Shigisawa Rei has accepted that her life is different from most—while her friends are settling down with families, she's devoted herself to her work as a gay woman in a world that doesn't always feel built for her dreams. But everything changes when she bumps into Goto Saya, a former coworker who once captured her heart. Petite, charming, and ever-popular, Saya seems like she's walked straight out of Rei's past fantasies—except this time, she's asking for Rei's help after a falling out with her husband.

Opening her home to Saya should have been simple, but with each passing moment, old feelings bubble to the surface, and Rei finds herself trapped between desire and restraint. Can she resist the pull of forbidden love, or will she risk everything for the woman who was always out of reach?

The Lying Bride and the Same-Sex Marriage Debate has story and art by Naoko Kodama. English translation is done by Sarah Burch, with lettering by Mercedes McGarry. Published by Seven Seas (October 7, 2025). Rated OT.

Rebecca Silverman
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Naoko Kodama is one of those manga creators whose work I want desperately to like but very seldom do. Admittedly, NTR as a theme isn't particularly appealing to me, but I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up and Days of Love at Seagull Villa both ought to have been squarely in my wheelhouse, but the characters and unfolding of the plots ultimately left me a bit cold. The Lying Bride and the Same-Sex Marriage Debate is my favorite work of hers that I've read, and what you perhaps should take from this statement is that it doesn't take much to reach that pinnacle. It still suffers from some of Kodama's persistent issues, most of which are in the realm of poor character writing and imperfectly paced plots, but on the whole is a more engaging story.

A large part of that is the way the story explores some new themes. While same-sex marriage has been covered before and other yuri manga creators have dug into women in unhappy straight marriages finding love once they acknowledge their sexuality (Even Though We're Adults, Run Away With Me, Girl), I'm hard pressed to think of a title that has specifically looked at infertility as a root cause of a marriage falling apart. (Excluding Omega Megaera in this guide, of course.) That it's worked into this volume as subtly as it is is also a point in the book's favor – Rei knows that Saya is having trouble with her husband, but she assumes it's something more commonly discussed. But a brief scene of Saya at the GYN suggests that the reason she “can't be the wife he wants” is because she's unable to have children. This ties in with Rei's own belief that, as a lesbian, she can never have children because she's not living a “normal” life, i. e. a heteronormative one. When she's forced to take on officemates' work because they're on maternity leave or bridal leave, her male boss jokes (or maybe “jokes”) that she'll have her turn soon enough. But Rei, who keeps her orientation to herself, knows he's wrong, and it eats at her.

While Rei and Saya don't make much progress in their relationship in this volume – and there's no guarantee that they'll even have one – the themes and Kodama's always clear art make this an interesting read. I want to believe that it will continue along this track, because it's worth exploring, and so far, it looks like Kodama's best series.

Erica Friedman
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I have a complicated relationship with Naoko Kodama's work. As we see in many manga about romance, Kodama's characters frequently act as if they have suffered a significant trauma, and when the story reveals that it was something upsetting, rather than traumatizing, everything they do feels so out of proportion that the story leaves me with this weird, unsettled feeling. Almost as if there is a very real, very urgent story that Kodama wants to tell, but always pulls back from.

The Lying Bride and the Same-Sex Marriage Debate, Volume 1 does not, thankfully do this. Shigisawa is understandably irritable right from the get-go about the inequity of Japanese marriage laws, the unfairness of work responsibilities, and the very real possibility that she is being used by Goto, which makes this story more palatable than many of Kodama's other works.

As Shigisawa is falling for Goto—and vice-versa—it's hard to blame either woman for keeping the secrets they are keeping, and also deeply annoying that they are keeping them. The cliffhanger here is as obvious as a telenovela, but also the only possible driver to what is an equally obvious conclusion. Nonetheless, because Shigisawa is so self-aware, and her response is a completely normal response to the situation, we can sympathize as she is drawn in deeper.

Goto remains a bit of a mystery, but not so much that a reader paying attention can't figure out the whole story. This first of a two-volume series is not so much a what or a how, but just a wait for it. “Lesbian falls for the married lady” is pretty time-honored pulp plotline. Volume 2 will be the key to see how well Kodama handles it.