As the old adage goes, necessity breeds invention. And what battle shonen have been lacking is a genuine romance for the ages. Sure, there have been shows here and there blushing at the premise of their heroes finding love on the battlefield, but nothing in recent memory has elevated anime rom-coms with a refreshingly adult cast to such acclaim as MarriageToxin. MarriageToxin, animated by Bones Film (Gachiakuta/Daemons of the Shadow Realm), is a series whose very premise yes-and’s Naruto‘s superpowered world and asks what would happen if the more off-putting magic ninjas pursued love. Enter Hikaru Gero (JP: Haruki Ishiya, EN: Ethan Gallardo), a mild-mannered poison-user assassin and heir apparent to one of the five great families. When his queer little sister is given an ultimatum to continue the family bloodline in his stead, Gero sets aside his reservations about ever finding love and throws himself into the deep end to find his future wife. With the help of Mei Kinosaki (JP: Shion Wakayama, EN: Brittney Karbowski), his utterly lovable cross-dressing, Hitch-esque romantic advisor, Gero learns the ins and outs of modern dating, takes on a series of odd contract jobs, and meets a Rolodex of eligible bachelorettes, inadvertently charming them with good old-fashioned chivalry, getting their numbers, and sending them head over heels in love with him. If all that sounds like a lot, that’s basically the breakneck pace of each of the show’s 13 episodes. Yet somehow, each episode finds a comfortable groove, living up to the show’s promise to bring romance to shonen in a big way.