Manga Review: ‘Marriage Toxin’ Vol. 1

Marriage Toxin is a new manga written by Joumyaku, illustrated by Mizuki Yoda, and published by Viz Media. Our protagonist is Hikaru Gero, a poison master who is supposed to carry on the legacy of the clan of assassins that he was born into. At first, he’s resistant to the idea of getting married and producing an heir, but he finally admits to himself that he wants a loving relationship after he learns that his sister will have to break up with her girlfriend and get pregnant if he doesn’t. After meeting Mei Kinosaki, a con artist who has tricked over 30 people into marriage, Gero hires Mei to help him find a girlfriend.

I don’t know how Joumyaku found the fanfiction I was writing in my head about Illumi Zoldyck from Hunter x Hunter, but this is precisely the type of plotline I want out of a story about assassins. I love the idea of people with strange and unrelatable lives being people with ordinary needs. It’s why one of my favorite anime of 2023 is Buddy Daddies. 

I also really enjoy the characters. Gero’s brilliance in the realm of poison is fascinating, and his ineptitude when it comes to all things social is oddly charming. It’s really easy for characters who can’t talk to women to come off as weirdly misogynistic, but Gero just doesn’t understand romance in general — it’s not about women being aliens.

Mei’s resourcefulness and disarmingly cheerful attitude are a lot of fun too. One thing I appreciated about Mei was that her “I have to get money for my sick brother” story was real. I’ve seen that sort of story used by fictional con artists before, only for them to reveal that the story was made up and they would never actually care that much about anyone. While these twists can seem cool in the moment, they also make the character feel less human. I like that Mei has a genuine motive.

Here’s another thing about Mei. Spoiler alert: Mei is a man, but is willing to dress as whatever depending on who he’s trying to con into marrying him. I appreciated the way this was presented — a logical thing to do, and not anything shocking or disturbing. Since I write a column about One Piece, I couldn’t help thinking about how Sanji might react to such a revelation — not great!

In general, this manga seems pretty positive when it comes to gender and sexuality. Mei can dress up like a woman and the only reason it’s a problem is that he’s trying to scam people out of their money, not that he’s messing with gender norms. Gero’s sister has a girlfriend and that’s treated as a positive thing that should be preserved. Yes, her family has an issue with it, but our protagonist did not.

The only thing I didn’t love about this was that Gero went from zero to 100 on the marriage question in the span of a few pages. I get why he decided that he needed to take responsibility for continuing the clan so that his sister could be with the woman she loved, but there wasn’t a lot of clear character development about how he went from being totally unenthused to desperately wanting companionship. That being said, the fact that I only have one small complaint about the pacing means that I enjoyed this manga!

Note: I received a free copy of this manga in exchange for the write-up. The content of the review represents my opinions and not necessarily those of Viz Media. You can buy a physical or digital copy now.

~~~