My Happy Marriage S2 Ep 9

Miyo’s vision from the first episode of the season has finally come to fruition. And even though I knew this was coming, watching the whole event unfold was absolutely brutal. Hazuki getting strangled was absolutely horrific since it really looked like they were about to snap her neck. And then seeing Kiyoka get freaking shot– by Arata no less, which had me furiously shout, “GOD DAMN IT ARATA!” Of course while this is all happening, Miyo’s in distress because Usui made it clear that he intends to kill Kiyoka in order to forcibly awaken her powers. So Miyo had to struggle with not wanting to play into his hands or remain powerless. It’s a difficult situation, especially since she doesn’t want her powers to be used for abuse, to brainwash society and control them according to Usui’s whim. And on top of all of that, with Kiyoka now arrested, he didn’t waste a second longer to tell her that he loves her. But that also hurt like a bitch because despite the circumstances, Miyo couldn’t even bring herself to say it back. Because god damn it, having to hear him confess that he truly loves her in this situation is just awful! Ugh, everything about this scene hurt. Talk about pouring salt to gaping wounds!

This week we got confirmation that memories that Miyo has been experiencing were actually all of Usui’s dreams. While she does have the power to see into the past and the future, under these circumstances she had wandered into his. He was dreaming of days he shared with Sumi, and what through that she got to see drove him into creating the Gifted Communion. While it’s relatively unclear whether Sumi truly loved Usui as much as he had loved her, she did make a point to him that he needed to move on, and find something or someone else to cherish. The problem though, is that Usui has always been extremely dependent on Sumi. She was his entire world (in an unhealthy way), which was also why she was the only one who could put up the guard-rails so that he wouldn’t go astray. But without her, being told she doesn’t need him to protect her anymore, those guard-rails are gone, and he went rogue.

So now we have Usui and his organization going on a rampage. The Gifted Communion now has complete control of the military. They’ve removed the higher-ups and replaced with their personals. The Education Minister has been revealed to be the insider betrayer, as he’s working alongside Usui (who disdains the man, but knows he has his uses) and seeks to become Prime Minister. They also have Emperor in custody, keeping him alive, but nothing more than that. They are using his authority to abuse their position of power, which was why they were able to arrest Kiyoka (under false charges of treason) in the first place.

However all that said, it’s important to note the adaption has cut out quite a chunk out of the dialogue between Miyo and Usui, and has taken some liberties in changing how the scene of crisis unfolded. Notably, in the novel: There was a longer and more in-depth confrontation scene between Kiyoka and the Minister of Education’s secretary (that had transformed into a Gortesquerie. It also wasn’t immediately follow-up to his arrest, which was also why Arata never shot Kiyoka. That’s why the anime actually made this whole thing even more stressful to watch. Because gosh dang it, that whole thing made it extra traumatizing for Miyo!

Bearing that in mind, I do want to be clear: Unlike the earlier episodes, I’m actually not upset about the way they did it. I think in a lot of ways, due to the way they’ve dramatically (and violently if I may add) built up to it, they wanted to raise the stakes so that the viewers would be more emotionally engaged in what’s going on. Of course that isn’t to say the novel failed to do that. I enjoyed it just as much, especially since it really fleshes out what’s going on. So both have their charms. That said, I still wholeheartedly recommend anime-only viewers to consider reading the novels. There’s a lot that gets left out that fleshes out all the characters.

Speaking of which, we really need to give Kazushi special shout-out. He’s one of those types of characters you meet in the early on with a minimal presence, without knowing at the time whether he’d continue to be relevant as the story goes on. So I really appreciate how involved he is, as his character is being utilized with his specialty of  dispelling curses. In this case, they’ve had him called in to inspect a particular work the Gifted Communion had made, a trinket of a sort with a barrier holding Gortesquerie remnants to enable the consumer to transform and be unaffected by a Gift’s powers. That’s why, not only Kiyoka’s shiki-gami had failed to protect Miyo, (poor thing all crumpled now), but Godou had to use alternative source, such as steel beams to take one down instead of using his powers directly against it.

Overall I thought this episode was pretty damn good. They’ve really worked to build up the momentum of this arc, so I’m curious what other sorts of liberties they may take when Miyo has to face Usui herself. And with that, we’ve completed the fifth volume of the novel, right on schedule! Thankfully we do have thirteen episodes listed for this season, so we got four more episodes left to cover Vol 6!