01The Story
Firefly Wedding (Japanese: Hotaru no Yomeiri, 蛍火の嫁入り) is a historical romance manga by Oreco Tachibana. It ran in Shogakukan's Ura Sunday magazine and the MangaONE app from January 2023 to February 2026, finishing after a little over three years.
The story opens with Satoko Kirigaya, the daughter of an earl, living under the weight of a serious heart condition. Her family expects her to marry well and secure their standing — her own life comes second. That pressure is what makes her next move so strange.
When she is kidnapped, Satoko does not beg. She turns to Shinpei Goto, the assassin holding her, and proposes. He accepts in his own blunt way and brings her to Tennyo Island's red-light district, where she passes as a courtesan while he works as a killer for hire.
Spoiler warning — the plot below covers later turns
The kidnapping, it turns out, was arranged by her own father. Satoko is dragged back home and pushed toward an engagement with Mitsuharu Okumura, a duke's son. She refuses, finds her way back to Shinpei, and they marry in secret. Then her heart fails. Believing she has died, Shinpei vanishes. Decades pass before a single letter reaches him — she survived, and had been seeking treatment all along. They meet again, both old.
Firefly Wedding is a finished story. The manga has a complete ending, so you can read it start to finish without waiting for new chapters.
02Characters
Satoko Kirigaya
桐谷 聡子
The protagonist. An earl's daughter with a serious heart condition, raised to see marriage as a duty to her family rather than a choice of her own. Her impulsive proposal to Shinpei is the act that sets the whole story moving.
Shinpei Goto
後藤 進平
Satoko's love interest and eventual husband. A violent assassin who works the shadows of Tennyo Island's red-light district. He accepts Satoko's proposal in his own rough way, and the two slowly build a bond neither expected.
Kōtarō Ogawa
小川 耕太郎
A Kirigaya family acquaintance who serves as a bodyguard. He tries to bring Satoko back home from Tennyo Island, caught between his loyalty to her family and what she actually wants.
Mitsuharu Okumura
奥村 光春
A duke's son arranged as Satoko's fiancé. Later in the story he becomes involved in seeking treatment for her heart condition, a role that complicates any easy read of him as a simple rival.
Yukari & Mitsueda
ゆかり / 三枝
Supporting characters in the anime, voiced by Kanon Amane and others. Their roles sit inside the red-light district's daily life, filling out the world Satoko and Shinpei move through.
03The 2026 Anime
Adaptation details
Announced: January 12, 2026
Studio: David Production
Premiere: October 9, 2026
Network: Fuji TV, Noitamina block
The anime adaptation of Firefly Wedding was confirmed at the start of 2026 and began airing in the fall season. David Production, the studio behind JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Fire Force, handles the animation, with the series running in Fuji TV's Noitamina block — a slot known for adapting manga and novels with a more mature tone.
For English-speaking viewers, the series is available to stream with subtitles, which makes it one of the more accessible Meiji-era romances in the current season.