Kekkon dekinai otoko

I came across these series in Netflix when I was looking for something nice to watch. It's fantastic. Funny and realistic. Blown me away.

This is a great comedic drama starring Hiroshi Abe, and Yui Natsukawa. The title literally means "A man who can't get married", and hints at the personality of the main character played by Hiroshi Abe.

Shinsuke Kuwano (Hiroshi Abe) is a good looking, and successful architect, but he's a nerd and doesn't enjoy the company of a woman. He runs his own office with his assistant Takashi (Eiji Murakami), and Maya Sawazaki (Reiko Takashima) who works for a general contractor's office that brings him clients. He always eats alone, sometimes rents a video, and hates to compromise when it comes to his work. There's nothing wrong about his person, or his personality except for the fact that he's somewhat socially retarded. One night he gets hit with a severe stomach ache. While he's suffering, his next door neighbor Michiru (Ryoko Kuninaka) comes to his condo to ask him to lower the sound of his stereo. She takes Shinsuke to a hospital that's run by his brother in law Yoshio (Toshinori Omi). There he meets Dr. Natsumi Hayasaka (Yui Natsukawa) who's working the graveyard shift. She wants to give him rectal examination, but Shinsuke refuses, and as soon as his pain subsides with the aid of medicine, he goes home without the permission of the doctor. But few days later on his 40th birthday, the pain returns, and he's sent back to the hospital. This time, Shinsuke is forced to submit to Natsumi's rectal probe. Natsumi and Shinsuke from then on starts to meet each other in strange coincidences, and without either of them recognizing, they start to fall in love.

What's superb about this comedy is that it goes deep into the modern day social culture of Japan. Each situational comedy is a reflection of people who lives in modern day Japan. You will understand why Japan is one of the few countries in the world where population is decreasing when you see this series. Hiroshi Abe, and Yui Natsukawa puts in a superb performance portraying the intelligent but lacking individuals who've lost emotional ties to other human beings, but feels something is lacking in their lives. The supporting cast is also great in this series, bringing the level of drama a notch or two higher in each of the episodes.

Superbly crafted, and performed drama that's a must see for all Asian drama fans.

Season One was entertaining but the gimmick does wear thin after a while. Also seems painfully behind the times - featuring single women who pine desperately to get married and talk about it all the time.

Still, as it was a unique show, with some good actors, we go along with it. The lead male, and architect, is a what we would say now, "on the spectrum", a high functioning autistic character who has difficulty dealing with all people and thus spends most of his time out of work - where he spends most of his time - alone at home entertaining himself.

He first goes to the hospital as he has a stomach malaise, and then proceeds to go almost every day it seems to consult with a femal Dr there, who he gradually seems to like. In spite of his uncensored blurts of often extremely blunt speech, extremely unJapanese I might add, he seems to make an impression on her. I should note that his speech gets him in trouble with everyone, at work, in restaurants etc.

If this sounds like a thin plot, it is. Basically a series of inept interactions and apologies, interspersed with women getting together and whining about unfulfilled love lives. Kind of pathetic to see working women so infantilized in this show. His family is not much better, with his mother deperately trying to matchmake him at all times. The Dr is one of the few to hold her own and keep her character intact and mature, dealing with the architect and her patients and friends.

Season 2 is more of the same, but the lead male is older with much less of the little charm he had in S1. Frankly he spends his time openly sneering at people and any niceties he acquired in S1 seem to have been lost. This makes all the essentially copied and pasted plot line from S1, with new women of course, redundant and frankly unappealing now. Who cares about a well into middleaged bachelor with no redeeming social values, with half the show devoted to people talking about him in frustration behind his back?

Not I.