Preview

While in a vacation with his parents, Nagasumi is dragged by a current and almost drowns, except a mermaid saves him. It so happens, however, that according to Mermaid law, if a human sees a mermaid's true form, both must be killed to prevent their secret leaking (and punishing the mermaid that was careless enough to be seen) unless such human is part of the mermaid family. To prevent their deaths, the mermaid Seto group (which is pretty much like a Yakuza group) decides to marry Nagasumi and the mermaid who saved him - none other than the daughter of the group leader, San Seto.

Pacing

While an interesting premise for a plot, the unique situation is actually used as a comedy starting point into this slapstick comedy focused in absurdness. Each character ends up somehow being related to the event and every episode drags several new ridiculous event after another, making Nagasumi's life a living hell: San's father wants him dead to free his daughter from this marriage, his bodyguards will also do everything they can do "accidentally" kill Nagasumi. San's personal bodyguard, the little shellfish Maki will also try her best to accidentally kill him, and on top of that, San is just too clumsy and keeps getting into mermaid form (with a fish tail) in the most embarrassing situations, making Nagasumi fight to prevent other humans from seeing her true form.

While absurd and usually ridiculous, the comedy works, specially because the show is also constantly making fun of itself, coming up with jokes on other anime or even movies, and even Japanese culture. While the character development is near to non-existent (as well as any plot other then the mentioned forced marriage), the show is still light enough even when it tries to be dramatic (which is usually followed by some ridiculous event to break the ice).

Conclusion

Unfortunately, Seto no Hanayome fails to innovate it's own humor, and the slapstick comedy that initially works just fine, gets old real quickly, and before mid-season the viewer starts feeling all jokes have been already overused and nothing really new comes to the rescue. Trying to add some flavor, Lunar, a childhood friend and actual rival of San, ends up also living together with Nagasumi. Again, her presence soon gets old and the jokes somewhat tiring. Other characters also come up to give more perspectives to the show, but their comedy is also just a recycled version of what have already been seen, and it doesn't quite works. The fact that the romance between San and Nagasumi seam to not move at all also drags the show - fortunately, at this front, we do have a nice conclusion and by the last episode the romance hits off and ends the show in a pleasant romantic tone (never forgetting the comedy).

Seto no Hanayome is fun, and the romance, although slow and only focused in the last episodes, somehow works. But the fact there is nothing new inside Seto no Hanayome past the early jokes, makes most of it, especially after mid-season, somewhat tiring to watch - and you might expect some episodes with no actual laughs. Yet, a pleasant show which can be considered a slice-of-life (mermaids excluded) with slapstick comedy content and a good romance undertone with closure. Might work for some, might not work for others. A Love-or-hate title.