Common Name: Jingai-san no Yome
Score: 5/10, 3/5
Length: 12 Episodes
Genre: Short-form, Comedy, Romance, Supernatural, Slice of Life, School Life
Summary: Having just reached marrying age, Tomari Hinowa has been put on a list of potential bride candidates for Japan's community of spirits, youkai, and other non-human creatures. Luckily for him, a furry, concrete-eating, non-human creature named Kanenogi-san has already taken an interest in Tomari. Now their marital life can begin in earnest. Though Tomari is obviously a bit concerned by his sudden marriage, the idea quickly grows on him as he makes friends with his fellow brides and their non-human partners.
Review: Though I tend to dislike shows that I can easily label "stupid," I must admit that a show's wholehearted acceptance of its stupidity can afford it some leniency on some matters that I might damn other shows for without any complaint. Jingai-san no Yome is one such stupid show. At its core it is thoughtless, pointless, and utterly without worth beyond being a vaguely saccharine palate cleanser. The show's premise is in and of itself proof of that fact. Yet, oddly enough, because its premise is so unreasonably dumb, I find myself willing to forgive some of its vaguely problematic themes and concepts. All too easily, I could bash it for being basic fujoshi trash or actively detrimental to depictions of homosexuality or furry culture. But I honestly think it's just too dumb to actually be a problem for anyone, let alone have enough of a mind to intend harm.
This show's kind of like a toddler that knows a few swear words. What it's doing might be offensive,
but it's not like you can get angry at them for it since they likely don't know what it means.
From the very beginning, this show is just utter nonsense. Without any explanation of this marriage system or even what non-human creatures like Kanenogi-san are, Jingai-san no Yome just kind of dives into what I guess you might call a story. I mean, one minute, Tomari Hinowa is just your standard high school boy, anxious about making friends at his new school and finding his place in the world. The next, he's been married off to a furry animal that spends most of the show gumming Tomari's head or chowing down on some concrete. While it's made clear that there is some intent behind the things Kanenogi-san does, it never really talks or does anything beyond quietly supporting anything Tomari wants. As for the show's main "bride," though, very little thought goes into his thoughts and feelings on the matter. While the show gives him all of one 3-minute episode to get on board the wife train, he just kinda instantly gives into the idea because he loves--sexually so--how fluffy Kanenogi's fur is. From that episode on, he utters no complaint and is fully invested in being the catalog-ordered bride to an inhuman creature.
Starting to see what I mean?
As if to justify how bizarre this whole situation is, though, the show also quickly establishes how commonplace this human x non-human marriage practice is. Within Tomari's class alone there are at least two other brides in the same boat as him who similarly have no problem with marrying these creatures. Hikurakawa Sora, who functionally serves as Tomari's best friend and senpai in the world of being married to a monster, is married to a tiny, pink, dog-like creature named Fuwadon. Beyond his initial role of giving Tomari a bit of a push to just accept Kanenogi-san's unconditional love, though, he serves little purpose beyond just being another bride character with a one-note gag. Namely, where Tomari spends most of the show portrayed as the typical blushing bride, Hikurakawa is depicted as the caring but incapable wife who makes a lot of mistakes. Along similar lines, the class's other bride, Mokusaibashi Ichiya, plays the role as a kind of gap moe tough guy who will start fawning over his partner at the drop of a hat. Beyond his acting tough and ridiculous infatuation with his partner Tsukitsuka, a humanoid construct of gauze, he doesn't really have much going on.
By their wifely powers combined they are The Wife Club.
To be as blunt as I can, this show is basically filled with a bunch of non-characters defined entirely by their one gag. Out of the entire case, Tomari is the only character with any depth due to his initial hesitation toward being married off against his will but, as I already said, that hesitation is almost instantly wiped away. While the characters do interact and are generally amusing together, they mainly exist to be a running joke about how hilarious it is that a bunch of high school boys are acting like stereotypically feminine wives, tittering among themselves, gossiping about their love lives, and ceaselessly fawning over their equally flat husbands. Needless to say, that depiction and joke have a number of issues that could be leveled against them, mainly in that it is incredibly sexist. Since that depiction is thrown onto a group of male characters, it also becomes contentious from a homosexual standpoint as well.
Considering Kenenogi's fur, that offense might extend into the furry community too but I hardly
have any right to call foul for that community since I'm even less acquainted
with it than I am with the other communities I've mentioned.
Again, though, the show seems to present all this in a manner that comes across as tonally and socially oblivious, rather than something intentional or malicious. Viewed solely in a vacuum, the show is wholly unoffensive. The characters joke around and go through their high school days joking about what misadventures they've gotten into with their partners and are as happy as can be. In that vacuum, I'd even go so far as to call this show cute with its fluffy, colorful character designs and oddly moe lean. Critically, though, I'm forced to just go back to square one and regard this show with a resigned shrug. I don't like it for how it can be read, but I can't deny that I enjoyed it on some level. It was just dumb, stupid, and innocently offensive fun that I just sit, take in, and laugh at occasionally. I certainly wouldn't bother to recommend it but giving it a shot won't do you any harm.