“My Happy Marriage” is an anime series aired in 2023 on Tokyo MX and adapted from the light novel Watashi no Shiawasena Kekkon by Akumi Agitogi. The Kadokawa Corporation published Agitogi’s novel in 2019, and to this day, eight volumes came out with refined illustrations by Tsukiho Tsukioka. Square Enix released a manga version, drawn by Rito Kousaka on the Gangan Online app during the same year, and in 2023, a live-action adaptation was directed by Ayuko Tsukahara.
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Akumi Agitogi wanted to set his story in a historical moment when Japanese traditions and Western cultures began to meet, and add fantasy elements and supernatural abilities into the narrative. The screenwriters of the anime Ami Sato, Takahito Onishi, and Momoka Toyoda preserved the peculiar vibrancy of these setting elements, and the twelve episodes of the series produced by Kinema Citrus had widespread success and huge praise.
Miyo is the oldest daughter of the Saimori family. She lives in a world where unearthly creatures can be malicious to humans and plague the country with supernatural attacks. These otherworldly entities are called Grotesqueries, and the task of hunting them falls to people who possess the Spirit-Sight and supernatural abilities. Families like the Saimoris have a high social status because their powers are indispensable for combating the Grotesqueries, but Miyo doesn’t have the Spirit-Sight, and for this reason her father, Shinichi Saimori, has become increasingly distant toward her; moreover, Kaya, Miyo’s younger sister, treats her with scorn, just as her stepmother does. The only true friend she has is Kouji Tatsuishi, a well-disposed man that Miyo hopes to marry. But when his father orders her to marry into the Kudou family, Miyo leaves the family house to live with Kiyoka Kudou, a man who has a reputation for being heartless.
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The Meiji and Taisho eras portrayed in the anime present a patriarchal society that shares out tasks that fall under female competencies or male authority: if you are a man, you can have great ambitions (Kiyoka Kudou, Arata Tsuruki…), rule the family as much as you like (Shinichi Saimori, Minoru Tatshuishi), or challenge somebody to a duel to host a woman without asking her (Kiyoka Kudou, Arata Tsuruki); if you are a woman, your function belongs to the dimension of care, chores, and arranged marriages (Sumi Usuba, Kanoko Saimori, Kaya Saimori, Miyo Saimori…). A society that tells you that you can have ambitions provided that you are a man, it’s a society where women’s free will and aspirations are relegated. But discrimination can also hide within families.
Miyo’s mother, Sumi Usuba, passed away from illness when she was a child, and her father married again. When the new wife’s daughter Kaya proves to be more talented in spotting Grotesqueries and improving her abilities with shikigami, Shinichi’s new wife riddles Miyo with these bullet-words: “She [Kaya] is not like that good for nothing child who can’t use the Spirit Sight!” From that point on, Miyo’s life revolves around the belief that she lacks talent, leading her to feel worthless and unwanted. Since in gifted families being born with or without supernatural powers defines a their members’ status, not only Miyo is cast aside and becomes victim to particularly cruel domestic abuse committed by Kaya and her mother, but also Shinichi Saimori shows complete disregard for her feelings. Devoid of any acknowledgment, Miyo humbly conceals her needs and wants, and since her family regards her as a lowly servant they could exploit as they please, Miyo is convinced she’d spend the rest of her life as their slave. Therefore, “My Happy Marriage” shows a case of domestic violence, which concerns all of us. Growing up under abusive wealthy-class parents with relentless demands for personal success on the basis of individual performance is a dangerous trial by fire and means obtaining anything in this society is a competition: this system pits children against each other and forces the parents to constantly compare their children with others.
Takehiro Kubota adopts a slow pace to tell this story and heighten the intimacy we feel for the characters, and he enriches the animation with a variety of visual transitions, expanding or quickening the rhythm with zoom out and zoom in effects.
At the beginning, Miyo is a character who doesn’t smile and is often emotionally spent, and Reina Ueda‘s feeble voice allows the audience to approach Miyo’s trauma in a delicate and intimate way. Miyo resolves to change her life in episode 6: when the tension is exasperated by Ayane Sakura’s wild shout (Kaya Saimori) and Ueda fills the climax of the scene with a dramatic and affecting chocking voice. Thenceforth, the voice actress’ interpretation expresses kindness and warm welcome, conveying to the audience Miyo’s intention to make people around her feel comfortable. Ueda’s sincere and creative acting goes on till the end of the series and reaches a peak of mastery in the last difficult scenes, where she has to give voice to two different characters at the same time.
Kiyoka has an enchanting presence and dignified and graceful movements. He is the commander of the elite special anti-Grotesquerie unit and seemingly a man who doesn’t feel. But Kaito Ishikawa shows a growing empathy with the character perceivable in Kiyoka’s inconsolable shapes of breathing when he realizes Miyo is weakening, and in his sighs of astonishment in front of Miyo wearing a cherry blossoms kimono, and in playing well Kiyoka’s instants of surprise and shyness. Kiyoka’s character modulates from cold and sharp words to radiate warm-heartedness for encouraging Miyo to believe in herself, showing Ishikawa’s clever control over a voice rich of tones: a great work of affection that averts the audience’s eye from the stereotype of the man who must constantly prove his virility.
The art direction of Kinema Citrus Co. took great care in expressing characters’ feelings through an accurate visual language, and smartly balances both the realistic and pictorial features. The animation is fluent and accurate, and all motions look clean and smooth in both close-up scenes and long-shot details. Not only the animation sequences are minutely connected but also a masterly use of the colors appears both in the realistic background design effects, which in specific scenes reflect the shift in character’s emotions, and in outside settings, where an impressionistic touch is added to trees, the sky, and other background elements of the outdoor scenes. The character design shows care for details and precision: Shoko Yasuda‘s work is refined and devoid of lines that might look wobbly; moreover, pictorial traits like the main characters’ eyes are precisely made as well and show a rich palette of shades. Through a variegated style of songs and themes, Evan Call re-creates Miyo’s inner world and describes the feelings originating between her and Kiyoka in a moving soundtrack that relies on the wise integration of traditional instruments like the koto with the western orchestrations for creating a refreshingly original atmosphere.
“My Happy Marriage” is a fascinating anime that excels particularly in its visual artistry and unique portrayal of two people who try to shape a bond of affection that doesn’t focus just on the development of their feelings but also on their personal growth.
