Kekkon Surutte, Hontou Desu ka? (2022)

Watch a nude portrait drying is more engaging and sexier

As you would expect, the first couple of episodes were quite cute and set up the contract marriage scenario. To say the two leads are introverts is an understatement. They have low emotional intelligence and barely adequate social skills.

Contract marriage is a staple of j/k/c-dramas so it is a well worn path. There are certain expectations when we watch such a show. The journey of the OTP is never going to be easy, but it is their growing love for each other and their eventual coming together that give us the raison d’etre to watch. It is in this regard that the show left us wanting.

In terms of production and acting, they are both fine. It is up to the usual j-drama standard. The actors played their roles well enough and mostly by the book. The problem lies mostly with the script.

In essence, the writer-san want to show us a different style of marriage/relationship where the couple continue to lead independent lives and only meet up when the mood suits them. This is happening more and more with mature aged couples who have established home and a comfortable work/life routine. They don’t want to upend their lives completely just for the sake of a relationship. However, in this case, it goes beyond that, our leads just don’t know how to live with other people.

They are constantly confused about their feelings and in denial. They internalise everything and hide behind excuses even when their hearts are shouting for attention.

Misunderstanding is a given. The noble idiot card is being playing repeatedly. Almost every subplot is about failed relationship or difficult romances which undermine their house of cards. It was cute for a while, but it soon become draining and unproductive. They do get jealous when the SF/ML shows up but the effect is never consistent. Sometimes it is productive but other times they are self-destructive. Most cliché plot device that normally would bring the OTP closer together are foiled.

In the end, the lack of chemistry between the leads is the killer blow. They have the odd sweet moment but most of the time they are just awkward around each other and pushing each other away. Their relationship is just flat. The ML is a wet mop. You can’t get a rise out of him if you fill him with helium. Just about every romantic trope used is muted.

Every thread are closed with a pink bow in the last episode. Happy ending is a given. Sadly, the main love line remains anticlimactic unto the bitter end. The proposal is a damp squib and there wasn’t even a kiss to seal the deal. Of course, they live apart after they got married (sans wedding ceremony). Even when they meet up on their days off, they behave like acquaintances, polite acquaintances to be sure. There is no PDA and definitely no skinship. All the while the voiceover (FL) is telling us how much they are in love. Indeed! I’m not even going to ask if they have ever slept together. From the viewer’s point of view, there is scant reward after sitting through 10 episodes.

The Show is dull, tropey but watchable. The travelogue is nice and there are cute moments. Regrettably, the show is just not very rewarding from a viewer's perspective.

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Alas, a missed opportunity

This "Kekkon Surutte, Hontou Desu ka?" had all the ingredients it needed to be a very good - if not outright a great - dorama...but failed miserably due to the main characters being written as a pair of robots. It's even more infuriating, considering that the leads, Aoi Wakana and Sato Kanta, can both act very well but weren't allowed to show their potential, compelled as they were to portray those two expressionless characters (such a waste of talent!). And adding insult to injury, it's not like the writers can't write either, as they also showed their potential here and there, when the situation allowed - alas, too briefly. The rest of the cast, the "packaging" and the music were all pretty good, so with differently written main characters this would've really been interesting!

The way *I* would have written it (very "90s style", LOL - roles that could've been written for the 90s' Sorimachi and Takeuchi, if you know what I'm sayin'): I would have had the ML as a male chauvinist philanderer, and the FL as a staunch, borderline man-hating feminist. And then I would have had them change and grow bit by bit, due to many (often outrageous and funny) happenings, until their final realization that they both would be way better, stronger and happier together, in mutual love and respect.
Cheesy and unoriginal? Yep, you bet. But a gazillion times more entertaining and fun to watch than this yawnfest! ^___-

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