Welcome to Astral Animations, where we'll examine the imports of Japanese animation currently available in the United States.
This review does not represent the opinions of the general public. It reflects my personal thoughts and opinions on the movie.
That said, on to the review!
There comes a time in most everyone's life that thoughts turn towards the future: contemplating what it will be like, and most importantly, whether it will be alone or with a life-long companion. Some feel that for everyone person in the world there is a destined soulmate somewhere out there. Some feel that fate needs a helping hand and actively searching for the perfect spouse is the only way to go. But there is only one, final goal that both sides have in mind: marriage.
In The Red String of Fate, four friends working in the same company--Reiko, Kiyomi, Mika, and Mami--are concerned over the seemingly lonely existence of their friend, Shizuka. Well, Mika and Mami are concerned, Reiko and Kiyomi have their own relationships to deal with. Mami is alone herself, but she believes that somewhere there is someone bound to her by the red string of fate. Mika, however, thinks Fate needs a helping hand and forces Shizuka into joining a dating service in hopes of finding her perfect someone. When that idea fails, Shizuka's about ready to throw in the towel, believing that her red string of fate has already been cut. But perhaps her destiny is closer at hand than either she or Mika suspects. Will she find happiness with Yuusuke, Mika's boyfriend, who Mika's having second thoughts about? Maybe it will be Shimon, who Kiyomi recently broke up with. Or will it be someone she works with, like Togo, Mikimaro, or Sho? Who knows who her red string is attached to? Not Shizuka, that's for sure!
In Two-Fifths of Women's Sorrow, the girls are back, but this time they're all sisters, and all well on the way to happy marriages...except for Kiyomi. Her sisters despair of her ever finding a husband, but fate offers a providential hand by providing them with a young man deeply in love with Kiyomi: Mikimaro, one of Kiyomi's co-workers. He's come to the house, hoping to ask Kiyomi out and, receiving full encouragement from her sisters, does so. After a lot of persuasion on their part--practically throwing her out of the house--she agrees and goes with Mikimaro to a movie. Now, however, Mikimaro's faced with a harder task. He has the gift in his pocket and the resolve to proceed...but Kiyomi doesn't seem interested, and each passing moment makes it harder for him to ask her. Will he ever get around to proposing to her, or will Kiyomi spend the rest of her days as a spinster?
Marriage is a 60-minute, two episode anime feature. It isn't an action flick like Fire Emblem, Shinesman, or Poltergeist Report. It is a spine-tingling horror feature like Blood Reign: Curse of the Yoma and Dark Cat. Nor is it a love story like Fake. It is, instead, a heart-warming, pleasantly amusing pair of vignettes about two of the most important aspects of life and how to deal with them.
Perhaps the hardest thing to understand when watching this anime is that the five women are co-workers in the first episode and sisters in the second and that they aren't with the ones they were in the first. For example, in Episode 1 Shimon and Kiyomi were an item until they broke it off. In Episode 2, Shimon is Mami's soon-to-be husband and Kiyomi's suitor is Mikimaro, who in the first episode was the hopeful paramour of Reiko, who was the same age as Mami but in the second episode is her oldest sister. I guess the easiest way to accept this is by thinking of them as actors in a documentary-type drama. It's like they're putting on two separate skits but with the characters retaining the same names and faces in both skits. Actually, this is one of the more interesting parts of the anime: while you're puzzling about the changed relationships, you don't pay attention to what's going on, so you have to go back and watch it again to get everything straight. Ingenious, ne?
The characters were excellent and well suited to their roles. The ladies were all beautiful, though I personally think Mami's dresses were a little too extravagant--too prom-like with puffed sleeves and all--for everyday work and wear. Certainly the others were dressed to kill, looking every bit like executives and company employees. And when Shizuka took off her glasses she looked even better. But, to be fair and open-minded about it all--I've adopted it as my motto--the men were equally good-looking and well-dressed. Mikimaro came off as rather youthful--hence everyone's underestimation of his age--which I think his clothing could have off-set somewhat. Togo and Sho were as dressed for success as the ladies were. Shimon seemed to be more laid-back than the rest--he wasn't in the company--and for that matter, so did Yuusuke. We see Yuusuke in his jogging togs when Mika's pressuring him to help her, and while I can't comment on whether he dresses well or not, I will say--on behalf of my friend, who thought he was totally hot--he was a "total babe." For my part, I wish I could look anywhere near as good as any of them...but I'm not that lucky.
What was really interesting to me, however, wasn't the characters or the plots necessarily. It was the two interludes--one in Episode 1, one in Episode 2--where the characters went SD and provided two mini-lectures on seeking out a date/spouse and on preparing and carrying out the proposal. They offer charts and graphs depicting various things about marriage: what males and females look for in their dates, what kinds of gifts are best for men and women, how much money is spent preparing for the big night (proposal night), etc. While these things might sound boring to you, it is the way they are presented that makes them so interesting. In the first episode, Mikimaro pokes his head into Yuusuke's class to describe his pursuit of Reiko, allowing Yuusuke to segue from point to point. He plays a similar and more involved role in the second episode. That the characters are all in SD form makes it even more amusing. And I don't care whether anyone thinks I'm a henjin or not, but I thought Yuusuke looked cute in his SD form. It was easier to watch his noseless face than those kids from South Park (which I can't stand) and those waterdrops they use to indicate nervousness or discomfort seemed much more in place on the SD forms than they would have on a regularly drawn character. In this instance, anyway.
Media Blasters has released this anime in America and, presumably, Canada under its "AnimeWorks" label, which means that there is, theoretically, nothing morally questionable in its content. In point of fact, this is probably the most G-rated anime I've ever seen, with no signs of violence, sexual content, or profanity anywhere in sight. Well, maybe there is one questionable scene at the ramen stand, but considering society the way it is now, hardly outraging. I bought this video in the dubbed version--couldn't find the sub anywhere at the time--and enjoyed it, even without the action, or the horror, or the supernatural stuff. Which means what, you ask? That it's an excellent anime in a class of its own! Either that, or I'm too open-minded for my own good!
You can likely purchase Marriage on videotape at any video store that sells Japanese anime. You can also order it through the Media-Blasters website.
Interested in buying this video? You can! Just follow the link to order the English subtitled VHS version or the English dubbed VHS version. You can also visit the Stellar Video Store for other titles.
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