Review of My Happy Marriage
Decent premise ruined by stupid plot device. Now I know that the "Cinderella" trope has been used countless times, but damned I'll be lying if it's not a good base for a story. My Happy Marriage should have been a decent one if not for stupid and unnecessary 'supernatural' part of it. I'm genuinely asking myself as I watch more episodes of this anime, what the hell am I watching? Cause I sure don't expect no damn super power action in a supposed shoujo romance anime. Is this supposed to be romance? A character study? Action? Super power? The show tried to check too many boxesand what turned out is a half-baked anime, it is clearly confused, and more importantly so are we! The supernatural part seems forced as hell, the anime wants us to think that these 'spirits' are supposed to be dangerous for the well being of the characters, but they don't even bother explaining anything about it. They threw some light exposition and then calling it a day, basically shoving it straight up our ass and force us to accept it, it just felt incredibly out of place.
Lets talk about characters. Most of the characters just felt one dimensional and incredibly shallow. Some characters are just evil for the sake of being evil and everyone and their grandmother are after Miyo's ass, their motive as to why is as I've said earlier because of the not-explored enough supernatural power which she has. Even then the method in which they use to get to her is either roundabout, unnecessary, or just plain stupid. Again all of this could have been avoided if the director isn't confused on what the show is going to be. Miyo's progression as a character is hindered by this completely unnecessary plot device multiple times, and ultimately Kiyoka's relationship with her feels like it came out of pity and not her as a character.
In a nutshell My Happy Marriage is way better off just as a pure slice of life, the supernatural aspect just makes the anime felt unclear on where the direction it's going to take. I'll still place my hope on Season 2 nonetheless. For now I'll give it a 5/10.