The Ogre’s Bride Episode 12 [FINAL] – AngryAnimeBitches Anime Blog

Boy, this final episode was huge waste of time. If you were hoping for anything of value to come out of it, such as at least a date between Yuzu and Reiya, I’m sorry to say, we didn’t get that today.

With this finally being the last episode, I’ve ran out of patience and frankly I’m just glad it’s over. Honestly there’s very little to even discuss. The only thing that’s new was the announcement that Takamichi and Sakurako are now engaged. Although this is purely a power arrangement, at least Sakurako is happy about it. Turns out she has been crushing on the guy since forever. Good for her I guess! Oh and Reiya and Yuzu will only get married after she graduates college. That makes sense, good. Annnnd that’s it! Everything else was just a repeat of what happened last week or in the past! Nothing else to add here!

Now while I did have fun writing up the entries because of just how absurd things are (which was the only reason why I completed this coverage at all), make no mistake: If I hadn’t been blogging this show, I would have dropped it much, much sooner. I had also decided to stick with this in hopes it’d get better… but unfortunately it didn’t. What I considered to be “good episodes” was actually not that great given this show’s bar had been lowered to basically touching the ground. The criteria to qualify as such were reduced to it either didn’t make me roll my eyes, scoff, or feel frustrated and annoyed as past episodes have done.

So I’ll be frank: There’s absolutely no substance of quality in this show, to the point I repeatedly questioned just how faithful this adaption was because it was just that bad. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it! The only good thing, was the animation quality. Everything else, was hot garbage. You’ll be sorely disappointed if you’re hoping for remotely any actual romance– and because this show is supposed to be about that, is why this was a complete failure. Physical intimacy is a part of romance, but not enough to support it on its own. If anything, it’s the highlight that we often look forward to. True romance comes down to the established bond shared between the two characters, and the nature and complication of that trust and bond can take on various forms. Ranging from healthy, to toxic varying on direction of the story. It’s essentially the glue that holds it together.

That’s why the romance content given to us in this adaption was a massive failure. Because what was given to us was superficial at best. Not once did it ever convince me that Reiya and Yuzu were genuinely in love with each other. Reiya’s came off off as infatuation because of the Demon Instincts of finding his destined bride. Yuzu’s on the other-hand,what started off as understandable hesitation, turned into “insistence” that she was in love. They were trying so hard to sell it without actually putting in the time and effort to even make it convincing. How could I possibly believe these two have actually fallen in love with each other when they hardly spent anytime together? Don’t even get me started that they never once went on a date! A lot of the stuff they tried to pass off were scenes that we didn’t see happen (off screen conversations if you can believe it!), which only made it even worse. Instead, the vast majority of the times only consisted,”leave it to me”, “I love you”, “my bride, “time to show your gratitude, kiss me”, and Yuzu being spoiled by gifts, followed by the physical intimacy of kisses, and lots of them. This show has no shortage of it, but they are of no value if you have no reason to feel excited or giddy about it.

Look, there’s way to properly develop a relationship even with minimal screen-time. But when that happens, it’s critical to make those moments count. If it’s just the same old same old, it’s like being stuck on a hamster wheel. It gets nowhere, and no development is to be had!

The biggest joke of all was that Touko’s and Nyankichi’s love story was far more convincing– and their backstory was given to us in a single episode. Why? Because while it was brief, we actually saw Nyankitchi put in the work to get to know Touko and vice versa. Yuzu and Reiya didn’t get any of that, and it certainly didn’t help that Reiya’s character was solely known as a ruthless workaholic.

For that reason, it’s an understatement to say Reiya’s character suffered greatly from poor writing. His dialogue was extremely limited, offered little in fleshing him out into a character beyond a pretty doll that repeated the same set of lines over and over again. The only time I can think of Reiya actually feeling and being treated like the main character he’s supposed to be was in Episode 10, where he and Yuzu spent the most time together in the entire show. This scene didn’t do much of anything to flesh out their relationship, but the only reason why I appreciated it as much as I do was because Reiya’s dialogue has finally expanded from the love-struck zombie.

Yuzu’s character was okay at first, I liked that she had a backbone, but before we knew it, that spine just disappeared, and only showed up sparingly again. She became that character that fell back onto what she was told. Grandma said she’s in love with Reiya, so it must be love right!? It was that sort of thing, and it really killed what made Yuzu an interesting heroine. At the very least, that spine did emerge when she had to face her family and Karin again. She struck back when it was needed, and thankfully Yuzu didn’t take the “selfless heroine” route, and agreed to accept that both Karin and her parents much face the consequences of their abuse and actions.

The other problem was the sheer amount of repetition altogether. So many repeated scenes, so many repeated dialogues, it ate up all the time that could’ve been spent on progressing the story and relationships. It was just so infuriating to sit through every. single. time. And this final episode was exactly that. It summed up perfectly why this show is the mess that it is.

And it’s truly a shame, because there were good plot-points such as the complication and the double-edge sword’s nature of a Demon’s destined bride. I liked that complicated layer to it, so it was disappointing to see it not really expanded much further than what we got. I had also enjoyed the way Yuzu’s parents served as the antagonists. It was a great way to highlight how greedy and selfish Humans would attempt exploit this benefit (without fully understanding how it works). In addition they were consistent with the way they jumped from whoever had the most power and influence, and huge delusional they were in thinking all their abuse could be ignored.

Karin was a nasty antagonist herself, but her narcissistic, selfish borne of her parent’s greed and the way they spoiled her rotten. She was doomed the moment she refused to acknowledge the true culprit for her misery, that being her parents. Instead, she never learned from her mistakes and kept blaming Yuzu. Not even her love for Youta (if she ever even genuinely loved him at all) was enough to reflect on her actions and understand that their engagement and relationship was at stake.

With that all said and done, even if this show somehow does get a second season, I’m not insane enough to cover it. Though I might be crazy enough out of morbid curiosity to see how the first episode goes, but I doubt I’d watch any further than that.

But if I ever get the chance to read the novel, I certainly will. It will be solely for the sake of putting all these questions of “did they botch the adaption, or is it really that badly written?” I have in my head to rest.

Final Verdict: 4/10

If you’re expecting anything along the lines of My Happy Marriage, you’re not going to get it here.
Skip this, and watch something else!