diff --git a/lib/Db/MySQL/Driver.php b/lib/Db/MySQL/Driver.php
index 1c0da1e1..d2c538bc 100644
--- a/lib/Db/MySQL/Driver.php
+++ b/lib/Db/MySQL/Driver.php
@@ -164,6 +164,8 @@ class Driver extends \JKingWeb\Arsse\Db\AbstractDriver {
 
     protected function makeConnection(string $db, string $user, string $password, string $host, int $port, string $socket): void {
         $this->db = mysqli_init();
+        $this->db->options(\MYSQLI_SET_CHARSET_NAME, "utf8mb4");
+        $this->db->options(\MYSQLI_OPT_INT_AND_FLOAT_NATIVE, false);
         $this->db->options(\MYSQLI_OPT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT, ceil(Arsse::$conf->dbTimeoutConnect));
         @$this->db->real_connect($host, $user, $password, $db, $port, $socket);
         if ($this->db->connect_errno) {
diff --git a/tests/lib/AbstractTest.php b/tests/lib/AbstractTest.php
index 3ed6fc4d..5bfd0353 100644
--- a/tests/lib/AbstractTest.php
+++ b/tests/lib/AbstractTest.php
@@ -324,11 +324,15 @@ abstract class AbstractTest extends \PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase {
     }
 
     public function assertResult(array $expected, Result $data): void {
+        $data = $data->getAll();
         // stringify our expectations if necessary
         if (static::$stringOutput ?? false) {
             $expected = $this->stringify($expected);
+            // MySQL is extra-special and mixes strings and integers, so we cast the data, too
+            if ((static::$implementation ?? "") === "MySQL") {
+                $data = $this->stringify($data);
+            }
         }
-        $data = $data->getAll();
         $this->assertCount(sizeof($expected), $data, "Number of result rows (".sizeof($data).") differs from number of expected rows (".sizeof($expected).")");
         if (sizeof($expected)) {
             // make sure the expectations are consistent
diff --git a/tests/lib/DatabaseDrivers/MySQL.php b/tests/lib/DatabaseDrivers/MySQL.php
index 01501f15..0df43d3f 100644
--- a/tests/lib/DatabaseDrivers/MySQL.php
+++ b/tests/lib/DatabaseDrivers/MySQL.php
@@ -21,7 +21,10 @@ trait MySQL {
         if (!class_exists("mysqli")) {
             return null;
         }
-        $d = @new \mysqli(Arsse::$conf->dbMySQLHost, Arsse::$conf->dbMySQLUser, Arsse::$conf->dbMySQLPass, Arsse::$conf->dbMySQLDb, Arsse::$conf->dbMySQLPort);
+        $d = mysqli_init();
+        $d->options(\MYSQLI_OPT_INT_AND_FLOAT_NATIVE, false);
+        $d->options(\MYSQLI_SET_CHARSET_NAME, "utf8mb4");
+        @$d->real_connect(Arsse::$conf->dbMySQLHost, Arsse::$conf->dbMySQLUser, Arsse::$conf->dbMySQLPass, Arsse::$conf->dbMySQLDb, Arsse::$conf->dbMySQLPort);
         if ($d->connect_errno) {
             return null;
         }