More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers

Alternate Titles

夫婦以上、恋人未満。
Fuufu Ijo, Koibito Miman

Synopsis

Jiro Yakuin is a boring third-year high schooler who ends up living with the most beautiful girl in class, Akari Watanabe, when the two are paired up for a school project to practice being a married couple. The only problem is they both can’t stand each other! An asocial loner and a cheery gyaru. The two are complete opposites of each other. Jiro would much rather be paired up with his crush, Shiori Sakurazaka, and likewise Akari wants to be paired with her crush, Minami Tenjin. But in order for that to happen, they first have to learn to get along, or at least fake it to look like the perfect married couple. But as they spend more time together, will their feelings for each other begin to change?

Background

More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers started as a manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Kanamaru that began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace seinen manga magazine in March 2018. As of May 2022, it has been published in eight collected tankobon volumes.

A TV anime adaptation was announced in November 2021. It is being produced by Studio Mother and features Takao Kato as chief director and Junichi Yamamoto as director, with Naruhisa Arakawa handling series composition, Chizuru Kobayashi handling character designs, and Yuri Habuka composing the music. The anime’s opening theme song is "TRUE FOOL LOVE" by Liyuu, and the ending theme song is "Stuck on you" by Nowlu. The anime will premiere in Japan on Oct. 9, 2022 on AT-X, Sun TV, Tokyo MX, and KBS Kyoto and will also broadcast on BS11.

Characters

Akari Watanabe (Voiced by: Saori Onishi)
Akari is a third-year high school student and a knockout gyaru at the top of her class’ hierarchy. She is paired up with her classmate Jiro to practice being a married couple, and in order to get paired with Minami, whom she has a crush on, she has to get along with Jiro and play house in order to get a good grade. Surprisingly, she has little experience when it comes to romance.

Jiro Yakuin (Voiced by: Seiichiro Yamashita)
Jiro is a third-year high school student. He is an asocial otaku at the bottom of his class’ hierarchy. He has never had a girlfriend before. He is paired up with Akari to practice being a married couple, and now in order to get paired with his childhood friend Shiori, whom he has a crush on, he has to play house with Akari. He’s not a big fan of cheery gyaru like Akari.

Shiori Sakurazaka (Voiced by: Saki Miyashita)
Shiori is a third-year high school student. She is Jiro’s classmate and childhood friend. Though a neat and tidy girl with a reputation for being cute, she lacks self-confidence and easily gets shy. She is particularly bad at talking with guys she doesn’t know. She is paired up with Minami to practice being a married couple, but she often thinks about Jiro.

Minami Tenjin (Voiced by: Toshiki Masuda)
Minami is a third-year high school student and one of Jiro’s classmates. He has excellent looks and athleticism. He is a considerate person who is kind to everyone. Though he has a crush on Akari, he is paired up with Shiori to practice being a married couple. He is a refreshingly handsome guy who is admired by both girls and guys alike.

Sachi Takamiya (Voiced by: Minami Takahashi)
Sachi is a close friend of Akari’s and is a fellow cheery gyaru. She is caring and kind, and gives advice to Akari and Natsumi.

Natsumi Ohashi (Voiced by: Azumi Waki)
Natsumi is a close friend of Akari’s and is a fellow cheery gyaru. She is head over heels for a guy named Ryo who goes to a different school. Surprisingly, she has an unmotivated side when it comes to love.

Mei Hamano (Voiced by: Yui Ogura)
Mei is Shiori’s close friend. She supports Shiori’s love life and watches over her. She is boyish and gets along well with girls.

Sadaharu Kamo (Voiced by: Sho Nogami)
Sadaharu is Jiro’s close friend and an otaku who loves video games. He watches over Jiro’s love life. He has an older brother who works at a cafe.

Shu Terafune (Voiced by: Shuichi Uchida)
Shu is Minami’s close friend and a member of his normie group. He is paired with Mei to practice being a married couple. He seems to have feelings for Akari.

Music

Opening Theme Song: "TRUE FOOL LOVE" by Liyuu
Ending Theme Song: "Stuck on you" by Nowlu

• Anime Site (Japanese)
• Twitter (Japanese)

• Original Creator: Yuki Kanamaru
• Chief Director: Takao Kato
• Director: Junichi Yamamoto
• Series Composition: Naruhisa Arakawa
• Character Design: Chizuru Kobayashi
• Art Director: Naoko Akuzawa (Team Till Dawn)
• Color Design: Akira Nagasaka
• Director of Photography: Misato Takahata (Moe)
• Editing: Ichiro Chaen (Typhoon Graphics)
• Sound Director: Takayuki Yamaguchi
• Music: Yuri Habuka
• Music Production: Lantis
• Animation Production: Studio Mother