Review of My Happy Marriage

Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon seems like the type of anime that would be for me. It's got romance between adults, a historical setting with some fantasy elements, and good production values. The problem is that it lacks any real heart - not to the extent of completely ruining the anime, but it feels like a pale shadow of what it could have been. Saying an anime lacks heart is a bit of a cop out answer, since it doesn't give any indication of what the actual problems are, so let me flesh those out here. First and foremost, everything is just a little too perfect.You see all the classic romance tropes showing up, from childhood friends, cool and aloof handsome heroes, the wicked stepmother, and pernicious politics to boot. The trouble is these tropes make the world feel like fiction. Even though they try at times to subvert some of the tropes, occasionally well, but mostly in a pandering manner that doesn't subvert anything, this doesn't solve the problem. Tropes are at their best when they let you elide some of the details that are inessential to the story, but where the story intersects each and every trope instead, all that remains is a plot festooned in cobwebs that are all too clearly a cheap decoration.

The tropes hurt the story most because the main characters themselves never manage to cast off their trappings. Yes, Miyo and Kudou manage to not be wholly defined by their tropes, but showing that you could have done better and chose not to is not a good look. You could have predicted their arcs from the beginning, and you wouldn't have missed anything important in the story. There's nothing done here that hasn't been done before and better. That's not to mention the side characters that either upstage the protagonists every time they're in the scene (Kudou's sister) or have no personality beyond advancing the plot however it's needed in the moment (Arata).

I do have to say that at least Kinema Citrus didn't skimp with the art nor the animation. The action scenes are crisp, and their are scenes of genuinely impressive animation that would have done more to elevate the material if there had been real material to elevate in the first place.

So pick this up if you want a run of the mill romance with good production values and some splashes of action. If this is your type of anime, you'll enjoy it - there are not major flaws here. You just won't find anything that you haven't seen before. I'm just disappointed that this was a weekday meal type of romance instead of the banquet I thought it would be.