REVIEW: ‘Marriagetoxin’ Episode 11 — “Offering”

Marriagetoxin Episode 11 is an explosive, high-octane chain of events that leads to the tail end of the Animal Kingdom arc. It finally sees Piichi and Dogo take action and join the fight in a substantial way, while also revealing subtler details about members of his clan.

The episode begins as Piichi and Kinosaki (Shion Wakayama) fight their way to Dogo’s hideout, with Piichi effortlessly knocking out all the foes they’ve come across. They arrive at the hideout and encounter Dogo and Byakko, his maid, who fights in her polar bear suit. Byakko steps in to buy Dogo some time as he puts the finishing touches on his experiment. She attacks Piichi with a Modified Bloodline attack.

The scene then switches to a backstory revealing that Byakko and her late mom were a part of an unnamed branch of the Beast clan—one that’s been looked down on for quite some time and treated as dirt-poor servants. Her mom died after a job and was refused treatment. The flashback then shows Dogo meeting Byakko as a child, right after her mom died, Dogo taking her in, and her devotion to him from then on.

Piichi is, for the first time, overpowered in Marriagetoxin Episode 11.

Despite the sad backstory and determination to take down Piichi, Byakko is still instantly one-shotted by him. This is admittedly hilarious because he’s been knocking out enemies effortlessly for the past few episodes now, and a touching flashback leading to some extra determination didn’t change this.

Another noticeable aspect about this scene is that, like in the previous episode, the bear suit’s movements are fully CG-animated, which makes the viewing experience feel especially uncanny. Dogo picks up the beaten-down Byakko and puts her into his now-completed experiment, the gigantic monster that’s been teased for several episodes, called the Frankenbeast: Hyakko. This prompts a fight between Hyakko, being piloted by Byakko, and Piichi. Meanwhile, Ushio and Hikaru (Haruki Ishiya) encounter more foes on their way, but as they’re next to the sea, Ushio uses a gigantic typhoon to instantly wash them all away.

Back at Dogo’s hideout, the two are now in an all-out fight, which showcases superb choreography that displays the full strength and capabilities of both fighters, who fight like berserkers, using their overwhelming strength in battle. While Piichi has the upper hand in mobility and even shows creativity and ingenuity by using several fossilized bones from his surroundings in the fight, he is, for the first time ever, easily overpowered by the beast and begins to lose.

The internal monologues are always well executed.

While the fight is well-animated for the most part, watching the Frankenbeast move is incredibly jarring, as not only is the awkward mix of 2D and 3D animation horribly blended, but, compared to Piichi, the Frankenbeast’s body looks like it’s made of rubber and is sorely lacking in detail. This aspect severely hinders the viewing experience for the fight scene as it sticks out like a sore thumb.

As Piichi lies defeated in his own blood, he gets a call from his girlfriend, who idly talks about a concert she wants to go to with him and basically hints that he should return to her. In a very corny shonen anime-like fashion, this spurs some determination in Piichi, who perks up and starts fighting without holding back. He becomes faster, sharper, and stronger.

The overused trope of characters getting stronger out of nowhere aside, the animation showing Piichi’s swift motions is great. Additionally, as his brain moves a mile a minute, so do his thoughts. This is creatively represented with a ridiculous amount of text on screen at the same time. Piichi’s internal monologue of these words is delivered superbly by his voice actor, and it’s a noticeable aspect that’s been done several times in the series by several characters that is executed well every time.

Marriagetoxin Episode 11 is entertaining, despite some obvious flaws.

Piichi defeats the Frankenbeast but then collapses shortly after. He and Kinosaki are then met by Ushio and Hikaru, who arrive just in time to face Dogo, who is now strengthened by Byakko, who seemingly sacrifices herself for him. Dogo reveals that his experiment, which led to the creation of the Frankenbeast, was essentially a cocktail of blood from 99 bloodlines, including 6 masters, and an amalgamation of animals. Now that he’s absorbed Hyakko, his transformation is complete.

The quick transformation shows Dogo turning himself into a monster in an especially disturbing yet intricate way. The design of the combination of animal parts on his body looks frightening in all the right ways, almost akin to body horror. The insane level of body experimentation is also something you’d expect the master of the Beast Clan to be obsessed with.

Dogo’s transformations allow him to knock out all the fighters effortlessly. However, the episode ends with Hikaru getting back up and triple-dosing, despite knowing it could be his last battle because of it.

Overall, while having some obvious flaws, Marriagetoxin Episode 11 is entertaining in many ways. It provides good fights, more revelations, and heightened stakes leading up to the upcoming conclusion.

Marriagetoxin Episode 11 is streaming on Crunchyroll.

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