Kekkon suru tte, Hontou desu ka

As introverted colleagues at a travel agency in Tokyo, Takuya Oohara and Rika Honjouji both cherish their happily single lives. After work, home is where they feel most at ease: Takuya unwinds with his cat, while Rika studies various maps. However, an uncertain future looms over their treasured tranquility when their company plans to open a branch office in Alaska within one year and transfer an unmarried employee there.

During a day off, Takuya and Rika accidentally meet and, despite never having spoken before, open up to each other about their relocation fears. Feeling encouraged by Takuya facing the same predicament, Rika suddenly proposes a daring solution—to pretend to be engaged for 365 days. Takuya accepts, but little do the two know that the path to marriage may, in many ways, change forever the very lifestyles they struggle to preserve.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Honjouji, Rika Main

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Oohara, Takuya Main

Kumagai, Kentarou Japanese

Kama Supporting

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Kaori Supporting

Taketatsu, Ayana Japanese

Van Liechteburg, Claudia Maria Supporting

Touyama, Nao Japanese

Gonda, Hiromi Supporting

Ochiai, Fukushi Japanese

Kurokawa, Asako Supporting

Koshimizu, Ami Japanese

Takuya's Grandma Supporting

Arai, Satomi Japanese

Komiya, Natsumi Supporting

Asumi, Kana Japanese

Oohara, Izumi Supporting

Sasahara, Yuu Japanese

Ikehata, Hiroshi Director

Naya, Ryousuke Sound Director

Botsu, Azumi Script

HoneyWorks Theme Song Performance, Theme Song Composition, Theme Song Lyrics, Theme Song Arrangement

Reviews

Dec 19, 2024

Marinate1016

Recommended

Adult workplace romance will always be near and dear to my heart because we just don’t get enough of it in modern anime. As I get older, it’s harder for me to sit through the, frankly, cringe gimmicks and tropes of high school romances. Not to say they’re ALL bad, but on the whole they usually have a lot of the same repetitive story beats and unrealistic character traits that becoming grating over time. So when something like Kekkon Surutte comes along, it immediately catches my interest. While it’s not immune from some common flaws of the genre which I’ll go into shortly, on the ... whole it’s a really sweet watch with two adorable knucklehead leads that we see grow quite a bit as the season goes on. The romance is nice and wholesome, the story is simple, but effective and it’s a relaxing watch.

So to clarify my earlier statement on the flaws this show has, I’ll specify. A lot of adult romance animanga fall into this habit of basically making adult characters with all the shortcomings of teenagers. So instead of acting like mature adults, they feel like big kids. Blushing at the slightest hint of intimacy, running away, being loud, walking in on someone showering and feinting, you get the drift. This show isn’t awful with that, like for the most part the leads do feel like adults, albeit with severe social anxiety, poor social skills, maybe a slight tinge of autism etc., but they do have a few moments where I’m like “ok come on now you’re pushing 30.” Regardless, Ohara and Rika might be cringe lords, but they’re MY cringe lords. I really enjoyed their relationship developing from one of necessity to one of choice and genuine affection. There’s a nice progression as the characters get to know one another and I found the conclusion to be satisfying.

I do have two issues narratively, with only one really being significant. First of all, the whole premise that led to them having to pretend to be married was honestly a bit dumb. The other which is a bit more significant, is that Ohara feels like a substantially weaker character than Rika here. I really didn’t care for him even as the series reached its climax. Not a bad character, just nothing impressive or that really stuck out to me. Rika on the other hand, is quite an interesting character because of her relationship with her mother and the impact that not having her mom around growing up had on her, etc. Like there’s some cool psychoanalysis you can do on her, that’s just not there with Ohara since he doesn’t warrant it. In fact, I felt like Ohara’s best friend was a way more interesting character than him and wish we would’ve got more of him and his relationship situation in the series. Maybe in the manga? Ohara’s not bad, but definitely needs some more seasoning and time in the oven. In fairness, though this is just 12 episodes and I believe the manga has more story, so I’m sure he gets fleshed out more there.

Character analysis aside, the romance is nice and fluffy here. I enjoyed every moment the two leads were together and how pure this show is. There’s no fanservice or cringe sexualisation of female characters, just good old fashioned vanilla workplace romance as two people come out their shells. I don’t think it’s in the top tier of adult romances, but it’s very solid and certainly the best complete romance this season.

If you’re someone shopping around for something cute to watch that doesn’t feature sexualised minors, fanservice or an overly complex plot, look no further you have a great option here. Sweet as pure sugar, but easy to digest. Even with its flaws I enjoyed this a lot and will miss it airing on Thursdays!

Kekkon surutte gets 8 rings out of 10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 19, 2024

griddyweeb

Mixed Feelings

This was so hard to enjoy. The premise had more potential than how it turned out.

The pacing is awful, at first I thought it was just a bad adaptation, but as it turns out it wasn't rushed, it adapted 50/110 chapters in a pretty normal way. Yet it feels like it's all over the place, soooo much screentime was wasted on reaffirming that both MCs are awkward that it was insulting, at the same time there were really good chapters cut short for no good reason (in hindsight).

The last episode especially, while it delivered what we've been looking for, it felt out of place solely ... because there were not enough emphasis on the MCs romantic feelings, it was always about their anxieties and not how they truly feel about one another. And it's so annoying because one could say "well that's what this anime is about" which is true, but would it have been really that hard to make it 20% romance/80% anxiety instead of 10/90? There's just not enough "proof" of their love the way it was delivered, it feels like something's missing and saying that their love has always been there behind their indecisiveness and low self esteem is just not enough. And it's such a shame because the last 10 minutes were so enjoyable, seeing them happy and all, but the journey was awful.

I liked the side characters a lot more, they achieved the same depth as characters as the MCs with just a fraction of their screentime, they're even more interesting and meaningful.

If this gets a second season (which I doubt) then it can easily outshine this season, the last episode (and a few episodes focusing on side characters) showed that they can easily make this anime good and meaningful without wasting all the damn time showcasing the MCs awkwardness for the millionth time.

Watch at your own risk, there are a few good moments, but the payoff is slim.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 20, 2024

muracao

Not Recommended

Funny

I'm still trying to wrap my head around how an anime with such a great premise could go so horribly wrong. Had all the makings of a charming romantic comedy - two introverts, a fake marriage, and plenty of comedic potential. But what we got was a cringeworthy, laughable disaster.

The comedy was forced, the romance was nonexistent, and the characters were about as deep as a kiddie pool. I sat through 12 agonizing episodes, waiting for something - anything - to happen. But nope, the only thing that got a rise out of me was the sheer audacity of the writers.

If you value your sanity, ... stay far, far away from this trainwreck. Trust me, you won't be missing out on anything.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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	Poll: Kekkon suru tte, Hontou desu ka Episode 5 Discussion Stark700 - Oct 31	46 replies	by SenseiSempai-san »» 3 hours ago
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	Poll: Kekkon suru tte, Hontou desu ka Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Oct 10	68 replies	by SenseiSempai-san »» Yesterday, 4:27 AM
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