Name: Seto no Hanayome

Genre: Comedy Romance

Synopsis: While drowing during a trip to visit his grandmother, Nagasumi is saved by the beautiful mermaid San. Unfortunately, mermaid law dictates that if a human discovers a mermaid, both must be killed. To avoid this, Nagasumi is asked to marry San. It then turns out that San just so happens to a Yakuza family member, and her over-protective father is hell-bent on breaking up the relationship (mainly through assassination attempts on Nagasumi). Pursued by a zealous father, his hilarious gange members, and inquisitive friends, Nagasumi is forced on a number of comedic misadventures, the likes of which he never thought he’d witness.

My Opinion: There are so many elements of comedy to this that there is no way anybody could possibly get bored with this. Even with the vast multitude of characters, each one still has a decent level of importance to play on both comedic value and contribution to the story. Although it must be mentioned that most of the series holds almost no story at all, until the last couple of episodes, in which the change of pace just makes it more interesting. Rather, the series seems to be split into even smaller side-stories, which on a wholl contribute nicely to the general feel of the anime, rather than making it look clumsy, cluttered or too fast-paced.
Comedy is a constant theme throughout the series, and it never gets old. Funny ideas are consumed, recycled, and brought back in ways I couldn’t have imagined, and every single character is funny in their own unique way; San’s epic sense of chivalry, Saru’s blunt back-stabbings and betrayals, the Class Rep’s quiet, ignorable presence. Everything is turned into a source of comedy.
The romance side of it is pretty unique, too. From start to finish, they are completely open with their feelings for each other, rather than the “I’m an independent girl and I hate you but I secretly love you and in the end I’ll kiss you” approach that has soured many series I would have enjoyed otherwise. Other elements of romance are brought into play, and sure, there are plenty of times when other boys will be interested in San, or other girls will be interested in Nagasumi, but the outcome is always an obvious one, and I like it that way.
The music is great, and the opening theme, Romantic Summer (Momoi Haruko & Nogawa Sakura), is one of my favourites, and I’m also quite fond of the animation sequence that goes with it. I must admit I’m quite biased towards the happier songs, but this definitely deserves a download.

Rating: 8/10 – A hilarious series. You can’t go wrong with it.