(welcome in, friends—in this usage, “girl” is rated E for everyone)
“Everybody mad…”
I usually try to keep it professional, even when I’m making jokes, but with this one, I’m going to talk to you like I talk to my friends. When I say “mad” I mean completely insane. I guess the criminal underworld will do that to you. Imagine being a master assassin who specializes in poison, from the most poisonous family in the yakuza, but you don’t know how to talk to girls. The previous generations had the term “lady-killer.“1 This guy is NOT the legendary him. His name is Hikaru, and he’d be a classic Romance cinnamon roll if the icing were made out of cyanide instead of powdered sugar.
Here’s the problem: The Five Great Families of the deadly arts are still clinging to their traditions. If Hikaru wants to lead his elite assassin family, he’ll need to get married. He doesn’t want to. The other problem is, he’s never had women look at him that way. Kind of hard to believe, but when you’re playing the shadows, who can see you? I don’t know if you’ve guessed this or not———but there’s another problem. If Hikaru doesn’t take the throne in the family, his baby sister will have to. The Gero Clan needs an air after all. Since baby-girl must be protected at all costs, the most ill-equipped man of all time has to find a bride.
I guess it’s a good thing he meets lots of women at work —don’t worry, I know how ridiculous that statement is. What you need to know is: It’s true. Hikaru meets the beautiful but deadly Mei Kinosaki on a job. Since Mei is a brilliant marriage scammer, Hikaru figures he’s found the answer to his problems. (More like he’s added another problem to his answers.)
“…same old assassins from the block”
I know. You’re probably questioning why I say this show is insane, but I can prove it. The first thing I thought about while watching was none other than Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii. Okaay, so now you see where this is going. These two anime are basically spiritual siblings in underworld madness.
In the opening scene, there is a group of gangsters who use nearly naked men as chairs around their dinner table. The mob boss smokes a full pack of cigarettes and then decides to put them out on the hand of his human chair, like the man is an ashtray. So no, I’m not being hyperbolic when I tell you this show is bananas, bonkers, and completely out of its mind. Hikaru’s best friend is a guy who commands poisonous insects. Okay, “commands” might not be the best description because they’re his pets. They’re all over him; some of them might be in him. There’s definitely a poisonous spider that lives underneath his face mask. Thanks for asking. Mei is also super mercurial, like multiple personalities mercurial, because of the whole scammer hustle marriage thing. She is not a nice girl— love that for her.
Based on the manga series written by Joumyaku and illustrated by Mizuki Yoda, and brought to us by Studio Bones, I don’t know how I feel about MARRIAGETOXIN yet. But the criminal absurdity provides a weird sort of escapism. So yeah, I’m supporting Hikaru in his marriage campaign, but I’m really here for Mei and the absolute chaos coming their way.
MARRIAGETOXIN starts streaming on Crunchyroll today
New episodes every Tuesday
Original Creator Jomyaku / Mizuki Yoda
Director Motonobu Hori
Series Composition Kimiko Ueno
Script Kimiko Ueno
Character Design Kohei Tokuoka
Chief Animation Director Kohei Tokuoka
Prop Design Ayumi Nagaki, Ryo Hirata
Art design Toshiki Amata
3D CGI SANZIGEN
CGI Director Taiki Nagashima
Editor Kumiko Sakamoto
Sound Director Haru Yamada
Sound Effects Tomokazu Mii
Music Taisei Iwasaki, Yuma Yamaguchi
Production Supervision BONES
Animation Production Bones Film
Production Marriage Toxin Production Committee
– SONGS –
Opening Theme Song
Kill or Kiss by Yurina Hirate
≠
Ending Theme Song
Shake Na Baby by AKASAKI
– JAPANESE VOICE CAST / CHARACTERS –
Haruki Ishiya as Hikaru Gero
Shion Wakayama as Mei Kinosaki
Anna Nagase as Kyoko Himekawa
Mariya Ise as Shizuku Ushio
Asaki Yuikawa as Shiori Ureshino
Soma Saito as Genya Naruko
Hinano Shirahama as Kimie Arashiyama
Shimba Tsuchiya as Piichi Nakagawa
Haruka Shiraishi as Akari Gero
Isamu Yusen as Toshiki Hanamaki
- The meaning of LADY-KILLER is a man who is extremely attractive to women.
from Merriam-Webster ↩︎
