Fishbowl Wives

I enjoyed first part of this series . It's good and enjoyable but i don't know what's wrong with the story at the end. Slightly disappointed tbh. I was rooting ao hard for Them and the story progressed like that but ending is so much disappointing.

The writing tricks u to think now they will be fine but even in the last ten seconds of series nothing will be fine and it will throw u with not even a well cliffhanger.

In Last Cinderella (2013) Ryoko Shinohara stars as Sakura, a hairdresser who is torn between the salon manager and a guy, Hiroto, half her age. In Fishbowl Wives (2022) Ryoko Shinohara stars as Sakura, a former hairdresser who is married to a salon chain owner, but has an affair with a guy, Haruto, half her age. Coincidence? Seems implausible. My interpretation is that FW is an alternate universe continuation of LC in which Sakura had chosen her boss over the young pup, and this is her second chance to get it right. Too bad FW is nowhere near as entertaining as LC. It's impressive how little Shinohara has aged, though.

Japanese Drama "Fishbowl Wives" is a drama about toxic relationships, and wives that are facing various marital problems.

The story starts with the introduction of the main lead and her seemingly perfect life. Things are rushed to have her running away, which was the highlight of the drama. However, she stayed in that avoiding reality phase for the whole drama, until the most cliche thing happened and she had finally to face her problems. The ending was realistic, on that note, and it was probably what fitted the story the best. However, the love story was bleak and boring after a while of not having anything happening.

On the other hand, the short stories that were added on the main one were pretty interesting and some of them often stole the thunder from the actual story.

Finally, the cinematography was pretty, especially the posters for the drama, and the performances were excellent.

So, overall, 4 out of 10.

I really enjoyed this series... until the last episode.

The series revolves around the relationships of some couples living in a high rise condo, focusing mainly on a single wife per episode.

Most of the episodes offer poignant, if sometime predictable, stories. The biggest problem I had with the individual episodes was that the writers failed to "wrap things up" before moving on to the next one.

Interwoven through all this is the story of Sakura, who is in an abusive marriage and trying to find happiness away from her husband. Unfortunately, the writers lead you on, and then gut punch you in the final episode with one of the worst endings I've ever watched. Disappointing hardly covers it.

It seems to be a trend in recent series that writers want to give you the worst ending possible.

Adaptasi manga populer berjudul sama karya Ryo Kurosawa ini sukses menempatkan 'ikan mas' dan 'akuarium' sebagai analogi dari kisah enam wanita yang tengah berjuang dalam hubungan cinta/rumah tangganya masing-masing, terlepas dari problema yang berbeda-beda.

Semua terangkum dalam 8 episode berdurasi tergolong singkat dengan bingkai Haruto-Sakura-Takuya yang jelas menjadi sorotan utama. Minusnya, Michiko Namiki & Hiroaki Matsuyama seperti terbentur oleh keterbatasan saat mengeksplorasi tiap karakter sekaligus mendalami tiap subplotnya.

Mini series Jepang ini lebih mengedepankan emansipasi wanita walau di satu sisi agak terkesan melegitimasi perselingkuhan, see those sex scenes with purposes. Namun rekonsiliasi atau perpisahan akan selalu jadi perdebatan dilematis dengan segala konsekuensi sikap dan pilihannya.

Karakter dan plot terfavorit: Sakura Yuriha Noriko Hisako Saya Yuka

Terlepas dari open ending yang cukup mengganggu terlebih bagi pasangan utama yang sudah begitu apik membangun karakternya, antologi pahit manisnya pernikahan ini hadirkan insights menarik yang sifatnya universal.