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Engaged to the Unidentified Episode 1 – Quick Summary
In Engaged to the Unidentified episode 1, “It’s Important to Start Off on the Right Foot,” despite having yet another nightmare about an incident she can’t remember, Kobeni Yonomori awoke in a good mood. After all, it’s her sixteenth birthday! Her clingy older sister Benio even baked her a cake! Then things started to go sideways when Akane, Kobeni and Benio’s mother, calmly announced that oh, yeah, Kobeni was betrothed and the guy was standing right there! Was mom just joking? Will Benio help defend her if not? And why hadn’t she noticed the guy standing right there?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
Favorite Quote from Engaged to the Unidentified Episode 1
I honestly believe Hakuya was just trying to be helpful. Capture from the HIDIVE stream.
Unsurprisingly, Kobeni did not want anyone at school to know that she was suddenly betrothed. That means she wasn’t thrilled when she found herself walking to school alone with Hakuya Mitsumine. By this point, I think one of the most frustrating things to Kobeni is that she found absolutely to complain about in how Hakuya treated her.
Well, besides the whole betrothed-without-her-conscent thing.
She and Hakuya came across Kobeni’s friend Mayura Momouchi. I like Mayura’s quietly perceptive vibe; I don’t think much gets past her. Though in this case, I don’t think much perception was needed to catch Hakuya’s subtle meaning.
Keep in mind that Kobeni wanted to keep her home drama out of school. So when Mayura asked who accompanied Kobeni, the latter tried to think of a rational explanation. That pause was her undoing.
Always willing to be helpful, Hakuya said (15:46), “My name is Hakuya Mitsumine, and I am betrothed to Kobeni. I am 16.”
The guy’s honest to a fault!
Favorite Moment from Engaged to the Unidentified Episode 1
Kobeni had a lot going on all of a sudden. Capture from the HIDIVE stream.
Setup: A Political Rant to Justify Picking This Series
There are a number of interesting new series on the Fall 2024 roster. More than interesting, actually – I’m going to watch Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? V pretty much no matter what (I mean, come on – Syr Flova is a focus character in this season!). Of course, we can’t forget about Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 3 (Rem’s got to wake up at some point, right?).
But here’s the thing. I’m tired. Over the last few years, I’ve watched people I thought well of aggressively attack things like science, and community, and even democracy. We’re coming up on an election where the USA is going to decide if that whole democracy experiment was a new trend or simply a brief, shining foray into a world where people’s freedom mattered. Where people were not only allowed to make their choice, but where the government actually protected those rights.
Hakua caught her before she fell. He didn’t push her; he didn’t want to be praised for pushing her down. He just wanted to help her. That’s enormously refreshing. Capture from the HIDIVE stream.
The idea that we might begin stopping women at the borders between states and asking, “Papers, comrade,” just doesn’t sit well with me.
I’m mentally to the point where even taking the risk of choosing a series that might disappoint me was more than I wanted to take on. I’m going to need all my energy to reassure my disabled son that no, if the wrong side wins this election, they won’t come for him. Despite the uncle of Fred Trump telling Fred that he should just let his disabled son die. I don’t like having to lie. So that means I am now responsible for make my statement true. And I don’t know how to do that. I don’t know how to stop those people from acting on their absolute need to harm others.
I’d better figure out something, and soon.
Honest to God – I only thought I would contemplate scenarios like that in fiction. But here we are. So, I chose to review Engaged to the Unidentified.
Delivery: Kobeni’s the Heart of the Show
Before I get to my favorite moment, I should mention that I had forgotten Benio’s attitude towards Mashiro Mitsumine. It actually made me reconsider reviewing the show. Fortunately, Kobeni explained that (21:24), “The thing is, I think she gets a kick out of it when you cringe.”
Okay, that’s not an absolution, but it’s better than the alternative.
My favorite moment has to Kobeni’s reaction to finding out a) she’s betrothed and b) a bossy little sister-in-law has moved in to mold her.
Did Kobeni run screaming from the house? Did she fall into a well of despair? No. This is Kobeni. She’s a model of emotional stability – almost to a fault! In response to Mashiro trying to lay out the law, Kobeni held an inner dialogue.
“What in hell?” she thought (07:02). “First I’m betrothed, then I have a sister-in-law, and now I’m going to be molded into someone ‘suitable?’ And then there’s Mother, who accepted it just like that. I’m the one who’s in charge of this kitchen. We don’t have food to feed two extra bodies.”
She hasn’t really lost it. But she’s not exactly happy with recent events. Capture from the HIDIVE stream.
Then she screamed. It wasn’t a piercing wail; no one’s blood curdled. It was a frustrated noise and signaled she was switching into action mode. She went shopping for groceries.
I love Kobeni’s practicality. She couldn’t deal with everything, so she dealt with what she could, in that moment. And it was no coincidence that her actions would help those around her. Kobeni has a good heart, and that’s ab-so-freaking-lutely what I need to see right now. I need to believe such people exist. Even if they’re only in fiction.
What did you think of how Hakuya treats Kobeni? What were your favorite moments? Feel free to let me know in the comments!
Engaged to the Unidentified Episode 1: Other Posts
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: [SPOILERS] Mikakunin de Shinkoukei Episode 1
- The Glorioblog: First Look: Engaged to the Unidentified
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Engaged to the Unidentified Episode 1: It’s Important to Start Off on the Right Foot
- Engaged to the Unidentified Episode 2: It’s Not Bad Having a Loli Sister in Law
- Engaged to the Unidentified Episode 3: I Can Feel the Love Comedy Waves
- Engaged to the Unidentified Episode 4: That’s Just Her Being a Pervert
- Engaged to the Unidentified Episode 5: This Woman Has Given Birth?
- Engaged to the Unidentified Episode 6: I Know! I’ll Fill It with a Sister-in-Law
- Engaged to the Unidentified Episode 7: That’s One Thing, This is Another
- Engaged to the Unidentified Episode 8: Only a Little Sister Can Soothe Sadness Over a Little Sister
- Engaged to the Unidentified Episode 9: How Humiliating, I’m So Embarrassed
- Engaged to the Unidentified Episode 10: I Looked Up the Term ‘Lovey-Dovey Phase’
- Engaged to the Unidentified Episode 11: Enjoying the Handkerchief
- Engaged to the Unidentified Episode 12: Do You Understand? I Understand
This is such a sweet anime! Seriously, it doesn’t get enough attention. I also think that Kobeni is such an awesome main character. Though she’s one of the youngest people in her household, she’s also often the adult in the room when her older sister is getting wacky. Another little tidbit that I think is sweet about her immediate family is they are all named Red in one way or another. Kobeni means “little crimson” Benio means “big crimson” and Akane means “cute/sweet/little/child-like red”.
I wish it got more recognition, too. It currently has a 7.36 on MAL; I rated it a 9.
Very cool insights about red — I didn’t know anything about that. Thanks for sharing!
Oh man, I really love this show. But I’ve not seen it in a while (I’ve watched it at least twice fully, and I’m sure I’ve seen some episodes more than twice), so it’s a tad hard to remember what they tell you in episode one. But, you know, what is clear as day is that I really, really liked Kobeni as a protagonist. And the show is really good about her characterisation, too. I find, the show’s OP does a really good job at portraying her mindset, too. It’s this bouncy tune that spirals out of control (“ano, eto, doshio?”) and the animation ends with everyone floating away and the cosmos spinning into chaos, until Hakuya calms her down just by standing there. It sort of sums up the show.
And I really like the best-friend characters in this show. Both Mayura (Kobeni’s best friend) and Nadeshiko (Benio’s best friend) complement their friends very well. I did find Benio awfully annoying, but her being that way is sort of important for understanding Kobeni’s matter-of-fact acceptance of people around her. And a lot of the story unfolds around the Benio-Kobeni relationship. It’s a rather subtle social network the show’s building up, here. Kobeni basically sees herself as Benio’s little sister first and foremost. Her sister’s this great achiever and she’s not. Mashiro doesn’t primarily see her as Benio’s little sister, but her center of attention is her brother: she sees her as her brother’s betrothed instead. Only two people in the show see her for she is: Mayura and Hakuya.
But Hakuya is extremely needy (not to be confused with demanding, which he’s not). However, to understand Hakuya’s neediness, Kobeni must first face up to her value as an individual indepentently of Benio. But when you’ve been living your life around someone this overbearing, you’re used to fill the space left to you and all you’ve left is a certain pragmatic attitude. So, yeah, Kobeni going out shopping is settling business as usual. In a sense, though, it’s [i]also[/i] a way of running away from facing up to what she really wants (or before that facing up to the fact that she, too, could want things).
I might easily overinterpret things here, and it’s certainly more complex than that (there are things I can’t say in an episode 1 review, and I might have said too much alread – I think and hope I haven’t, but if I have… sorry). Kobeni is one of the characters in anime I find very relatable, and I tend not to relate to fictional characters much. The show hit a nerve.
I love how you describe how great Kobeni is as a protagonist! She’s the heart of the show, and that’s saying a lot, given these characters!
Love the OP, too!
I could not have described the show’s dynamic better! Thanks for that — beautiful stuff!
And no, I don’t think you disclosed anything not suggested in the first episode. I do agree that this show strikes a nerve, in a good way.
This is the Princess Connect/BOFURI principle where picking something fun and easygoing is the only way to cope with the insanity of the world around us. The world is watching the States with a mix of disbelief and disappointment, especially as the things that happen there are empowering knock-off versions to appear elsewhere. It’s looking more and more like we’ll end up with one in Canada at the next election. I’m not sure what the answer is anymore because there appears to be no compromise with their views and politics isn’t about policy anymore, it’s scaremongering and alienation. I hope this series gives you something to look forward to.
Since the end of WWII, the US has tried (and often failed — but as often tried) to be the good guys. We’ve tried to say that dictatorships are bad (yeah, I know — we’ve propped some of them up; but in those cases, we at least had the good taste to do it secretly because we knew it was bad).
Seeing a major political party — the party I _used_ to belong to — fully embrace dictatorship not only as a legitimate form of government, but one worthy of emulation is too much for me. That’s not even the worse part — they fully acknowledge that it’s cool to dump all that democracy stuff and say they’re going to establish a dictator within the US.
I mean, there’s not much separation between gerrymandering and falsifying elections. Democracies only work if they reflect the will of the people.
We’re turning out backs on the most powerful military and economic alliance the world has ever seen (NATO + the results of the Marshall Plan) for what? So they can “stick it to the libs?” Get back at all the institutions of higher education, who they are are too liberal? When in reality all they are are too fact-based?
Have you read Project 2025? Talk about un-American!
God, I swear, Orwell did _not_ write 1984 as a How-To manual. And Animal Farm was supposed to be a cautionary tale, not a brainstorming session?
I used to try reasoning with those folks. But the more facts I would bring up, the more shrill their response. It suddenly dawned on me that I’ve not been trained in the science of de-programming people. I don’t know how to un-indoctrinate someone. Healing the wounds inflicted by a cult is beyond my skill. The best I can think to do is something very, very American: work with coalitions of diverse Americans to bring about positive change. In other words, I’m going to put my faith in the promises of what the founding fathers put into practice. And hope to hell it’s enough.
Can you tell this is a sore topic for me?