English Dub Review: Marriagetoxen “The Poison Master’s Search for a Bride”
OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)
Hikaru Gero is a master assassin who is also under pressure by his family to get a wife to continue their legacy of poison knowledge, but his life long commitment to assassination has made dating impossible. Even worse, his sister Akari may have to break up with her girlfriend to force herself into a loveless marriage if he can’t find a partner. That problem changes when he meets Mei Kinosaki, a crossdressing marriage swindler who Hikaru agrees to not kill in exchange for him help find Hikaru a bride.
OUR TAKE
We’ve got another new anime for the Spring season, and it’s KIND OF another romantic comedy, though mainly about finding one guy a potential wife because of pressure from his family. And to add to the wackiness and potential for well animated fight scenes by Studio Bones, he’s also an assassin who kills people for a living. So, while the inherent comedy of someone with no romantic experience trying to take on the dating scene will prominently on display, we can also look forward to the occasional action and subterfuge of his assassin work to drip in as well. It’s a really solid premise that actually sets my hopes pretty high for the show, and the only reason I’m rating at a seven is really just because it didn’t immediately blow me away. As a personal rule, I cap my scores for first episodes at eight, since I don’t know what a ten out of ten for a series could be until we’re at least a handful of episodes in. The best an opening episode can be is one that makes you want to see what’s next without giving too much away to make you think you’ve seen all there is to see, so in that goal, I would say this first episode did it’s job rather well.
Of course, while Mei is revealed to be a guy, and the goal is to find a WIFE for Hikaru to marry, there is also that enticing bit of “will they, won’t they” between the two already beginning to form. And unlike plenty of other shows I could think of, there is a more realistic chance of this not being “queer-baiting”, since it’s established early on that Hikaru has a lesbian sister, so the story is willing to acknowledge that queer people exist! Hooray for low bars in progressivism! So, there is a slightly more than usual possibility that this story may come to the conclusion that Hikaru is also gay and just never realized it because he never really pursued romance before…but even that seems like too easy a turn, so who knows. Regardless, the point is that I am plenty interested to see how this series will go, even if I’m also being paid to watch it for this job, so I’ll see you next week to see how that all plays out. Or maybe I’ll be poisoned before that next episode comes around.
