Spoiler: This review contains spoilers for Marriagetoxin, Episode 1 “The Poison Master’s Search for a Bride”
Marriagetoxin is probably the strangest dating show I’ve ever watched.
Joumyaku and Mizuki Yoda’s manga was adapted into an anime with Studio Bones in charge of the animation. It’s a perfect fit, given how Bones animated My Hero Academia which has both action sequences and a zany sort of storyline.
The story follows Hikaru Gero, an assassin who specializes in killing his targets with poison. As the heir to the Poison Clan, Gero is expected to continue the family line, but he has absolutely no interest in marriage. His grandma then turns her attention to his sister, and not wanting his sister to break up with her girlfriend, Gero decides to take matters into his own hands and proposes to his next assassination target: the marriage swindler, Mei Kinosaki.
Kinosaki immediately rejects him, much to his dismay, but the two work out another deal: she’ll help him find someone he’ll want to marry and he’ll protect her and help her earn enough money to save her brother.
Marriagetoxin does some great things like queer representation with Gero’s sister having a girlfriend, Kinosaki being bisexual and genderfluid. They’re never treated as anything other and Kinosaki’s gender identity becomes an intrinsic part of the plot. Kinosaki conning only rich men and doing everything to save his brother gives him complexity.
The show also does a fantastic job of introducing Gero as this awkward man who struggles to do things that constitute as “normal” in the non-assassin world. Through little things like him doing DIY candy kits and him deep cleaning the washroom with a special poison to relieve his stress, it shows that Gero’s hobbies outside of his job are still connected to it. He can’t quite disentangle himself from his profession which makes finding a life partner so difficult to do.
Marriage seems to be a bit of a sore subject for Gero; he had a bad experience when his grandma tried to force him into an arranged marriage. Even though he seems to yearn for it, it feels more like marriage is the road to a normal life which is what I think he actually wants.
Marriagetoxin delivers on the comedy front well, first with the twist that Kinosaki is actually a man and then the various blind dates that Kinosaki sets him up on. Poor guy met thirty women and managed to scare all of them off in a day. Mei being a guy also adds an interesting element to their dynamic. Now, who’s to say that the two won’t ever fall for each other, but this does twist the cliché of “Gero-falling-for-the-person-who-was-there-with-him-from-day-one.”
Although the action came later, Bones’ strength in producing a captivating fight sequence shone through with the vibrant colors, the deliberate slo-mo of Gero flipping through the air, and the suave boss-video-game-esque soundtrack makes Gero look crazy freaking cool. No wonder Kinosaki was so charmed.
In comparison to the other spring season anime that I watched and reviewed like Witch Hat Atelier and Agents of the Four Seasons, Marriagetoxin, at least the first episode, just wasn’t doing it for me. Agents of the Four Seasons and Witch Hat Atelier ended on an emotional beat; the former left audiences wondering what happened to Hinagiku ten years ago that led to the loss of spring and the latter had viewers in shambles with Coco losing her mother.
While Marriagetoxin left the audience with questions–will Gero find his true love? Will Kinosaki be able to save his brother?–the stakes, narratively and emotionally, felt low. By sacrificing himself, Gero had solved his primary problem which was to save his sister from marrying a man. He also found someone to help with his dating problem. Now, it’s just a matter of time until he finds The One. It feels like the main conflict has already been solved in the first episode.
As great as Marriagetoxin looks on paper, let’s just say the show isn’t my type of poison.
