It can sometimes feel like not a lot of romances start at the very beginning or go beyond the couple getting together. Either we meet them when they're already fully involved with each other or leave them at that point. But Iwatobineko's The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be-Wife is committed to taking us through every step of Shizuka and Akira's journey as a couple, opening before they get together and slowly building up to the marriage forecast by the title. We don't get there in these first six volumes, but there's steady progress made as the two figure out how their lives are going to mesh.

The story, as you might guess from the title, takes place in a version of our world where fantasy creatures are commonplace. Although Shizuka is human, her boss Akiro Tounome is an invisible person, and her coworker is a bobcat beastperson. (In a nice detail, we're told that her family originates in the Americas, because that's where bobcats are from.) As the story goes on, she and Akira become friends with an elf couple and an oni child, and we see a variety of races either in passing or in the background. Despite this, the story itself is remarkably grounded, focusing just as much on Shizuka's experience as someone blind as it does on Jarashi's concerns that she can't wear patterned clothes because of the spots and stripes in her fur. (This series goes full furry for all beastfolk; none of that “furry men, sexualized women” nonsense.) While there are fantasy considerations that come up, such as how the married elf couple copes with their magical differences as a dark and a white elf, for the most part, this is about two people working out how to be together in the most grounded way.

The most obvious issue is that Akira is invisible. This has caused him trouble in the past, and he's worried that it will do the same for his relationship with Shizuka. The fact that she's blind becomes a factor because it immediately takes some of the issues Akira's experienced off the table: he doesn't have to worry about her seeing his food get chewed and go down his throat or that she'll look down his clothes. He also doesn't have to fret about her not noticing him, because she's used to being able to tell if someone's near her via sound, smell, and touch. Shizuka sees Akira in a way that he's not used to.

None of this is to say that Iwatobineko paints Shizuka as a special being because she's blind. They tell us that they interviewed members of the Blind community so that their portrayal of Shizuka was as accurate as possible, and that does come through. She's fully capable of taking care of herself and navigating the world around her. When she and Akira eventually move in together, he makes sure to accommodate her in the same way you'd help any partner: making sure the furniture works for her and allotting her space in the cabinets and closets. The only difference is that he's careful not to move things around so that she can always find them, and goodness knows that's not something exclusive to blind people.

Akira's own insecurities are a greater barrier to their relationship than anything. As an invisible person who enjoys fashion, he's something of an oddity in his community, and he prefers living in the city rather than back home in the village that most of his family occupies. He's very aware of the fact that he's older than Shizuka (how much isn't clear), and he's been burned by relationships with non-invisible people before. He's trying as hard as he can to slow Shizuka's roll, struggling emotionally even though he intellectually knows that she's not going to leave him because of his invisibility. At times, this does make the plot drag, feeling a teeny bit artificial on the physical front because the writing doesn't do a perfect job of explaining why he would still expect them to sleep separately once they move in together, but on the whole, his reticence does make sense.

As you might guess, this isn't a series for those who like their romances hot and heavy or emotionally intense. This is a quiet story full of little moments about how people relate and navigate the world. It's remarkably inclusive, giving us both several interracial couples (in a few senses of the term) and a gay couple, and the focus is on the inherent humanity of all people. It's slow and sweet, and it's clear that the creator spent a lot of time really thinking about how their world works.

For the most part, the translation is very well done, with the only oddity being that for the first three or so volumes, Akira is referred to as the invisible man rather than an invisible man. Possibly this is due to the original author working out the world, although it seems more likely that the translator was hoping to call to mind the classic novel. But as the only real translation issue, it's not that big a deal. The fact that Iwatobineko's afterwords are printed in teal ink is a much more difficult issue, as it can be almost impossible read at times.

The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be-Wife is a charming slice-of-life story. Soft, slow, and sweet, it's not without its problems, but it is mostly a nice bit of reassurance that, despite what the news may tell us, the world isn't completely horrible after all.