Why ‘My Happy Marriage’ Is Worth Your Time

When it’s about soaking up good vibes, I often take up Japanese anime—the fantasy genre for the most part. You see, I got the fixation from those prodigious Hayao Miyazaki films, and the draw has only gotten stronger through the years. Even the present me, mature and wiser, loves to dunk in their fanciful realms of aesthetic glory and, fundamentally, their irreplaceable insights. My Happy Marriage (Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon), is a good case in point. If you ask me, it is in a league of its own—a sight for sore eyes, awash in wonder, imagination, ease, and hope.

The Takahiro Kubota-directed television anime series, a sci-fi fantasy written by Akumi Agitogi and illustrated by Tsukiho Tsukioka, debuted in Japan in the first quarter of July this year across a variety of networks, with Netflix simulcasting the same.

The epic saga opens with a girl born without a supernatural gift—Miyo Saimori—who is coerced into servitude by her tyrannical stepmother. Adding insult to injury, Miyo, now at the age to wed, learns her fiance is Kiyoka Kudou, the commander believed to be too frigid and vile. In ways that his previous would-be wives abandoned him in a jiffy. Miyo nonetheless endures the inevitable, having nowhere else to turn, yet conversely discovers that the dashing but pallid Kiyoka is nothing like the dread she feels. They are each gradually getting to know each other and realizing that theirs may be a happy marriage—one of true love.

The series is effective in that it complies with Japanese anime norms. Its lofty graphics and even accuracy give the closest attention to portraying in full color the setting, the characters, their traits, the dense natural beauty of Japan, and the momentous occasion of the Meiji Restoration. The intricate details used to illustrate each character’s attributes—Miyo and Kiyoka, of course, are the highlights—seem so real. As if you can feel their emotions in your bones. They are conjuring up pragmatic sentiments, their distinct feelings, trepidations, and reservations, and then those transformations of opinions about each other; they are taking slow steps toward a union of their lives. All of that is conveyed to the core, ensuring an irrevocable lure to behold.

I don’t mind if it’s something of a Cinderella story, for it’s pretty much a heart-fluttering love story that sprouts from suffering. Miyo is muddling through the mill, much like Cinderella, until Kiyoka comes to lend a hand, pouring a heartful of love on her. Slowly thereafter, her sense of self and latent abilities come to light. In an experience like this, you don’t have to ponder or see past the obvious. Just sit back and relax while watching until that expected happily-ever-after ending rolls in, and yes, the waiting period is worth it. It’s got imagination, fantasies, mystique, enticement, and everything in between exquisitely entwined in a hypothetical feel-good romance.

Only four episodes have been released so far, but I can’t wait to see how the rest of the plot pans out since, like in most love stories, there are schemes afoot here to prevent the proposed marriage from taking place. Kiyoka, however, will undoubtedly go above and beyond with all of his brute force and phenomenal skills to make things right and eventually rescue his sweetheart.

It’s worth mentioning before rounding off this post: My Happy Marriage was made into a live-action film by Ayuko Tsukahara, starring Mio Imada as Miyo Saimori and Ren Meguro as Kiyoka Kudou. It premiered in Japan in March 2023, preceding the anime adaptation, and was an overwhelming success, receiving massive entries during its run. Watch the trailer for it below.