Shiina’s boyfriend, Shuu, comes from a family of coppersmiths. While Shiina doesn’t understand the technical side of what Shuu does and how he can work for hours hammering away, she does love how beautiful his works are. And his latest creation comes with a sudden proposal!
Shiina is taken aback — after all, this gyaru gal only 18, and Shuu’s family are rather prestigious artisans. Is she ready to marry into his household, and does she even want to?
The Coppersmith’s Bride stars a couple in a committed relationship, but the real love emitting from the pages is the author sharing the world of Japanese craftsmanship. Shuu creates cups, kettles, and more from a single sheet of copper, and a lot of thought must go into the design before even a single hammer blow. As the manga has Shiina explain in her own blunt and youthful way, these items are not cheap due to the amount of work required. Plenty of manga feature art as its subject matter, but craftsmanship — let alone coppersmithing — is much harder to find and helps the series stand out.
The manga also introduces an old friend whose family makes hammers, and Shiina notes that about 30% of families in the area are artisans. So we are likely to learn more about some other artisan works besides coppersmithing. But even if it just sticks to Shuu’s work, The Coppersmith’s Bride does well with not overloading readers about or making the info boring. And the manga’s rather standard style works well since this is a series about featuring traditional craftsmanship.
As for Shiina and Shuu…Chapter 1, “Proposal to a Gyaru” opens with Shiina joking about Shuu’s current hygiene (due to work from being what she calls a “smithing nut”) and then dashing off in embarrassment after Shuu asks her to marry him. That’s generally not a mature way to handle such a question, so Shiina might get off on the wrong foot with readers. But the manga doesn’t help her either since there is no time to get to know anyone in the story. For instance, Shiina describes her future in-laws as a “scary old fart” and an “evil hag”, and it isn’t until later in the volume that a) we learn she’s talking about Shuu’s grandparents and b) her relationship with them (particularly the “evil hag”) isn’t actually that bad. But it’s just one of the many things the manga doesn’t explain well, and the story and/or characters suffer for these lapses.
Also, there is a bit of an age gap between Shiina and Shuu, but I don’t think it ever actually specifies how big it is. I’m guessing there is at least 5 years between them. True, that may not be a huge difference, but the manga could run exactly the same if they were high school sweethearts: Shuu seeming to only care about smithing but is surprisingly bold about his feelings for Shiina, and Shiina a bit of a typical modern, fun-loving college student who has a bit of a tsundere streak.
So if you are looking for the next great romance, The Coppersmith’s Bride is not going to make your shortlist. They can be a nice couple, but the true delight is the reminder of how much effort it takes to forge a quality, attractive, handmade piece when mass production is the standard.