Kurakon: Why I Don't Hate 'I'm Getting Married to a Girl I Hate in My Class'!

One standout rom-com from the new anime season is Class no Daikirai na Joshi to Kekkon suru Koto ni Natta, aka I’m Getting Married to a Girl I Hate in My Class or Kurakon. It’s a fun anime with some top-tier waifus and amusing comedy moments. Let’s explore this fun anime in this blog post!

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Kurakon: A Rom-Com About Surviving High School Marriage

Saito Houjo hates his classmate Akane Sakuramori more than anyone, and the feeling is mutual. So imagine his shock when his rich grandfather Tenryu orders him to marry Akane or give up his claim to inherit his grandfather’s company one day. Tenryu courted Akane’s grandmother Chiyo many years ago, and now at the end of their lives, they want nothing more than for their grandchildren to marry in their place. Given no choice, Saito and Akane agree to marry, although they see differently on just about every subject imaginable.

Saito and Akane must learn to adapt to each other as they adjust to their strange forced marriage. Saito is sloppy, while Akane loves everything to be clean and proper. He thinks instant ramen every day is perfectly normal, but she insists on cooking healthy meals for him. Adding to the chaos, they’ve been given strict instructions to sleep in the same bed every night!

Akane Sakuramori From Kurakon I'm getting married to a girl I hate in my class

Kurakon Has Great Waifus

Any romance anime needs strong ~~waifus~~ characters that fans can form emotional connections with, and I’m Getting Married to a Girl I Hate in My Class has some great options. We have:

Akane Sakuramori (Main Heroine)

Akane is the main heroine of the story. I know from experience that fans will love or hate her, depending on how they feel about tsundere characters. It’s always a challenge to balance a character’s sharp personality with those all-important tender moments of vulnerability.

Himari Ishikura (The Supportive Gal)

Himari is Akane’s best friend, a gyaru who’s always hugging Akane and giving her helpful advice. We could all use a friend like that.

Shisei Houjou (Saito’s Clingy Cousin)

Next up is Saito’s cousin Shisei, a girl with has no sense of personal boundaries. She grew up with Saito and loves to sit on his lap during class.

Maho Sakuramori (Akane’s Younger Sister)

Soon we’ll meet Maho, Akane’s younger sister, who is returning home from abroad. How will she complicate Akane’s life?

Kurakon And Arranged Marriages -- I'm getting married to a girl I hate in my class

Does Japan Really Have Arranged Marriages?

While the plot of Kurakon is played for humor — a guy being forced to marry his beautiful classmate so he can inherit his grandfather’s multi-million-dollar company — you might wonder what’s up with arranged marriages in Japan.

What we might think of as “arranged marriage” is お見合い omiai, which should be translated as “arranged meeting.” It’s a formal system in which older family members or concerned neighbors might set up a meeting between two young people who are in the market for someone to marry. Since a trusted third party set up the meeting and you could rely on their good judgment, people commonly used this method to find a marriage partner. You could look at a photograph of the person ahead of time and cancel the meeting if you didn’t like what you saw. My wife’s parents got married via the omiai system, and they’ve been together for nearly 60 years.

Even Mrs. J-List had two formal omiai meetings with potential marriage partners before marrying me. In both cases, my wife’s experience living in the US and fluency in English freaked the men out just a little.

An Innovative Way to Promote a Story

The endless number of ways there are to tell a story or promote it with a wide number of fans amazes me. Kurakon started as a “YouTube manga,” telling its story through on-screen manga panels, which are voiced by the characters. The release of each chapter grew Kurakon’s popularity and led to the light novels and manga. This makes it similar to Gimai Seikatsu, which became popular through short YouTube videos telling stories from the light novels.

Kurakon I'm getting married to a girl I hate in my class

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