It’s yet another entry in the season of Samu, where seemingly half the manga my podcast co-host talks about are getting an anime. This time around it’s Marriagetoxin, which is an interesting one for a number of reasons. It’s a Shounen Jump+ series without especially strong sales. They started out pretty decent but have dipped a fair bit. It was probably right on the edge of what I would normally consider viability for a production committee. But then you add the fact that this adaptation is being produced by Bones (Film) and it really makes you wonder if Marriagetoxin has a champion in high places.

Marriagetoxin is also kind of interesting in its own right, I think. I didn’t love this episode but it was undeniably not a mass-produced model. It veered off in a couple of “road less travelled” directions (and no, I wasn’t spoiled about the big twist). A mixed bag on the whole – I thought the B-part was far more entertaining than the A-part. But at least I was watching a show about grown-ups and it wasn’t one I’d seen a hundred times before. That’s not enough, but it’s a start.

First off the series is absolutely preposterous, you just have to take that as read. I don’t know if it’s technically sci-fi but there’s no way the stuff Gero Hikaru does is remotely possible. Being a poisoner? Sure, they exist, though the whole “ancient poisoner family” thing is a manga conceit. But those are superpowers, sorry. That aside, the deal is that his grandma insists Hikaru has to get married and have an heir, and has tried to set him up in an arranged marriage. He considers himself too much of a loner and freak to ever find someone (he’s not wrong TBH). So she eventually insists that his younger sister Akari pop an heir out. Given that she’s gay and in love with her girlfriend that idea doesn’t sit well with Akari.

Hikaru is perfectly fine with his sister’s choices and in fact, will eventually decide to take one for the team to spare her that fate. Problem is he’s so utterly clueless about women that he has zero chance of landing one. So when one of his targets turns out to be a “marriage swindler” named Kinosaki Mei, he offers to spare her if she’ll wed him. Mei refuses defiantly, but he eventually spares her anyway and unleashes one of his toxins on all the lowlifes who were looking to be entertained by watching her die.

Except… Mei is a dude, which he informs Gero of once they’ve excused themselves from the party. He’s happy to present as either gender as it gives him twice the targets to swindle, and he needs to raise money for his brother’s medical care. Once these two hook up as an odd couple the episode gets much livelier and funnier. Mei’s attempts to shop Hikaru around via speed-dating and dating apps go hilariously cattywampus (at one point he decides to lead with his income level) and the two of them have very good comic chemistry.

This scenario presents some interesting possibilities. Mei and Hikaru could wind up falling for each other, but while that would satisfy Hikaru’s genuine desire to find someone, it wouldn’t do any good as far as his grandmother is concerned. Hikaru is likable in an offbeat sort of way – for a murderer at least. He does want some semblance of normalcy, he’s just a total weirdo in every way and has zero social literacy. As for Mei, he’s pretty amusing and his face offers the animators a nice canvas for reaction shots. Most importantly they’re good together, whatever that might or might not lead to. I’m nowhere near committed but Marriagetoxin definitely did enough to leave me curious to see where it goes from here.