Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon: Watashi no Shiawase na Katachi

MyAnimeList sets this as episode 1 of the OVA, but this is more properly called episode 13 of Season 1. Season 1 including this episode covers volume 1 and 2 of the light novels. Hence, it is unfortunate that this is labelled a side story instead of a sequel as this OVA follows directly the events of episode 12.

Remember that party scene at the end of episode 12? In the light novels at least (as I can't remember if it was ever mentioned in the anime), Hazuki has started to teach Miyo social graces and how to deal with people in parties. This is ... an informal party and should serve as practice for Miyo as she will likely appear in more formal parties later.

In the actual party, Miyo is apologetic for what she perceives as mistake. A lot of viewers might be annoyed with her, but you should consider that she has made an incredible progress from that people who had so low self-esteem. She is starting to spread her wings as the beautiful swan that she is instead of the ugly duckling she had thought herself to be.

Another highlight of this episode is the son of the Emperor, Kiyoka's childhood friend. He provided important information and apologised to Miyo for whatever unhappiness she had experienced.

And we also get to meet Hazuki's former husband and her son. He still have good relations with Hazuki despite their being divorced.

Overall, although there's nothing significant or emotionally gripping that happens in this episode, it is still worth watching. It's a cute episode, an episode of Miyo in bliss as the betrothed of Kudou Kiyoka.

If you take this into context that this is the actual last episode of the first season (the very last chapter of the second volume of the light novels), this episode is great, a nice pause before we venture into whatever drama season 2 is about to deliver.

I really wanted to treat this entirely as what it mostly is: a cute capstone to the series. It's nice to see Miyo slot into her role now that she's an important person in Kiyoka's life. There's a nice little subplot that affirms Hazuki's bond with her. There's a very sweet bit of romance between Miyo and Kiyoka that shows that this relationship is blossoming. All that experience would make this an easy recommendation.

...but then they had to insert the explanation behind the unexplored background plot points of the series proper. Don't get me wrong, it's fully gratifying to know the details of what led ... her mother to marry into the Saimoris in more detail, to understand how and why the emperor manipulated their lives in a last ditch effort to maintain his power. That's all good.

Here's my problem: Miyo responds by essentially saying that it's water under the bridge because she has Kiyoka now. Time to move past it.

Except... no it's not.

Look, I get that they weren't going to punish the emperor of all people. I get that there was probably nothing they could do with this information, not without creating big problems for themselves. And I get that Miyo spent the entire series moving past her history so that she could live a happy life with Kiyoka. That's great. I love that she has managed to move past her trauma.

That being said, the fact that neither Miyo nor Kiyoka respond to this in a way that offered any kind of catharsis is incredibly frustrating. The prince essentially told them that his father was responsible for so much of the pain and loss in her life, as well as the misunderstandings that led to so many of the problems she encountered with her family in the original series. That's a big deal. That should matter. Even if they don't say anything directly to the prince, the fact that this was all revealed to be the grand scheme of a power-depleted emperor desperate to hang onto what little he had at the expense of Miyo, her mother, and her extended family should not be so easily dismissed just because she ended up with a good man in the end, especially since that last bit was most definitely not the emperor's aim. And none of that is to mention all of his efforts to end her and Kiyoka at the end of the series.

This scene may not take up much of the runtime of this OVA, but it's probably the most important part for the broader series. It was an opportunity to reckon with the single biggest cause of everything that Miyo has had to struggle through and the person who had thrown the most impediments possible in the way of their relationship. And they just... didn't. She's beyond it now, emotional payoff be damned. The fact that this is basically episode 13 makes it all the more galling given that this takes place not long after some of the worst things the emperor did to them. It may be a short OVA, and I like a lot of it, but this really stuck in my craw. Major missed opportunity that left what could have been one of the more important moments of the series feeling empty.