©2023 ・月岡月穂/KADOKAWA/「わたしの幸せな結婚」製作委員会
We’re starting to get to the bottom of things. The second plot in My Happy Marriage is, in a sense, a reminder that there is an afterlife “and they live happily ever after”. Two lives, as it happened—Miyo’s life after she was freed from the Saimori family and her mother’s life after she married into that family. The latter seems to be becoming much more important than the first appears. We know there’s something suspicious (or at least so) about Sumi Saimori’s maiden name, Sumi Usuba. The Usuba family has an unusual psychological gift, both sought after and feared. Now, as Kiyoka is trying to learn more about her fiancée’s mother, things become even more mysterious. Apparently, Sumi Usuba’s only record is her marriage to Saimori. Since she probably didn’t appear out of the blue, that raised many potentially troubling questions.
One is whether Usubas is still here, just living under a different name or hiding. Apparently, Saimoris somehow found Sumi, so there must be someone who knows how to approach Usubas. The chances for those people to have a high social status seem pretty high, which may have something to do with the guy with glasses we first saw last week. Arata, as his name suggests, is being carefully brought into Kiyoka’s work life and the reason for that is not entirely clear. It seems like it’s the emperor’s order, but by the time we actually get to see Arata this week, it looks like he may have some personal motives of his own. His overly casual posture and fake comments about Kiyoka’s engagement and the fact that he, Arata, also wants to settle down soon, feel very obvious in a way that’s not entirely comfortable. Key props for the animation documenting how he purposefully moves on the chair in Kiyoka’s office; it beautifully shows how everything he says and does counts.
The next big question is what these have to do with the opened tomb, which has unleashed more grotesques to hunt humans for so long. It seems doubtful that this happened just as Miyo re-emerged in the public (or at least imperial) mind? I would say at least a little, if only because it coincided with Arata being sent to disturb Kiyoka and the crown prince having some kind of vision. It’s all too convenient and that’s not a great sign, especially when we consider Miyo is dreaming about something Kiyoka is currently going through and Arata’s creepy moment under the cherry blossom tree. dig at the end.
They all make a deep impression. unfortunately hindered Miyo’s progress. Hazuki’s lessons in modern etiquette were difficult for her, and I imagine that she felt very exposed to the Western dress Hazuki gave her. I love the attention to detail here, such as the way Western clothing requires different gait and stride and the fact that a knife and fork require your hands to do two different things at once. Hazuki’s brown dress is about twenty years out of date (it looks more like the 1940s), but I can forgive that since everything else is beautifully done.
Miyo is currently learning a lot as she matures into life after the first fairy tale ends. The next story is about to draw her in; This time, the princess may need to understand how to save herself.
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My Happy Marriage is currently streaming on Netflix.
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are members of the Kadokawa Corporation.