English Dub Review: Marriagetoxen “What is “Charm,” Anyway?”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Mei takes Hikaru to an art gallery on a cruise ship for a practice date, though it soon becomes clear he wants to practice something else: saving women and forming bonds that way.

OUR TAKE

So, when I saw the first episode last week, the fact that Hikaru was described as a “Poison Master” and this story would involve assassins gave me the impression the extent of the fantastical would be within typical items used for assassination. If there’s a master for poison, then I thought there would be a master of knives, bombs, disguise, and so on. There might still be some masters like that out there, but this episode kinda blows the door open with other possibilities, as in his attempt to rescue a noble art thief named Kyoko Himekawa, the first “Master” opponent Hikaru faces is Shizuku Ushio, the Water Master, meaning she can apparently control it at will like she’s Katara from Avatar. That was definitely a surprise in what I expected, but I’ll roll with it, especially since the controlled water and subsequent fight is animated pretty dang well, and also pretty funny, as well as highlighting how Ushio is someone who has no loyalties except for the the temporary allegiance to a client for a job, contrasting how Hikaru is someone who genuinely cares about protecting those he cares about. Neither of them are by any means the only ones in their field to feel their respective ways on the matter, but having a clear foil now to show how Hikaru’s views stand out is helpful.

And now that we’ve talked about the Toxin side, let’s talk about the Marriage side, or rather all the romantic hijinks and shenanigans going on as Mei works to find Hikaru a bride. At the very least, they’ve progressed to the point that he’s not just throwing Hikaru to speed dating sessions, and the way he saved him when they met showed him that Hikaru is rather charming when he is saving someone’s life. And it turns out that picking this ship art gallery was not just a neat potential date spot, but also the planned target for Kyoko Himekawa, the aforementioned art thief that steals solely to get already stolen art back to its owners, but then she is captured, leading to Hikaru getting involved solely to possibly charm her. Though to save her, he’s gotta fight off Shizuku, and that’s where we’re left on for this episode. See you next time for the conclusion to this specific fight! Poison and Water don’t really have an effect on each other in Pokemon so even I don’t know how this will turn out!