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What happens when a hitman who is a master of poison has to get married to secure his family’s future? According to the director of the upcoming MarriageToxin anime, the answer is a healthy dose of chaos. Motonobu Hori recently sat down with MarriageToxin creator Joumyaku to explain what working on the anime series was like, and Hori admitted he was continually surprised at how chaotic the story became.

“I thought it was very chaotic,” Motonobu Hori, who is the director for the upcoming MarriageToxin anime based on the manga by Joumyaku, said in a recent interview that appeared in Weekly Shonen Jump. “When we meet with the anime staff, we always say ‘The contents are pretty chaotic…’ as the opening line of each meeting, so it’s like a catchphrase for this title. As we worked on the anime adaptation, I did my own analysis of what makes it so chaotic. What parts were written by Joumyaku-sensei, and which parts were enhanced by [Mizuki] Yoda-sensei’s visuals. I don’t know the correct answer, but it was fun to imagine, and as a result, I reached the conclusion that this work is fun because ‘nobody stepped on the brakes.’”

What exactly does that mean? According to Hori, MarriageToxin works best when nobody questions the logic behind it. “For example, there’s a scene where Naruko [Genya] sits in a massage chair in a tree, and it’s obviously impossible. But they don’t try to apply logic to it, they just illustrate something absurd as absurd. The momentum of the story just allows you to enjoy it as it is.”

MarriageToxin is bringing that sense of chaos and absurdity to the anime series, which is set for an April 7, 2026 release date.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

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