My Happy Marriage S2 Ep 4

After Naoshi giving everyone a jump-scare at the station, Kiyoka had arranged Miyo to stay within the military’s base premise for better protection. And with Godou is out of commission, it had been arranged for Jinnouchi Kaoruko, (the lone female member of the military) to be the one to serve as Miyo’s bodyguard.

So far things between Kaoruko and Miyo have been going well, to the point that Kaoruko asked Miyo if she’d be her friend. It made Miyo really happy to hear that, especially since she doesn’t have any girl friends outside of the Kudou household.

Kaoruko was introduced as a charming girl who possesses the mental fortitude and determination to work within the military despite the open sexism against her. Regardless of her achievements, she’ll never move up the ranks like her male peers would, and is still treated disrespectfully despite that. It’s a boys’ club, so she also has to leave the building to go to the washroom or get changed elsewhere, which makes it super inconvenient for her. She also has to deal with her colleagues giving her shit because their egos been bruised when she performs better than them.

We also saw the appalling hypocrisy in action that came from Mukadeyama (a squad leader Kiyoka works with) when he started giving Miyo shit about women wandering around the base, and outright calling her an enemy to all Gift users because she’s part of the Usuba Clan. Like the freaking nerve of him…  He’s better off keeping his mouth shut because if Kiyoka were to get the word that he said that to Miyo, he would TOAST. Just like that spot on the ground when Kiyoka attacked Naoshi at the station. Hmph!

By the end of the episode, Miyo decides rather than sit around doing nothing, she’d rather clean up that doomed kitchen as her way to helping out in some way. No surprise considering that is kind of her comfort zone given she’s very good at it.

In regards to Naoshi, we did get information about his character, particularly how problematic he was growing up. He’s known to possess the strongest powers in the family, and was described to have been a violent and uncontrollable child, who trusted anyone except for Sumi. Miyo was able to see her mother and Naoshi interact when they were children, but I’m disappointed that they cut it short by leaving out impressions that made Miyo wonder if he’s really her father as he claims he is. I really hope they will expand into that a bit more within the next episode, otherwise a lot of context is going to be lost or just glossed over entirely.

So if you asked me how this one went compared to last week, I would like say it was better... but man, it’s been a while since I last read volume 4, but the changes and things that had been cut out were so apparent to me, it was actually driving me crazy!

Let’s start with Naoshi’s greetings. This might seem as a trivial thing, but I was frustrated that they cut out Naoshi’s entire provoking dialogue exchange with Kiyoka that involved breaking the news to him that Godou and his unit had fallen into a terrible trap. Instead the direction they opted to go with came off was so cheesy I actually cringed, in what should’ve been a more tense situation. And not only that, but the novel did a much better job at SHOWING the way Naoshi’s abilities of messing with one’s senses (Kiyoka trying to grab Naoshi but couldn’t), compared to what we got, which as just manipulating the way they portrayed the space around them and Kiyoka and Arata getting absolutely bamboozled by it. They also chose to have Kiyoka use his power instead of Arata using his gun, (though in retrospect, both cases could’ve actually injured an innocent bystander instead. I mean, did you see that scorch mark on the ground?) Nevertheless, for Kiyoka specifically to use his power that recklessly in such a public space was a rather uncharacteristic move on his part. He was far more reserved with his actions against Naoshi in the novel, choosing to withdraw his sword over using his powers.

Next is more ever-growing concern about them cutting out both Miyo’s and Kiyoka’s sides covering their relationship development. Considering the way this episode went, I can’t help but fear it’s going to be watered down or worse- left out entirely, especially if they really are going to finish each volume within three episodes. I’ll elaborate further on what that is later on. It varies on when or how they choose to go about it.

Then we have Kaoruko. As mentioned earlier, she was introduced to be likeable as possible, and then the episode ended with Godou’s concern about her being Miyo’s bodyguard hanging. There was one instance of a hint early on, but I think most people can probably put the two together what Godou’s worried about. Doesn’t take any stretch of the imagination what that could possibly be. I’ll save the rest of what I got to say about that for next week when it should be addressed.

And finally, my last gripe with the episode was how they did a poor job of highlighting the atmosphere of Kaoruko and Miyo “not fitting in”. They stopped by many places, but the only time we only really saw and felt that was when they visited and Dojo and Kaoruko’s peers were saying stupid shit about how “women should be doing this and that”, and Mukadeyama was going on about Kaoruko never being able to rise up the ranks while at the same time putting her down. Honestly I’m surprised they fell short on this considering we’ve seen them deliver tense atmospheres before.

In short, the thing I’m the most peeved about right now is that, they seem to be trying to prioritize the Gift Communion plot over the development and set-backs Kiyoka and Miyo are supposed to be facing right now. But instead, I think because they are just trying to focus on one aspect of it, they on failing on both fronts. It’s like trying to deliver something that isn’t whole, so instead it’s left hollow. And considering this is supposed to be about Miyo’s and Kiyoka’s love-story, and the trials they have to overcome to face it, it doesn’t make any sense to me to ignore or gloss over the conflicts that contribute to making their relationship stronger. I just hope they can prove me wrong and pull this together.