BLISS RATING: ★★★★+
You are not an option. You are my priority.” – Marriage. com
Admittedly, I could not find a quote that summarized this series. Or perhaps I did not delve very hard to find one as I am not sure I completely understood its meaning or message. As I was searching, however, this quote popped up and I had an ‘aha’ moment. And I realized that this supposition was missing from this whole series. Not only was the sentiment missing from the series, it was also just the opposite for the three main characters. Their thinking was, “You are an option. You are not my priority”. Each was self-centered with each trying to preserve their own self-worth.
While the story itself is as old as time, the way it is presented is different. Husband, Yuuki (Furukawa Yuki) marries wife Misaki (Hotta Akane). She is young and beautiful, and she is deeply in love with Yuuki. Or the image of Yuuki. Yuuki professes to be in love with her and dotes over her and treats her with great respect and deference. But he cannot and will not give her the one thing she wants the most. Sex and a sense of intimacy. For nearly a year, he has been too tired, too busy, not in the right mood, or it is not at the right time to do it. But he promises on their first anniversary, he will come home early and make love to her. But when that day arrives, he does not come home early. So, it begs the question – what is she in love with?
When she is startled by noises outside their apartment, she peeks out to see her husband kissing another person which happens to be a young man. Seemingly like a surreal moment, she is stunned. She confronts him and it seems that Yuuki has fallen deeply and passionately for Shuhei (Honda Kyoya). As providence would have it, Shuhei is her former student and an individual whom she helped in high school and who also once overtly expressed his feelings for her. That is simply glossed over and is referenced merely as an adjunct.
To further complicate this story, Misaki harbors her own set of personal precepts for relationships that she compartmentalizes from her husband and Shuhei. She has a good female friend, that she harbors more than platonic but not quite sexual feelings for. In addition, this individual has a male roommate that becomes obviously smitten with Misaki as well. Unquestionably, to some degree so does Misaki became infatuated with him. He is a person willing and apparently wanting to fulfill her desires. But Misaki is unable to divorce herself (literally) from Yuuki. She is and remains in love with Yuuki, or what Yuuki represents, or in love with the hope that something will turn around.
Since this story moves rapidly and rather than seeking an obvious solution such as divorce, the three of them decide to cohabitate together but not have sexual relationships. Shuhei is of a mindset and generation where labels do not mean anything. He admits that he does not and cannot follow the subscription to normalcy. And so, he is quite capable of falling and being in love with another person, be they male or female, at any time. In other words, he is able and capable of loving more than one person at a time. From what I can gather, Yuuki is not aware of Shuhei’s attraction to Misaki in the past. Yet she is the one who proposes the three of them live together.
While I know little about Japanese culture and customs, so my conclusions are based strictly on inference. Initially there is seemingly nothing deep about her decision to remain in the marriage and her proposal to cohabitate. She is guided by three principles. One is her ‘love’ for Yuuki and two, marriage is sacred. It is the culmination of your upbringing and the cornerstone of society. Although divorce is ‘acceptable’, it screams failure and becomes a reflection on her. All of this is deeply imaged by the actions of Misaki’s coworker and want-to-be confidant.
And three, this arrangement gives her permission to think, explore, or broaden her concept of what relationships can be. While from my perspective, her decisions literally make no sense, as Yuuki cheated on her. Yet, she holds on to an irrational hope that he will someday, somehow come back to her. And since Yuuki is unable (or unwilling) to make decisions and be completely clear and upfront with her, I begin to understand her thinking from an emotional point of view. Misaki also begins to excogitate Shuhei’s thinking and philosophy, especially after Shuhei kisses her again. She seems to have been struck with an epiphany. Misaki begins to see the wisdom of Shuhei’s philosophy of falling in love with one more than person at the same time and is mulling over her own version of a menage-a-trois.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? This is an exceptionally well-acted series that pretended to go deep but for me did not. There is only one character here that profoundly affected this series but is simply unrecognized. And that is Mrs. Misumi (actress unknown) who is a co-worker of Misaki. She is a highly complex, deeply flawed individual, whose behavior bordered on disgusting and evil. Yet, despite her many flaws, her heart is trying to do the right thing to have Misumi see what lies ahead for her. I found her characterization so profoundly sad, wounded right to her core values, yet through all her pain, is still trying to help. The range of emotions and intense moods she displays is a work of art and rather than being angry with her, found her to be helpful but in a completely inept way. How can you not be saddened by her lot in life and by the societal standards that says she has to tolerate it all? Her role is a mirror of what could happen to Misaki.
Let me summarize by saying that I cannot get the quote above out of my head. The three main leads do not see others as priorities; only an options to use, or to feel good about having someone around, or otherwise filling a void in their lives. Yuuki struggles with his own identity and has been beaten down by a dominating and domineering father. His life is a living hell and at this point in his life is incapable of prioritizing anything except himself. Unfortunately, he has fallen in love with a sociopathic-like character who will never see him as a priority but will certainly give him what he needs for the moment. Shuhei is incapable of loving. The best you can say about Shuhei is that he is in love with being in love. This sociopathic-like behavior and thinking will permit him to move onto to the next bright shiny object once someone else grabs his attention. He will undoubtedly move on as he sees no one as a priority.
And Misaki only sees herself as a priority, paradoxically. While she feigns understanding, she wants what she wants, and her priority is motivated by her own pleasures. And she has seen from her co-worker, Mrs. Misumi, what happens if you do not make yourself the priority. There is certainly nothing wrong with their individual thinking; it is merely incompatible with the needs of the others.
What you have are essentially three flawed people who by circumstance become intertwined with each seeking something that ironically, they cannot give themselves. They each want to think ‘outside the box’ in terms of what is a ‘normal’ behavioral pattern for a relationship, but struggle to define for themselves what is normal.
I found this series empty, soul-destroying, and profoundly sad. Confused by its message yet compelled to watch it in a very voyeuristic fashion.
This is one series that I quite literally would like to forget.
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