I could tell right away the translator for My Happy Marriage had changed. I wrote in my volume 1 review Miyo’s “Danna-sama” (“My husband” basically) was localized as “Mr. Kudou”. Well, Miyo and Kiyoka certainly have grown closer, but in the original Japanese, she still calls him “Danna-sama”. English-Miyo now has certainly grown more bolder, as now she calls him by his name, Kiyoka!
Yes, no translation or localization is ever perfect, but in this case, I’d argue it’s, at the very least, a suboptimal decision. Especially since the whole volume is about Miyo feeling like she’s not good enough to marry into the Kudou family, and one of the first examples of her emotional pain is that Kiyoka’s sister, Hazuki, wants to be affectionately addressed as “Sister” and not her name.
Putting the translation to the side, My Happy Marriage volume 2 can be summed up in one word: family. This theme is not just important to the book; it’s the reason for the whole book. Miyo has escaped the Saimori family’s abusive grasp, and while she has adjusted to “normal” life, she still wants to feel worthy of the title of Kiyoka’s fiancée and future wife. She begins lessons from his sister, Hazuki, and while she tries to be relatively low-pressure, Miyo’s own desperation and those mysterious nightmares begin affecting her daily life.
My Happy Marriage is a supernatural tale, but the story has a sense of realism that even slice-of-life titles often lack. Objectively speaking, Miyo no longer has to worry about Kaya and their parents, and Miyo now has someone who truly cares about her and treats her well. And hey, he has some money and status to boot. That’s a fairy tale ending many people in her position dream of! But for abusive victims, self-doubt and self-preservation often mean they take two steps forward, one step back. And even though those around her have good intentions, they sometimes have their own missteps with her, which again, causes Miyo to regress somewhat.
In volume 1, Kiyoka could sense some kind of special abilities in use whenever Miyo was having bad dreams, and the author explains it was a deliberate decision to save that mystery for volume 2. It was probably a wise decision to allude to a secret involving Miyo’s mother and the strange powers manifesting but saving it for later, as this prevents the volume from either feeling like a forced add-on or having no resolutions until the final pages of the book.
This means volumes 1 and 2 make a relatively complete story. I imagine this would be an ideal place for the anime to end, and while I’m sure fans will clamor to see Miyo grow even more and Miyo x Kiyoka fluff, things have progressed enough you can see that they’ll only become closer over their years together — and at their own, relatively slow, pace. If you don’t have the time or energy to follow along with long series, volume 2 makes for a solid stopping point.
That may seem like a slight insult, but it’s not. While we often focus on one turning point in a character’s (or person’s) life, in Miyo’s case, she gets two that go hand-in-hand. The first had her veer off the path she was on, and now in volume 2, readers will love watching her firmly choose her new life for herself.