This is interesting because it is almost slice of life but it has some elements of fantasy and mystery as well.
A young orphan man decides to marry a woman he doesn't know in order to start a new life on an apple farm. His new wife is very sweet and he enjoys his new life until the day she becomes sick and he feeds her an apple from a forbidden tree (which no one bothered to tell him was forbidden. This turns out to be a bad idea.
YM only really big issue is that it was actually kind of difficult to read, because in order to express that the farmers spoke in a different dialect of Japanese, the translator decided to make them sort of Scottish or something? Their speech is written basically like Scrooge McDuck's in Disney Dreamlight. It is kind of off-putting to read.

Kind of nostalgic, full of folklore, emotions and traditions. I enjoyed it a lot and the atmosphere was a little surreal, with a touch of magical realism and superstition. It was a good read.

Time to dive into another new manga (I am determined to read the first volume of as many series as possible, so I can find favorites worth following!). This time I picked Apple Children of Aeon Vol. 1.

Yukinojo can't remember his past, so he only has the future to look to. Following graduation, he entered an arranged marriage with Asahi. As the title may have already been given away, Asahi and her family run an apple farm (orchard?).

This life would be perfect for many, but Yukinojo struggles to feel at home – to feel like he belongs and fits in with his new home and family. Until one day, everything changes, and something wakes within his bones.

Apple Children of Aeon Vol. 1 was an interesting and relatively quick read. Admittedly the first part of this book (about the first half?) is slower than I would have liked. It takes a while to get to know Yukinojo and Asahi, and unfortunately, even longer to care about either of them.

Based on the description, I knew there was going to be a twist in this arranged marriage-turned story – however, I was wrong about what sort of twist it would be. I think I like this twist better than I had assumed. It was certainly more interesting and a little less predictable.

All things said and done, Apple Children of Aeon Vol. 1 does a solid job of wrapping many story tropes into one cohesive story. I'm not sure that it's a series I would enjoy following in the long run, but I can easily see why some readers would fall for it.

2.5 rounded up for both an excellent set of translator's notes and a very interesting use of folklore. The elephant in the room with this story is the use of a Scottish accent to render the Aomori dialect used in the original Japanese. While I understand the theory behind it, I do think it an unnecessary distraction to the story, as dialectic writing has both fallen largely out of favor in popular fiction (with the major exception of Scotland-set romance novels) and can present a barrier to reading for some learning differences. That said, the parallel between the <i>teind</i> of Scottish folklore and the bride for a local god in the unnamed village in Aomori is fascinating and speaks to the universality of certain folk practices. (As a note, "teind" simply means "tithe," but it's used in folktales like <i>Thomas the Rhymer</i> and <i>Tam Lin</i> to mean a human tithe paid to the fairies.)

Having finished the entire three-volume series before sitting down to write this, I can say that this volume does do a good job of setting the whole story up. I can also say that if you don't love this book, the rest of the series may not work for you as a whole, because it really only gets more esoteric from here. Still, it's an interesting piece, and the setting of 1971 gives it the feel of being just long enough ago that memories are hazy - modern enough for us to question the magic, but long enough ago that we can still wonder. That's the main vibe that the entire story gives off. It's hindered by the accents and a few elements of the series itself, but in some senses, folklore is just like that, an ambiguous statement that sums up my feelings on the story as a whole.

A beautiful story, very nostalgic, full of folklore, emotions and traditions. There is a very contemplative feel to this manga, and many references to Japanese Shinto. I enjoyed it a lot even though I could not quite tell when it was supposed to be set. The atmosphere was a little surreal, with a touch of magical realism and superstition, so if you're into that type of thing don't hesitate.
What stops me from giving it 5 stars was the odd translation choice, that decided to create the accent on paper. It's hard to read and really pulls you out of the very pleasant mood of the manga, which is a real shame. I don't think it was necessary, or it could have been done in a less disruptive way. And the illustrations were sometimes a little too simple - while some nature pages were just beautiful.

Apple Children of Aeon is such an intriguing story. Yukinojo and Asahi, heir to an apple farm in Aomori, are set to marry, but what should be a happy occassion turns into a dire one when Yukinojo unknowingly picks a forbidden apple and feeds it to Asashi, who has fallen ill and needs sustinence.

Ai Tanaka weaves a mysterious tale of old gods in modern times, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to read it.

Yukinojo has grown up an orphan after being abandoned on a doorstep as a child. When he marries Asahi he is suddenly surrounded by a loud, bustling family. His life quickly shifts from university books to farming in the countryside. However, everything changes when his wife suddenly takes ill. Yukinojo chances upon an apple tree fruitful amid a winter storm and feeds these apples to Asahi. Only upon doing so does he learn he's committed a grave error which has possibly sentenced her to a different life altogether.

This was fantastic. It begins slowly with a fish-out-of-water marriage narrative that might lull you into thinking it'll be a domestic slice-of-life akin to A Bride's Story but set in the Japanese countryside. Then, fantasy suddenly breaks through in the volume's second half and this eeriness takes over as we piece together what is happening alongside our protagonist. I am so excited to follow this series to its end.

Firstly, many thanks to Netgalley and Kodansha for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

The artstyle was simple and neat. Not my favourite style but i do like how it fits the storyline. The story was quite interesting, blending slice of life and mystery horror with fantastical elements. There are so much things to look forward to in the next volumes. This was an interesting premise and i like it for what it is

this had everything I could've loved, sadly, i felt it was too slow paced and i didn't feel much for the characters. i also had a very hard time reading this because of the accent, i just find very hard reading in text accents.

Apple Children of Aeon is something we hardly see outside of Japan's manga market. It's josei and set in the countryside in the Showa era. Yukinojo was abandoned as a child on the steps of a temple. Now he marries Asahi, who's the daughter of an Aomori apple farmer. He moves in with the family to Northern Japan. Their life is full of work and quite simple until Asahi falls ill. Yukinojo ends up offering her a forbidden apple belonging to a God and now Asahi and everything starts to change slowly. The setting is interesting and ghostly even, eerie surely. It shows a world long lost and depicts the people living with their believes strongly. It was somewhat hard to follow the story though, since the Tsugaru dialect is turned into Scottish. It takes time to get what is said, since Scottish isn't the easiest to follow and somehow it felt superimposed at times.

The art looks nice, simple and fits well with the time period. I'm glad manga like this is translated into English and the story is only three books long. I like the slow world it depicts and the rhythm feels nice too. The series has won an award and no wonder, since there's something oddly displaced about it and still it makes you feel strongly.

An intriguing story under the apple trees. I liked the slow yet worring introduction of fantastic elements in this manga. The couple is sweet and reserved, the secrets are heavy and deserved to be treated with care and respect. All in this is infused with bittersweetness and I can only cheer and hope for a happy ending. It was a very good reading.

I looooved this one.
Reminded me of "Your name" for some reason.
5 star read
Beautiful story of love and rediscovering yourself

This was a really interesting first volume. Part slice of life, part folk horror. Fantasy and reality weave in and out of this tale. I found the locals' dialect a little hard to read at times, but the story keep me interested. A marriage of convince, a local legend and some very interesting apples!

Seems to have been a lovely read. The cover and art style alone is enough to captivate a reader and derive them to pick up this manga and read it

My thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

This one was too slow going for me, so I DNF'd. It's not bad, the storyline was just too slow in getting to the action for my taste. Very gentle though.

2.5 stars, rounded down to 2. Not my cup, but I probably read this one wrong.

Huge thanks to Kodansha Comics and the author for providing this manga in exchange for an honest review. All of the opinions expressed in this review are my own.
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This is just the beginning of the story hence the seemingly slow pace and the slight confusion about what exactly is going on until some things are made clear by the end of this volume.

I'm very intrigued to see what happens next!

Overall rating: 4/5 stars

I received a copy of this manga through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Not my cup of tea at all but I can appreciate the atmosphere and story-telling. It has art that reminds much older more traditional pictures and gives it an old vibe. The story has a slow and steady pace and the magic is flimsy if actually real.🙂
I am not a fan but I’ll give this manga its due credit!😉

This was a bit of a confusing read for me. I feel like a lot of things weren’t properly explained which might be partly due to the main character not knowing very much but either way it took until pretty much the end of the volume for me to really clue into the story.

The ending did intrigue me! I like the subtle hints of magic and gods and monsters that lurk in the forest, ready to steal his wife away. This is a slow burn type of story for sure! I’m curious to see if a real relationship will develop between the main character and his wife he married in an arranged situation!

If you like slow burn stories with a slower plot, a bit of a confusing start but a very intriguing cliffhanger— try out this manga!

3/5⭐️

Abandoned at birth, Yukinojo has no inkling of his past. Presented with an arranged marriage to the heiress of an apple farm, his future should be calm and predictable. His new family puts Yukinojo to work, learning the ins and outs of working an apple farm. One day his wife falls sick and Yukinojo feeds her an apple from a mysterious tree. Suddenly his wife undergoes strange changes as his naivety unlocks a dormant folktale come to life.

At first this reads as a slice of life manga, a bit slow to get to the plot. I am hoping the pace picks up by the next volume.

The story is only just getting started in this first volume. Yukinojo has had a hard upbringing and now he looks to the future with his new wife. We following Yukinojo now settling into married life, with his wife Asahi and her family living and working together in their apple orchard.
It is peacefully read and you fall straight into this new family, feeling a little odd, and we fell odd with Yukinojo. But as he gets more comfortable the and things seems to settle his world suddenly changes.

This is really interesting concept. Definitely will continue reading this series.

3.5 stars!