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Happy Marriage?! (Hapi Mari in the original Japanese) is the Japanese Manga version of a Harlequin Presents novel. Executive Hokuto Mamiya must marry humble “office lady” Chiwa Takanashi to please his nepotistic corporate chairman grandfather, who loved Chiwa’s grandmother. Chiwa accepts so she can settle her father’s debts, thereby drawing herself not only into professional challenges (can she help him inherit the chairmanship? can she have a career of her own?) but also his family drama (was his mother really murdered by his father?). While this series certainly has some of the negative elements of a Presents, it elevates itself by doing the one thing a Presents too rarely does: it lets the hero change. By the end, I liked both protagonists, and I was happy to see them able to move forward in their lives together.
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The story unfolds over the course of several years, with episodic plots interspersed with the overarching narrative of Hokuto’s striving for promotion and Chiwa attempting to resolve the story of what happened in his past. We see the couple go through ordinary married issues, like reconciling Hokuto’s crushing work schedule with Chiwa’s attempts to make daily breakfast, and also more soapy and melodramatic ones, like kidnappings. I have nothing against soaps; it’s just fair for a reader to know that there will be over-the-top crises alongside the more human conflicts because that doesn’t work for everyone. I preferred the ordinary life episodes, which are often thoughtful. In one early mini-story, Chiwa diets and works out like a maniac so that when she attends a reunion, she’ll look better than the beautiful girl her boyfriend cheated on her with. When she attends, she discovers that the girl has become a glowingly happy mother and wife, albeit one who is plainer and heavier than Chiwa. Chiwa is deeply embarrassed by her shallowness.
I won’t lie and tell you you’ll never smack your forehead while reading this series. Hokuto can be a complete jerk, Chiwa can be a complete idiot, and misunderstandings run rampant. The series unfolds over several years, so when they fail to talk about a problem and you realize it’s been simmering for weeks (or months, or years), it’s even more annoying than when the same problem lasts just days in other books.
But on the whole, they make progress on the core problem of their relationship: neither of them knows how to be a spouse. Chiwa swings wildly between trying to be a perfect accessory wife and wanting her own career. Hokuto is used to being completely alone, and since his family is largely toxic and his parents weren’t married, he has no model for a healthy, loving relationship. His continued efforts and gradual improvement made it easier for me to forgive him for getting it wrong. Chiwa doesn’t grow as much, and she commits the classic cliche of falling-in-love-while-being-treated-like-crap. On top of that, she has a serious inferiority complex. Late in the story, however, she stands up for herself, and I believed that both of them had learned enough to be happy – which in their case means arguing – ever after. I appreciated the fact that the author didn’t pretend that being married and in love is enough for a perfect life together.
The art is solid – not particularly distinguishing, but I didn’t have much to complain about, either. Overall, it’s competent manga. I liked that we saw Hokuto’s wardrobe change to include non-suits as he began to loosen up. I was a bit puzzled by the fact that their sex scenes often placed Hokuto behind Chiwa – it does look a bit odd. As is typical with mainstream manga, you will see breasts, and sometimes Barbie-style blank female crotch areas, but no genitals.
Books in the Harlequin Presents mode always seem to go one of two ways for me: a great guilty pleasure full of pampering, luxury, and escapism, or the depressingly abusive story of an alpha-hole steamrolling a doormat. Happy Marriage?! is definitely more of the guilty pleasure. It’s not perfect, but it was fun, and I found the ending particularly satisfying.
Grade: B
Book Type: Contemporary Romance|Graphic Novel
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 16/04/15
Publication Date: 2015/02
I'm a history geek and educator, and I've lived in five different countries in North America, Asia, and Europe. In addition to the usual subgenres, I'm partial to YA, Sci-fi/Fantasy, and graphic novels. I love to cook.
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.