First comes marriage, then comes love!
I Married My Best Friend To Shut My Parents Up is a Yuri Genre manga by Kodama Naoko.
Machi Morimoto is a young professional woman who's grown tired of her parents pressuring her to marry a man of their choosing, knowing that they're only doing it so they can brag about their son-in-law. Enter her friend and former kohai, Hana Agaya, who needs a place to stay while her apartment building's being renovated, and convinces Machi to fake a marriage with her as a way to solve both their problems. But there's a catch: while Machi is straight, Hana is gay, and both are aware that Hana was interested in her romantically back in school. Machi has to figure out how to deal with this new "relationship", as well as navigate her possibly changing feelings toward her "wife".
The manga lasts three chapters and is contained in a single volume, along with an unrelated one-shot, Anaerobic Love, and a short denouement titled "Fake Married Life".
The series contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: The Morimotos are incredibly overbearing when it comes to raising Machi, and some of their scolding comes off as emotional abuse. Their desire for her to succeed is understandable, but it's largely implied that it's only for their personal gain.
- The B Grade: Machi's mother tears into her for getting a 90 out of 100 on the test, berating her for failing to get the other 10 points.
- Book Ends: The series begins with Machi's male coworker talking with her about his girlfriend, and asking her if she wants a significant other to welcome her home. The series ends with Machi refusing an invitation to a company party from said coworker, saying that someone's waiting for her.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Given the mostly realistic setting, Machi is quite large-breasted for a Japanese woman (a G-cup). Hana openly admits both that she'd always been attracted by them, and that she's never been with anyone that large before.
- Character Development: After drifting through life for many years, and only getting a job that her parents would approve of, Machi's relationship with Hana helps her start to enjoy life and become more assertive. She finds herself becoming more enthusiastic about her job and falling in love with Hana.
- Cross-Popping Veins:
- Machi's father gets this after ordering his daughter and "daughter-in-law" out of the house.
- Machi's mother sports this when seeing a "Just Married" card featuring her daughter and Hana.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: The series begins with Machi considering a deliberate invocation of this trope; her parents are on her case about marriage so much that she wants to marry someone they'd hate just to get them off her back. Hana suggests herself. It works.
- Education Mama: Machi's parents. Both of them are shown constantly pressuring her to earn perfect grades and get into the best possible schools.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The manga is about a young woman who marries her best friend because she's tired of her parents' efforts to hook her up with a successful husband.
- Extreme Doormat: Before Machi married Hana, she mostly took the path of least resistance, doing whatever would appease her parents.
- First-Name Basis: Hana is almost exclusively addressed by her first name, and only mentions her surname when introducing herself to her in-laws.
- Genki Girl: Hana's a rather cheerful and high-spirited person.
- Get Out!:
- Machi's parents yell this at her and Hana after learning that they are a couple.
- Machi herself does this to her mother when her mother insults Hana.
- Hate Sink: Machi's parents are the main cause of the problems in this series, and appear to lack any sympathetic traits whatsoever. They make their daughter's life miserable, and, for good measure, Machi's mother is disgusted by the idea of same-sex relationships.
- Irony: The series begins In Medias Res with Machi talking to her coworker, who complains that his girlfriend isn't in a hurry to get married because he wants the whole "Coffee, Tea, or Me?" experience. Cut to Machi getting home, where Hana asks that exact question.Machi: (thinking) This is what he wanted, isn't it? Maybe I should brag about this tomorrow.
- Last-Name Basis: Machi is generally referred to her surname by most characters apart from her mother. While Hana twice uses Machi's first name, she generally defaults to "Senpai" when addressing her.
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to some of Kodama's other work. Unlike NTR: Netsuzou Trap, there's no infidelity at all, and the one situation that would seemingly lead to that is resolved almost immediately.
- Love Confession: Hana confessed to Machi in the past, and was rejected.
- Marriage Before Romance: This trope is to be expected as part of the premise, although the "marriage" is mutually acknowledged to be a fake one of convenience before it becomes real.
- Meet the In-Laws: Machi brings Hana over when announcing that they're married. Since the main goal of the fake marriage is to convince Machi's parents to stop pressuring her to get married, it's only natural for Machi to show them her "wife."
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: One of Machi's exes tries to break her and Hana up to get back together with Hana, by inviting Hana over, getting her drunk and making it seem as though Hana is having an affair with her. Unfortunately for her, Machi doesn't react the way she'd hoped, and the incident pushes the two together.
- No Ending: Machi starts developing feelings for Hana, and Hana decides not to move out, but apart from that, nothing is conclusively resolved. It serves as a mundane version of And the Adventure Continues by implying that their relationship will continue, but with her newfound estrangement from her parents, the manga's title no longer applies. Of course, considering that Mrs. Morimoto paid Machi a visit late in the manga after Machi had announced her "marriage" to Hana, what will happen between her and her parents is anyone's guess.
- No Name Given: None of Machi's male coworkers - a young man with a girlfriend, a middle-aged man who's her boss, and an old man who's also high-ranked - are named.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Machi's parents strongly disapprove of Hana, and Machi suspects that they'd be just as hard on any man who doesn't meet their standards.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Hana's parents are the closest thing the story has to antagonists, and they make it abundantly clear that they disapprove of same-sex relationships.
- Pose of Supplication: Hana gets drunk with one of her exes, thus forcing to Machi to come get her. Once Hana's sober enough to think clearly, she assumes this position while apologizing to Machi.
- Rage Breaking Point: Machi mostly puts up with her mother complaining about her being a lesbian, until her mother insults Hana. At that point, Machi demands that her mother apologize, then orders her out of the apartment.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Hana is the cheerful and excitable red oni to Machi's cool and unemotional blue oni.
- Salaryman: Machi works at a company for a living. She's not particularly enthusiastic about the job, at least before "marrying" Hana.
- Shut Up, Kirk!: When Hana tries to explain to her mother-in-law that she and Machi love each other, she gets a Big "SHUT UP!" in response.
- Stay in the Kitchen: One of Machi's superiors questions how wise it is to give her a big assignment if she's going to eventually get married and leave the company, saying that a male co-worker should get the experience. This is a well-known phenomenon in Japan's corporate culture, though it is fortunately becoming looked down upon and more married women are working.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Machi is cynical, unemotional and sometimes cold, but she cares about Hana.
- Their First Time: Subverted twice and played straight once. In the last chapter, Machi is willing to do this to prove she isn't just messing with Hana's feelings, but Hana assures her that she doesn't need to pressure herself because, being married, they "have all the time in the world". Then in the denouement, Hana wants to play this straight on their "honeymoon" vacation, but Machi falls asleep. When they return home, she pouts until Machi forces her to admit what's wrong, which is followed by Machi apologizing and assuring Hana that she is ready now. (They still aren't shown having sex, but it's clearly implied that it's about to happen.)
