My Happy Marriage

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!

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.

I've been watching anime for so many years, at first I thought it will be a very cringe type anime but after seeing the first two episodes I was stunned and too curious to stop. I went and read the manga, and it is beautiful and a story I can not wait to see the rest of anime. Anime is better and well improved compared to manga and soft novels. Manga only has 23 chapters released but they are all beautiful too. I really wish to get this series thrive, as it is indeed one of the depicted anime. Story is unique, it is soft yet so beautiful.

I would even watch a live action drama for this story line but I don't think they will be able to capture the sci-fi and magical stuff as good as the anime. I've really high hopes for this series.

A GREAT romance anime is somewhat rare and this is one of those rare instances. This was a touching story with strong protagonists, heartfelt moments and a brilliant character arc.

This is one of the stories where, after watching the finale, you can't help but remember how the characters were at the beginning and how far along they've come. The story is a journey, especially for the character of Miyo. We all experience this journey with her. That connection with the characters made this anime very satisfying.

I love Miyo's character arc. If you see the 1st episode, her character setup isn't exactly unique. It's something we see in many shoujo anime, and it's similar to Cinderella's back story. But if you keep that aside and just think about her character, it's a very complex character to progress. That's why I'm so impressed, because this anime did it almost perfectly. I never felt that Miyo was acting out of character, I could always sympathize with her actions, and still I can feel how far her character has come after the finale.

I also really cared for Kudo's character. That's another strong point for this anime - the fact that I cared for BOTH these characters. That's what makes a great romance - when a viewer is invested in BOTH the characters, can understand BOTH their perspectives, and that's why they want them to be together so much.

This story also had a surprise factor to it - the supernatural world building. I know fans are saying it's unnecessary and I thought of it as a flaw initially too. But when I thought about it, every situation that this supernatural part of the story created, eventually made me root for our protagonists' marriage, which is what the story is about.

The story does get repetitive at times in the middle though, when every family is coming after Miyo.

The animation might be the best this season (at least out of non-sequels). The soundtrack from Evan Call (composer of Violet Evergarden) wasn't that notable in the 1st watch, but I might catch it in a re-watch.

Overall, this was a great anime and a great romance. It's on Netflix worldwide.

Characters are beautifully drawn, by Manga pattern. Nice to look at male characters without an American square chin and a head smaller than their necks. Although, it was really hard to watch a grown woman with a child's voice completely subordinate to some man without any reason. She's ready to die for him, apologising all the time, with no personality or self value at all. Couldn't finish watching such an empty main character, bloodless like a cloth. Reminds me of those turkish soap operas with women's main characters faultless, always subordinate, naive voiced, like grown children. With men like some golden d...k owners setting their own vision of what women should be all the time. And all this is happening in modern days. It's just unbearable. Only visually beautiful.