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A VILLAIN’s Closure.. My Happy Marriage Season 2 Episode 12 [Video Review]

Miyo & Kiyoka meet face-to-face against Naoshi and Arata for the final showdown.

Video Review

What Stands Out the Most?

After Miyo, Kiyo and Kazushi helped free Kiyoka, Miyo and Kiyoka are reunited once again to help bring an end to Naoshi’s plans.

A Satisfying END??

It’s a romance story, so it’s not so surprising that a man created an entire cult to revolt against the empire to create a better one for his dead woman—that was ripped away from him to be wed into another family. When we peel back the motivations behind Naoshi Usui and everything he has done to this point by killing, turning people into grotesqueries on the premise of giving ordinary people access to equal knowledge and power—it was all done to fulfill what he thought was Sumi’s vision. It’s a vision that involved giving the Usuba family the right to live as ordinary people without the restrictions of only serving the empire and “keep the blood within the family.”

With the backstory of Arata, paralleling the same struggles of the Usubas before him, it was one that was very personal to this specific family. However, the story did make a clear attempt to show that it isn’t just some superpower ostracized family that had to follow some structural power, ordinary people had similar complaints. Otherwise, the Gifted Communion cult would have never existed and created such a stir. Of course, that was partially by the means of some mind manipulation bedazzling, but that’s only a piece of the whole puzzle.

“What’s a pacifist going to do, slap me?” – Naoshi Usui
“I’m fully awakened not just in power, but..” – Miyo Saimori
“But what?” – Naoshi Usui
**SLAP**
“I like this for more ways than one.” – Kiyoka Kudo
“Wow.. Maybe Naoshi’s right. That felt great.” – Miyo Saimori

When Sumi showed up, it wasn’t quite the closure I was looking for. For someone that allowed Naoshi to be her “sword,” it boiled down to just “protecting my family.” This means that Sumi, who wanted to live a better world free from the Usuba restrictions that helped lead to Naoshi’s radical acts, didn’t have anything to say for what he was trying to accomplish for her. It was merely.. “just stop, you don’t have to do this for me anymore.” This is the point where many of the details that led to everything Naoshi was doing is up for interpretation. There are a lot of gaps within the general concept of Naoshi’s “Gifted Communion” that left little to be desired.

Action & Intensity Hype?

For an anime like My Happy Marriage, the expectation isn’t to see a shonen level high octane fight, but we got a satisfactory level semblance of such a grand battle at the end. If this was a studio that had the budget to throw a giant wad of cash at it, this episode had the perfect script where everything could have been more dramatic and more impactful at every point, but just because the action scenes could have been better doesn’t mean it wasn’t exciting to watch, though.

“Who needs to tickle your brain stem with my bedazzling when..” – Naoshi Usui
“I can bedazzle you with my knife instead!” – Naoshi Usui
“I too forego the use of my powers for the use of a sharp object to match yours!” – Kiyoka Kudo
“You know what?” – Kiyoka Kudo
“It’s bedazzling time..” – Kiyoka Kudo
“It sure is!” – Naoshi Usui
“There’s a lot of context missing here, but..” – Kiyoka Kudo
“Mind bedazzlers like me don’t get caught off guard too easily.” – Naoshi Usui

Naoshi’s mind manipulation of making Kiyoka see things he shouldn’t, only to be knifed in the back was thrilling. Kiyoka purposefully getting impaled by a knife through the hand, only to fire off a giant blast is levels of badassery that defies expectations for a romance anime. These are just a couple of examples of an awesomely choreographed fight that left me satisfied from an action standpoint.

Arata’s Redemption

Overall, leave it to Cousin NTR.. I mean Arata Usuba! To finish the job that Miyo wouldn’t ever be able to do. The MC Miyo Saimori is very idealistic and wants peace through words, while Naoshi believes that power and force is necessary. Hurting people is part of the process of world change. The episode leaves us with these two perspectives where the truth probably lies somewhere in between. This might be where “up for interpretation” makes the most sense. If Arata did not blast Naoshi, it might be Kiyoka or even Miyo that end up meeting Sumi on the other side.

“Stop Naoshi.” – Sumi Saimori
“I did all of this for you!” – Naoshi Usui
“I’m pretty sure hurting my family isn’t one of them.” – Sumi Saimori
“Tell him!” – Miyo Saimori
“It’s too late..” – Naoshi Usui
“Do you even know how many deaths of people I’m responsible for?!” – Naoshi Usui
“Yep. And that’s why you get the YEET.” – Arata Usuba
“Now you can join me on the other side.” – Sumi Saimori
“True mercy by letting me die here..” – Naoshi Usui
“I deserve so much more than being called ‘Cousin NTR’.” – Arata Usuba

If there’s one final thought I want to leave for this arc, it’s that season 2’s concepts from the plot, the villain and the character development have been compelling. How it started had me hooked with great romantic development, a tormentingly smart villain that actually wins and with a great balance of tense moments from either action or by “DEMON MOTHER TERESA!” What these past few episodes lacked was the time to let the concepts be explored and marinate. That would be my biggest complaint.

However, this episode as a whole got the job done and addressed the biggest issues the plot had with Naoshi’s motivations and actions. It gave us closure and it ended the way it should with Sumi holding Naoshi’s hands to bring him to the other side.

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