My Happy Marriage

This is a very high quality production with lovely art design, fine animation, and excellent English voice acting. It was made for Netflix. The title is somewhat misleading because her marriage will be in the future after a one year engagement and will not happen in season one of the series.

The initial setup is Cinderella-like with the eldest daughter Miyo raised as an abused servant by her step-mother and step sister. Miyo's father views her as worthless because she shows no magical ability. To get rid of of Miyo, she is sent to be the fiance of an icy noble, Kiyoko. Miyo is expected to be rejected and become homeless.

Miyo is emotionally crushed and considers herself to be worthless and quietly accepts the cruel abuse. The power of the story is Miyo's gradual journey toward self-worth and her desire to find happiness in spite of her upbringing.

Miyo works hard with a humble determination to prove her worth, to both herself and to others. There will be challenges, threats, and surprises ahead as the story evolves in its own unique way.

There are 4 volumes of novels translated to English and #5 comes out October 2023. I highly recommend both the anime and the novels.

A Cindrellaesque story that tries way too many things at the same time but still wants itself to be simple in its essence. The music of the show, the animation and the way the show is paced, all of it is in line with the main character Miyo's gentleness. The show has more than enough instances that can make you frustrated with her indecisiveness and make you want her to be assertive but at the same time, the portrayal of the effects of years of abuse is shown in a way that would still make you empathize with her despite the disappointment in those actions. These are the positive aspects of the show which works greatly but at the same time, the show is riddled with everything else that it doesn't really want to focus on but is also an integral part of its storytelling. The fantasy aspect and the alternate Meiji era depictions, the respect given to certain constitutions that are part of Japanese culture all work as an affliction to everything good in this. As it doesn't really want to indulge more on anything other than the two main characters, the whole conspiracy going on behind, feels rushed and convoluted where those characters don't have any space to grow, which makes eventual decisions not making sense. Nonetheless, the positive aspects worked immensely well for me, so the stuff that didn't make sense didn't bother me too much.

This is my very first anime and I have to admit that it was way better than I thought it was going to be. What intrigued me first was the title and then the story from watching the trailer. It had a Cinderella kind of story and I love Cinderella, so I thought I would give it a chance. I have only watched three episodes and I am loving it soo much that I can't wait for next week's episode. I wish I could binge watch the whole series, that's how much I love it. I kind of wish this anime could be a series with real people, but then I don't know if the storyline or the characters could be captured so beautifully as in the anime. I can't wait to finish seeing it!

My Happy Marriage started off with high marks all around. The art was detailed, the music was haunting, the emotions portrayed were delicate... I think I got teary eyed almost every episode in the first half of the series.

If this had been the main premise, I would have rated almost 9!

The premise is a girl, abused by her family, was bequeathed to another family as a bride. The romance that began subsequently was gentle and touching.

However, there is another angle. In this universe, there are people with superpowers. These superpowers are inherited genetically. The girl is from a long line of powerful genes that everybody apparently wants. The second half of the series focuses on this. As a result, the powerful love story turns into a dragonball type fantasy fighting story. Sorry to say, but I suffered through the final episodes only to complete the series. The romantic drama at the beginning was enough to make the story... the action fantasy towards the end seems to be an entirely different genre/story... a little of a pity.

Season 2 fails to continue the engaging storyline that Season 1 established. Instead, it introduces a dull and uninteresting plot. While the deliberately slow pace of Season 1 provided depth and a calming ambiance, here it merely drags the narrative down, making it feel tedious.

The season's conclusion comes off as cringeworthy and unsatisfactory, and although the villain's motives initially appeared promising, they end up being poorly executed. There are occasional moments of romance that manage to add a spark to the story, but these brief highlights are not enough to redeem the overall experience.

Ultimately, I found Season 2 barely worth a one-time watch. I feel empty, unsatisfied, and disappointed by the drastic transformation from Season 1. I also wish there had been more thoughtfully developed romance scenes. Given the current direction, I highly doubt I'll return for Season 3 if it ever comes out.