My Happy Marriage Episode 2 was an interesting one for sure. For those who are unfamiliar with the series, Netflix’s synopsis details it as, “Miyo’s abusive family deems her worthless – but together with her powerful husband-to-be, her true self and hidden powers slowly begin to shine.” Let’s just dive into the review over My Happy Marriage, Episode 2.
You can also check out our review on Episode 1.
Episode 2 Summary (Spoilers Ahead!)
This episode starts as a continuation of the end of the last with Kiyoka, Miyo’s husband, telling Miyo that she is to follow his every order to the extent of dying if he commands her to do so. She follows easily with no objection, shocking Kiyoka.
Afterward, that night, Kiyoka’s maid, Yurie, shows Miyo to her room, a much more extravagant version of the one she had in her family room. In the room, Yurie warns Miyo against the rumors about Kiyoka and the misinformation that is spread about him, telling her that he is kind in reality before leaving.
Miyo then heads to sleep and reflects on her expectations of Kiyoka being more abusive to her than he had been. She then reflects on her lack of supernatural abilities and how Kaya was found to have spirit-sight and not her, remembering the consistent abuse her stepmother inflicted upon her as a result and the alienation she felt from her family.
These memories are revealed to be a dream and when Miyo wakes up, she decides to help around the house, making breakfast before Yurie even arrives. Yurie brings the breakfast to Kiyoka and reveals that it was made by Miyo. Kiyoka then tells her to sit by him and tells her to try it first, shocking her. Miyo, not used to this, is unsure how to respond and Kiyoka immediately assumes that there is poison in the food and tells her to try harder next time.
We’re then shown more of a focus on Kiyoka’s life and his work leading the anti-grotesqueries unit which heightens soldiers’ supernatural abilities and explains the magic system further. It is revealed that grotesqueries have begun to diminish over time, meaning that the rare attacks from them are sudden and chaotic.
Kiyoka is then brought some papers by a coworker and appears to be in a sour mood, causing his coworker to question whether or not another fiance has fled his home teasingly. A flashback is then shown between Kiyoka and Yurie where Yurie cautions him to be kinder to Miyo as she put great work into preparing the breakfast, causing Kiyoka to question why Yurie would defend her.
Doubting herself, Miyo begins to contemplate leaving.
Koji’s Perspective Comes up too
The episode then turns to Koji’s perspective where he is beginning to integrate himself into Miyo’s home and the Saimori family. He finally is able to see how small Miyo’s room was and is determined to be there for her if Kiyoka kicks her out.
Back to Miyo’s perspective, we see her apologizing for making a mistake with the breakfast and overstepping her position. He then reveals that he only didn’t want to eat food from a stranger and walks away.
At dinner, he instructs her to stop apologizing so much and asks if she had eaten beforehand. Miyo reveals that she told Yurie not to make her anything and didn’t eat. He then goes to prepare a bath and heats water with his supernatural ability, causing her to feel bad about herself and her inabilities.
Later on, Kiyoka apologizes to her behind a door over his aggression at breakfast and asks her to make it the next morning. After taking a bath and sleeping, she has another nightmare about the abuse from her stepmother and losing what she had of her birth mother, as well as an old servant, Hana.
In the morning, Yurie comes and helps her make breakfast for Kiyoka which he ends up liking, causing Miyo to start crying due to not being used to the praise. Kiyoka questions why she acts and dresses as she does if she is from a royal family and how her life must have been troubled.
Ending the episode from the perspective of Miyo’s father, it is revealed that Miyo was meant to be married to someone else due to her mother’s bloodline.
Supernatural Abilities and the Magic System
I was super glad to get a more in-depth look at the magic system as well as the predicament of Miyo lacking supernatural abilities in this episode. It was interesting to see how supernatural abilities only belonged to certain bloodlines, making Miyo’s worries justified and heightened.
It is revealed that the three abilities are telekinesis, pyrokinesis, and clairvoyance and that these powers were the embodiment of the spirit and its power.
This explanation makes me wonder why Miyo doesn’t have supernatural abilities. I’m thinking one possibility could be that her mother’s bloodline may not have had them. This might mean that the family she was meant to marry into may not have supernatural abilities either though, at the moment, this is only speculation.
Relationship Development
I loved seeing Kiyoka and Miyo’s interactions in this episode! It seems that he is already teaching her how to be stronger and take more confidence in herself in his insistence of her to stop apologizing, no matter how much of a jerk he is to her at the start of the episode.
It was also nice to see how Kiyoka himself was changing and taking Yurie’s advice to heart. It seems that, even though he won’t necessarily admit it through his stoic demeanor, he clearly is already feeling some sort of a connection to Miyo.
Pacing
The pacing in this episode felt like a huge improvement from that of the first episode since, it seems that most of the expository content was out of the way. This thankfully allowed for more focus on the world-building as well as the individual hopes of the character which is vital to the story. I also felt that, while the episode was packed with events, each part was given its time, impact, and the change in the characters was shown clearly through their action.
My Rating
Overall, this episode was beautiful! From the exploration of the magic to the different character’s and their hopes as well as the sudden plot twist at the end, I am super excited to see what will come in tomorrow’s episode!
Rating: 9/10
Want to see more wholesome anime? Check out our review on Kimi no Todoke below!
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