That wasn’t happy at all…
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To be fair, the first episode of My Happy Marriage doesn’t really get to the marriage so who knows. Maybe things get happier from here. Otherwise, this title is an awfully ironic one.
My Happy Marriage takes place in the 19th century Japan, during the Meiji Restoration. The show revolves around Miyo Saimori (Reina Ueda), who begins her story living the most miserable life imaginable. Despite being born to a prestigious family, Miyo serves as one of their servants. Her stepmother and her half-sister, Kaya (Ayane Sakura) treat with her complete disdain while her father is apathetic to the abuse she deals with. About the only one who treats Miyo with kindness is her friend Kouji (Koutaro Nishiyama), the second son of the Tatsuishi family. Things take a turn when Miyo’s father arranges for Kaya to marry Kouji and Miyo to marry Kiyoka Kudo (Kaita Ishikawa), a soldier and family head with a notorious reputation. Dejected over Kouji and Kaya’s marriage and having nowhere else to go, Miyo agrees to her marriage to Kiyoka and travels to the Kudo estate to meet him.
Mileage might vary over the depiction of Miyo’s pitiful introduction. I understand that it’s to elicit sympathy and it’s needed for the type of story that show is going for but I also find it to be a bit relentless. The poor girl barely has a moment of solace in this episode. About the only one she gets is when Kouji visits her and gives her candy. Even when she’s heading off into what is supposedly going to be a happy marriage, the show plays flashbacks detailing her mother’s death and her terrible childhood as if the present-day scenes weren’t enough material to make us feel for her. Simply put, this episode can get pretty heavy. This isn’t to say it doesn’t all work. Reina Ueda does a great job working with the material and capturing Miyo’s dread and resignation. Some moments are effective gut punches, the most notable being Miyo finding out that her one and only friend is arranged to marry her abusive stepsister and Kouji trying to apologize to her about the marriage when it’s really not his fault.
A bigger complaint to have this first episode is that it would’ve benefitted from being double length. It ends right as Miyo meets Kiyoka that barely gives us much in order to gauge over whether or not their marriage is going to be a happy one. The only comment Miyo makes about her fiancée before the episode cuts off is his good looks and that’s obviously surface level. The show establishes some gossip surrounding Kiyoka. In particular, he has had a lot of extremely short-live marriages beforehand. However, that doesn’t necessarily establish his actual personality. Had this double episode been double length and we get to learn a bunch about Kiyoka, I think this episode would end on a stronger note, if not a more optimistic one. That way, we’d actually have an idea as to why this show is called My Happy Marriage.
Something to note, and I apologize if this is a spoiler, is that this show apparently has some supernatural elements. I might’ve missed the dialogue that establishes this but I mostly know this because of synopses I’ve read around the internet. In this episode, it’s not a terribly prevalent element. Miyo herself doesn’t show off any powers though for all I know, that could be an important plot point. Right now, the show seems to be squarely focused on character drama and that’s perfectly fine. I just wonder how the supernatural factor in and whether or not it’s necessary for the show to work.
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Watch My Happy Marriage on Netflix.
Xenodude Scribbles 