curses. Characters who you at first think might mean ill, like a dwarf selling cursed items or a man who makes Kiona uncomfortable, turn out to be ordinary people. That said, Komatsu still takes Kiona’s trauma around men seriously, as well as Kaash’s sense of responsibility towards others. The two of them turn down a festival visit while delivering the cursed dagger to keep it out of the wrong hands. Then they visit the festival on the way back. The fact that The Elf Husband and Dwarf Wife rations its slice-of-life fluffiness depending on the needs of the characters sets it apart from its peers.
Verdict
The Elf Husband and Dwarf Wife is a pleasant read, made even more so by Komatsu’s charming, rounded character drawings. It may or may not be to your taste; personally, I prefer Delicious in Dungeon’s comparative spikiness and scope. I am invested enough in Kiona and Kaash at this point, though, to want to learn more about them. Why does Kiona sleep with a dagger at night? Can the series balance the potential darkness of that plot point without cheapening it? How about Kaash, who has admitted his feelings to Kiona without knowing if they will one day be reciprocated? These potential complications are enough to keep me reading, and to label this series as one of Omoi’s better exclusive titles.
You can read The Elf Husband and Dwarf Wife via Omoi.
If you like The Elf Husband and Dwarf Wife, you might also like…
- Delicious in Dungeon, by Ryoko Kui
- A Sign of Affection, by Suu Morishita
- The Tea Dragon Society, by K. O’Neill
Credits
Original Story and Artwork: Yoshika Komatsu
Translation: Joshua Martin-Corrales
Lettering: Victoria Esnard
Published in English by Red String Manga
Thank you to Omoi for providing a review copy. Receiving this copy did not affect the reviewer’s opinions as expressed here.
Article edited by: Cynthia Caraturo
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