Ah The Water Dragons Bride... I started it back in the day when my library had only a handful of random Shojo Beat volumes and I was desperate for my shoujo content. Id already read their only two completed series: Sailor Moon and Paradise Kiss both of which I enjoyed. Now that my library really upped their collection Ive been reading my way through their current titles starting with the ones I paused. Unlike Ao Haru Ride I didnt deeply enjoy The Water Dragons Bride. It wasnt that it was super bad or anything or particularly boring it just didnt have much of that spark. It just felt too superficial and basic for it to leave much of an impression on me. I have no problem with very simple average shoujo stories. Ive loved all the Io Sakisaka stuff Ive tried and Im not going to pretend that her work is revolutionary. I dont hate shoujo fantasy either. Anyone who talks to me will know that I am the Yona of the Dawn fan girl. Ive converted a few of my mutuals even... This manga just had the potential to be a very good fairy tale inspired series that channels Kamisama Kiss but it just didnt do it for me... I wanted to like this manga so very bad... Anyways let me get to the plot. Our story begins when Asahi a young girl falls into a pond and gets transported to the past. Her looks arouse suspcion in the villagers who plan to sacrifice her. However the Water God rescues her and sends her out into the world with his protection but missing her voice. Asahi becomes a priestess however there are people who want to take her powers for themselves... I feel like the story was decent. I dont have any major gripes with it and I think it makes for a lovely Little Mermaid inspired story. Even the end of the story has its roots in the original telling of the Little Mermaid. I also think the ending was very good and I loved how the isekai elements were used... The bonus comics were an absolute joy. Hands down my favorite part of the manga theyre very funny and very meta. They also actually give the characters more characterization and personality than they have in the actual manga. The Water Dragons Chill Zone is a treasure. I wish I had good things to say about the characters I really do but most of them didnt stand out to me. Asahi had a lot of potential in the beginning with her childhood innocence and brutal honesty. However when she lost her voice it took away her defining attributes. The voiceless Asahi lost a lot of her spunk and fire. I think it makes sense that Asahi became more docile over time due to her trauma and her lack of ability to speak to defend herself but I was let down since she wasnt as engaging as she was in the beginning of the manga. Her two love interests are the Water God and Subaru a boy from the village. The Water Dragon is a bit of a tsundere with an icy cold exterior. I really appreciated how he opened up and grew to care about Asahi however I was not a fan of the romantic undertones since if I remember correctly he played a hand in raising her... Subaru on the other hand is very friendly and open. He defends Asahi from those who seek to do her harm including his own family. He was very nice. I thought the emperor and the gods showed a lot of potential as characters but they never were developed very much. However one of the main antagonists was surprisingly well written. I really could empathize with him what he went through and his motivations even if he was a bit creepy and made horrible decisions that hurt a lot of people. He was easily the best character in the manga. No one else is worth noting because they dont really have much personality... Just so many of the characters felt surface level to me. I couldnt really care about most of them. The art is gorgeous. Rei Touma can definitely draw even if I am a bit skeptical of her writing abilities after not loving this and Boku wa Kiss de Uso wa Tsuku... I will keep my hopes up for Dawn of the Arcana and The Kings Beast. Seriously some of her sketches in between pages were absolutely stunning. I didnt hate this manga. I really didnt. I just dont love it and I think it could have been a lot better. It was sort of mediocre for me. I had fun reading it it just doesnt have a whole lot that stands out.