Review of My Happy Marriage

I don't know what's the best way to describe this anime other than a Cinderella-esque story, just told in a Japanese timeline where magic is power and such. Other than a magical fairy godmother coming to give you the wish of what you truly desire, this tale is about a man saving a woman from a life of abuse and neglect. Without further ado, here I want to provide you with the pros and cons of doing something the audience is familiar with. (Warning: There will be mentions of Cinderella in here.) First, let's talk about the merits of starting on a familiar story everyone is adjustedto. Of course, it may come off as a little too similar and boring to tell otherwise, but it does help people understand the characters quicker and more used to at first glance. Starting as a classic tragedy story about a girl being mistreated is an easy way to gain sympathy and emotion, you just want to see her win now. Not only that, you also have a clear contrast of what characters are adversaries or allies to the main protagonists of this story. So if you're looking for a light-hearted, sometimes dramatic, sometimes cute, and nothing much to make you go big brain, this can be worth of your time. A lot of shows I've enjoyed are particularly simple and fun to watch, so there's nothing wrong with being entertained watching characters doing their mundane things in life. Along with some pretty fantastic animation made by Kinema Citrus and good voice acting by the cast, it would be a breeze to go through.

Now the bad part of starting with a familiar story is that any story that is inspired from other sources will always be an inferior way to experience the original source. They never managed to keep up with the level of writing the original did and thought they could get away with it just by plastering a different setting and timeline in it along with a different name. And when I say inferior, I mean by having mediocre storytelling, the only thing this story had to offer was the old tragedy tale and it doesn't capture that kind of charm you would expect from a classic Disney movie (We don't talk about the remakes). Albeit, the chemistry between the main lovers and some of the side characters is decent at best, the story starts to falter apart when the tragedy ends and delves into a less-focused subject with entry-level writing.

What fuels a character is dialogue. They're what drive the story forward and give us an insight into what the character is like. Now look at the characters and tell me what they think normally. Anything they could strike up for conversation other than Miyo is tragically boring to listen to. This is why I tend to like stories made as simple and less thematic as they can since trying to grasp multiple themes requires you to scrutinize and capture that lightning in a bottle to show the audience the exact feeling of it. A mediocre writer just uses it as a way to progress the story without much thought behind it. It's a result of just taking a story everyone is accustomed to and making it your own without trying to grasp the special inspirations that might have made this tale a lot more special. I know it's still just a Cinderella tale, but looking at its setting and the themes it seemed to tackle, I was hoping there was something more it could offer. Turning these fantasy powers into a race of power and influence was a bold move to be made and it could have fared as a great way to provide high stakes and tension which would be perfect for drama, only for its wonder to be diminished by the mediocre storytelling, a bit sluggish pacing, and poor handling of the characters that could have meant much more than a simple one-note exposition on scene.

If you didn't bother to read any of that, let me give you these simple notes:

Watch My Happy Marriage if you want:
- Decent romance chemistry
- Good animation
- Cute moments

Don't watch it if you expect:
- A well-written drama
- No gimmicks
- Real tension