The Titan's Bride – Anime Review

Kouichi is an ordinary high school student who lived a peaceful life. He was part of the school's basketball team and had a crush on his female classmate. One day, Kouichi was just chilling out in his bedroom when he encountered an extraordinary phenomenon. He was magically transported to another dimension, arriving in an alternate universe where titans ruled the world.

Kouichi discovers that he was summoned to this strange land by Caius, a titan king. Caius performed a magical spell that randomly brought a human to his world. This human would become his new bride, as they rule the titan kingdom together.

Shocked beyond belief, Kouichi opposed this arranged marriage and wanted to return home. However, Caius seems determined to have a human bride. According to a prophet, Caius cannot marry another titan or a great tragedy will befall his kingdom. That's why he performed a magical spell and summoned a human to his world. It is his only chance to get married, have children, and continue his bloodline in the hierarchy.

Caius brings Kouichi to their honeymoon suite with the intent of consummating their marriage. However, he notices Kouichi is in tears, confused and frightened by his circumstances. Caius apologizes and asks his fiancé to give him a chance. They will live together for one month and Kouichi can decide whether he wants to stay in this kingdom or go back home. Reluctantly, Kouichi accepts the arrangement and adjusts to his foreign surroundings.

The Titan's Bride is garbage. There's very little about this 18+ yaoi series that appeals to me. The premise is pretty creative, but that might be the extent of anything positive I can say in my review. Otherwise, I think it's a horrible BL anime with shoddy writing, problematic tropes, and an absurd romance. Maybe the manga is better. However, this adaptation is woeful and doesn't inspire me with confidence about the original source material.

Within the first few minutes of the series, the protagonist Kouichi gets abducted and raped by his love interest Caius. A panicked Kouichi is in tears as he fails to resist his attacker. Caius stops in the middle of his act, suddenly realizing he shouldn't molest someone who's crying, shaking, and hyperventilating. Out of the million ways to introduce a BL relationship, The Titan's Bride chooses this twisted path of no return. It's a grisly start, already putting me off the romance and making me dread how much more depravity will follow.

No, The Titan's Bride doesn't improve in quality as it progresses. The narrative feels terribly rushed, thrusting the main character into a fantasy world with little explanation. It's a unique setting where the titans rule the land, but the anime doesn't showcase the culture or explore the lore. The series is limited by a narrow scope, unwilling to elaborate on its fictional universe. Each storyline comes and goes with no development, because the series is too busy indulging in smut. Nearly half the scenes are devoted to erotic sex, leaving insufficient time for any actual plot.

None of the characters are engaging. Kouichi is a generic protagonist with nothing remarkable beyond a pretty face. He has no personality and shows zero agency. Despite being abducted, Kouichi doesn't question his surroundings and never tries to return home. In fact, he develops Stockholm syndrome and falls in love with his kidnapper absurdly fast. As for Caius, he can't overcome an awful first impression, no matter how much the anime tries to redeem him. I remain skeptical of his chivalry, which doesn't seem genuine after the brutish way he was introduced.

In the uncensored version of The Titan's Bride, each episode features a steamy erotic encounter. No matter the situation, the anime will always find a ridiculous excuse for the characters to have intercourse. Even if they're gravely ill or on the brink of death, the anime will still churn out a soulless sex scene to reach a quota. I should warn you there's a nasty incident in Episode 7 (and the start of Episode 8), containing rape with an anthropomorphic character. It's a new low for an anime that I already gave up on having any expectations.

I struggle to find an aspect that I can compliment about The Titan's Bride. Maybe the artwork is fine, but I don't think it's drawn well enough to rave about the visuals. A minor nitpick is that I dislike how the blonde eyelashes and the mullet look on Caius. However, my biggest problem with the series has nothing to do with its appearance. It's the shallow storytelling, the nonexistent characterizations, and the preposterous romance that bother me the most. Everything about The Titan's Bride is laughably bad and this anime is pretty much BL at its worst.