Summary
- MARRIAGETOXIN combines action with romance, similar to Spy x Family, exploring marriage in family dynamics with a unique spin.
- MARRIAGETOXIN features elite main characters and subverts marriage expectations while providing thrilling combat sequences.
- Gero from MARRIAGETOXIN, an assassin wanting a normal life, faces familial pressure to marry to continue his clan’s lineage.
Tatsuya Endo’s Spy x Family is one of the most popular anime and manga titles of the 2020s, and a major title in the emergence and propagation of the digital era of manga. Its formula, which leans heavily into themes from historical spy and action films like Mr and Mrs Smith, the James Bond franchise, Spy Kids and countless others, but presents them with a refreshing family comedy spin. The series has since caused the emergence of anime and manga titles that involve the creation of a family unit in the midst of extraordinary personal circumstances (consider the overwhelming anticipation for Sakamoto Days), and a certain title follows in the footsteps of Spy x Family in some ways, but also comes with a unique and interesting twist that could see it become a successor to Endo’s smash hit.
MARRIAGETOXIN, written by Joumyaku, with art by Mizuki Yoda, is a fun series that combines the high-octane world of Spy x Family’s main pair with a very engrossing dynamic between its own main characters. Could MARRIAGETOXIN be the next Spy x Family?
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Background and Plot of Marriage Toxin
A Master Assassin Has To Find A Wife
MARRIAGETOXIN is an action and romantic comedy manga written by Joumyaku (Ghost Sweeper Arai-kun) and illustrated by Mizuki Yoda, who worked as an assistant on Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and JUJUTSU KAISEN. It has been serialized in Shueisha’s online magazine Shōnen Jump+ since April 2022, and has been collected into eleven volumes as of November 2024, with VIZ Media licensing it for publishing in English. The series was nominated for the Next Manga Award in the Best Web Manga category in June 2022, ranking eighth out of fifty nominees; as well as fifth in the Nationwide Publishers Recommended Comics of 2023, with recommendations from big names in manga like Demon Slayer author Koyoharu Gotouge and JUJUTSU KAISEN author Gege Akutami. While no anime has been announced yet, the two main characters, Hikaru Gero and Mei Kinosaki, were voiced in a PV released in commemoration of the release of volume 1 by Kent Itō (Gorō Amemiya, Oshi no Ko) and Reina Ueda (Reze, CHAINSAW MAN) respectively.
Gero may be a master assassin, but he’s not exactly killing it in the romance department!
– VIZ Media description of MARRIAGETOXIN
MARRIAGETOXIN follows a young man named Hikaru Gero, who comes from the Poison Clan, a family with hundreds of years of history as professional assassins. Since the dark underbelly is all he’s ever known, Gero has never thought of himself as someone who could live a normal life, so things like dating and marriage are naturally out of the question for him. However, he is pushed into a corner by the Poison Clan’s elders as they declare that if he is unable to get married and produce an heir to continue their lineage, then his sister will be forced to bear a child against her wishes. He then tries to broker a deal to get married to one of his assassination targets, the marriage swindler Mei Kinosaki, but Kinosaki declines, instead offering to teach Gero the art of seduction and developing appeal so that he can find someone he really wants to marry.
How Is MARRIAGETOXIN Like Spy X Family?
A Tale of Two Underground Worlds Coming Together
The easiest comparison between MARRIAGETOXIN and Spy x Family lies with how they are both action series that combine the high-octane with the romantic or mundane, and feature main characters from murky or mysterious backgrounds who engage in particularly dangerous work that requires secrecy in their personal lives. For Spy x Family, Yor is an assassin who kills those who are deemed traitors to Ostania, while her husband of convenience, Loid Forger, just so happens to be a spy for the enemy, Westalis, attempting to get their adoptive child Anya (again, of convenience) into a prestigious school to get closer to a person of interest. Anya is herself keeping a secret: the fact that she is a psychic capable of hearing other people’s thoughts, and thus, the fact that she knows what her parents actually do.
In MARRIAGETOXIN, Gero comes from a family of assassins who use toxic substances to dispatch their targets, which aligns with Yor’s occupation, but combines with Loid’s to some extent, as the aspect of stealth is even more important for the manner in which Gero takes down his targets and is more reflective of Loid’s espionage and ability to disguise himself in order to get closer to his mission objective. Mei Kinosaki is a swindler who makes her money by getting gullible rich guys to fall in love with her and bestow upon her exorbitant sums of money before she disappears, not to mention the other secret she’s holding onto that we’ll keep hush for now.
Every once in a while, I can’t help but wonder how nice it would be to find a special someone and settle down… and that part of myself nauseates me.
The Special Ingredient in MARRIAGETOXIN
Great Main Characters and an Unexpected Approach To A Well-Established Set of Tropes
What’s interesting about Spy x Family is that it has an elite cast of characters, with each one bringing a special something to every major aspect of the title. MARRIAGETOXIN boasts a similar strength, with the central relationship between Gero and Mei not quite being a romantic one, yet that isn’t entirely ruled out either, but also how the series subverts the expectation that they would enter into some kind of marriage of convenience. The “conflict” isn’t Gero trying to play the part of someone who could produce an heir and thus maintain his bloodline, but rather the fact that Gero is actually genuinely interested in finding someone, but is also feeling pressure because of how the Poison Clan is threatening his sister, who is not interested in participating in the family business.
Gero takes on the responsibility of continuing his family’s lineage in order to protect his sister’s happiness as she has her own girlfriend with whom she’d like to settle down but can’t with their family trying to force her to bear an heir. Beyond the emotional aspects, the series boasts incredible art and unexpectedly well-done combat sequences that are every bit as exciting as you’d expect from a series featuring an assassin. Long story short, MARRIAGETOXIN has all the pieces it needs to become a hit in the same thematic vein as Spy x Family, and is definitely worth checking out. While no anime has been announced yet, hopefully we’ll get confirmation of that soon.
Spy x Family
Created by Tatsuya Endo, Spy X Family is an action-adventure comedy anime that follows the misadventures of a found family with unique quirks. The story follows spy Twilight (known as Loid Forger), who, while on assignment, builds a fake family to get closer to his target. Unbeknownst to him, his new family carries their quirks. His wife, Yor, is a kind but deadly assassin, while his daughter, Anya, has telepathic powers – and is the only one who knows their secrets.