This is a small little quirky drama from 2020 that I randomly happened to stumble upon after seeing a quick video about it on YouTube. It seemed interesting enough that I decided to look it up and saw that it was only seven 24-minute episodes, so it’s definitely a quick watch.
The general premise of this show is two individuals, Miura Manatsu (Itagaki Mizuki) and Haruta Ami (Matsui Airi) immediately marry each other after meeting on a dating app without barely knowing anything about each other and the hilarity that ensues. This first episode sets up our premise while also introducing our two characters as they begin to navigate this new relationship they jumped right into and their working lives which, interestingly enough, already intersect without them knowing it.
This first episode is titled First Marriage.
We start with our couple taking wedding pictures. They’re a little awkward around each other as Ami thinks to herself that this is only the second time they’re meeting. Manatsu is gentleman enough to ask her if she’s okay and Ami says she is with a smile as she thinks she doesn’t need love in a marriage.
A couple of months before, Ami is at home on her phone looking at pictures of an ex-boyfriend that cheated on her. She thinks back to when he told her that it was just a fling, nothing serious, and that they don’t need to end their engagement over it. Ah, yes, the classic tale. It turns out that they were even dating for five years.
She tries to knock herself out of her bad mood, since she was the one who decided to end the relationship, but when she gets a notification on her phone, she immediately jumps to check it. However, it’s only an ad for a dating app. She decides to scroll through and finds a profile of a 27-year-old man who is looking for a woman who will marry him the day they meet. He doesn’t have a profile picture.
Ami looks at the message and wonders if it’s like a help wanted ad. She thinks marriage is something that people in love do, but thinking about it more, she wonders if by responding to the message, she could get married right away. She ultimately comes to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter anymore, she’ll take whoever it is.
So we jump back to the wedding pictures with the photographer trying to stage them as she narrates that they got married the day they met without knowing anything about their personalities or backgrounds. The two get closer as Manatsu is instructed to give her a kiss on the forehead and he accidentally ends up doing it, shocking them both. He even apologizes for it and the two smile and laugh at each other.
They’ve even moved in together with Manatsu buying a house as he figures that would make their parents feel better about their marriage. Ami narrates that a marriage without love is awkward as the two have dinner together and Ami confesses to him that she just wanted to run away and wonders what her family will think when they find out about the sham marriage, although it’s too late to do anything about it now.
Manatsu tells her that it’s just that she got a fresh start, figuring it’s just as good that she didn’t marry someone who cheats. Even though they aren’t in a loving relationship, although I’m sure that’ll change, he promises to never hurt her and is sure her family will understand. Aww, he seems sweet.
That night, Ami thinks that she’ll be able to be with him for a while, despite not knowing just how long a while might be. Manatsu looks at his phone in his own bedroom, seemingly troubled about something.
In the morning, Ami suggests making something for breakfast, but Manatsu reveals he already bought bread. He got random ones, not knowing what she would like and she thinks that she’s somehow happy. Manatsu leaves to go to work as Ami wonders if she should’ve gone to the front door to see him off thinking that they truly don’t know anything about each other, not even where the other person works.
Ami is at work when a man comes up and asks to speak with her. The man, Hori Ryuhei, a colleague, confesses to planning a wedding party for her only to hear that it had an unfortunate ending. But he feels like that’s a good thing for him and comments on how happy Ami seems. He invites her to dinner and she rejects him as she’s leaving early that day. She leaves him sitting at the table as she thinks that she can’t tell him she’s married when he seems worried about her.
Later, Ami is at the store looking at mugs for the house. On the shelf, she finds a pair that she had bought with Kentaro, the cheating ex-boyfriend. Who else walks in but Kentaro. He notices the cup and asks if they really shouldn’t have broken up. When Ami is confused, he suggests that they meet up as friends. Thankfully, she rejects that despite his persistence and when he places a hand on her shoulder, it gets taken away by Manatsu who has appeared.
Kentaro is surprised to see that Ami knows the man as Manatsu warns him not to touch his wife, not to call her by her first name, and not to be so casual with her, calling him a cheater. Ami comes up next to Manatsu to inform Kentaro that the two of them got married and Kentaro both apologizes and congratulates them. When Kentaro leaves, Ami thinks that she feels lighter and wonders if it’s because of Manatsu.
That night, Ami is making curry for dinner when Manatsu returns. She notices that he hides something behind his back, it’s some food, and he claims he can eat it tomorrow. They have dinner together and Ami thanks him for helping with her ex-boyfriend. He only sees it as natural, since he is her man now. He is consistently drinking water and Ami figures that the curry is too spicy. He doesn’t hurt her feelings, taking another large bite, but it’s clear he’s in pain and Ami promises to make it milder next time.
She watches him as she thinks that he’s cute. And although he is a man she knows nothing about, he is her husband and that brings a smile to her face as well as the butterflies in her stomach.
While at work she even thinks about him all of the time and the two are shocked when they come face-to-face in the elevator. Things are a little awkward between them as they realize that they work for the same company and that they actually never asked each other where they work, but they are quickly smiling and laughing at the coincidence.
Two coworkers spot them being close and ask Ami if she knows Manatsu. He manages to play it off, that he had to ask her something and takes his leave. The girls are impressed and suspicious of Ami since she never had any interest in anyone besides her boyfriend. Ami is surprised to find out that he’s pretty famous around the company and is excellent at his job, too. He’s also apparently the best looking, which means that everyone is after him.
During work, Ami is asked by a younger coworker, Yamagata Yuki, to see if he’s doing it right. With his compliments, she thinks to herself that if you let down your guard, Yuki will remind you he’s a man. One of the girls from earlier tells Ami that they’re going to livestream the President’s award and everyone tunes in. It turns out that Manatsu is getting the awkward for being the top salesman that month again.
Ami is getting a massage later and even the masseur, Mochizuki Kaimi, can say that he can tell that she’s in love, only because it’s her though. Don’t tell me he’s another potential suitor. Afterwards, though, Ami is lost and Manatsu sees her on the street. He playfully jokes about her being lost going to her own house and, when they arrive home, she admits that she stopped at the grocery store and got lost on the way back since she has a terrible sense of direction.
As they enter the house, they figure that they should keep their relationship a secret from those at work and Ami wonders to herself why he was looking for someone to marry on the app since he’s so popular. And while she originally thought she didn’t want love, she actually does want him to like her, wondering if it’s okay to feel that way.
So she pretties herself up that night as she thinks about what she can do to get him to make the first move. She fantasizes about him complimenting her like a love-sick puppy and daydreams about them getting along like a proper married couple in love. She wants to set traps for him and so she tries by waiting for him to finish his shower on the couch in her shorts and then inviting him to drink with her. He does accept but sits across from her. It also turns out that Ami is a terrible drinker and Manatsu kindly tells her that she doesn’t need to keep up with him when she drinks, taking the beer from her. She thinks she messed up, but Manatsu doesn’t want her to force herself as he is her husband.
That changes her mood as it showed how sweet he is. Taking another approach, she asks if he’s cold, I mean, he is shirtless, and he claims that she’s cold because of her shorts being too short. He gets up and beings to cover her with a blanket as Ami clarifies that she’s talking about when they go to sleep, not now.
Manatsu still covers her and asks if she means she wants to sleep together. Sitting next to her and staring at her, he tells her they can’t. She’s slightly embarrassed as she buries her head in her legs, but Manatsu gently moves her chin to look at him and tells her to tell him that when she really likes him. Ami points out that she wouldn’t have said it if she didn’t like him and Manatsu kisses her, saying it’s unfair that she looks like that.
Later that night, Manatsu looks at the order that he placed with a smile.
In the morning, Manatsu is heading off to work, still going separately from Ami and making no mention of what happened the previous night. Ami is a little lonely because of that and goes to see him during work. He’s surrounded by other females but sees her standing there and goes to meet her under the pretense that she’s there because of a deposit for a customer.
He takes her to the staircase where he backs her against the wall and tells her how assertive she is since they’re at work. She attempts to leave, feeling embarrassed, but Manatsu tells her it’s a joke and pulls her back asking if she needs something. With a smile, Ami tells him that she just wanted to see him and Manatsu keeps it together, simply asking her to confirm the package he has arriving for him at home. Ami thinks how her attack isn’t working and Manatsu sends her back to work.
He watches her as she leaves and it’s only then that he breaks out into a smile. Oh, this boy is already gone. Another colleague, Matsushita Kazuya, appears on the stairway telling Manatsu that he saw everything and notes how unusual it is for him as well as how messy it can get at the office. Manatsu thanks him for the advice and walks right by him.
That night, Ami gets the package and finds out it’s a pack of condoms. She wonders if that’s the reason why he stopped the previous night and comments on how much of a sadistic he is for making her open the package. However, she does admit that she’s fallen for him and can’t hide the smile on her face.
This series is just too cute. I know Japanese series have smaller episode counts, so things tend to move quickly. Also, this series is only 24 minutes, which means that a lot has to be packed in. It may seem strange from reading the description, two people rushing into marriage and suddenly finding out they work at the same place, but somehow, it works with this. Ami wanted to get married to quickly get over her cheating ex-boyfriend, and I guess because she thought she’d never be able to get married. On the other hand, we don’t really know the reason why Manatsu wanted to get married so quickly. After all, it was his post that Ami saw, he was the one who asked for the marriage first on the dating app.
While I totally expected them to fall for each other, because how else was this series going to go, what I didn’t expect was just how quickly they’ve kind of fallen in love. Not that we see it from Manatsu’s side, and Ami only admitted it to herself that she’s fallen for him, but we can see that he probably does think she’s at least cute based on his reaction after she left the staircase from work.
What we’ve seen of Manatsu so far, though, is that he truly is a nice, kind, and considerate person. He defended Ami in front of her cheating ex-boyfriend when they ran into each other and is considerate of her at home. Things aren’t too awkward between them, as one would expect, as they start falling into their patterns of married life. It’s not like they’re being too cautious around each other and I think Ami recognizing that she likes Manatsu so early on can be beneficial. It seems like she knows what she wants and is willing to do anything so that she can get him to like her. She knows that they know nothing and that they’re starting from nothing, but I’m mildly impressed with how she’s willing to try to change his mind and make him see her in a new light, not that I really think it’ll take much for her.
But I really enjoyed this first episode. We met a lot of different people, mostly guys that I think might end up liking Ami or posing a threat for Manatsu, but I’m expecting this to be a quirky and fun drama. If we’ve seen anything from this so far, it’s that this couple definitely has the possibility to be very sweet, once they recognize and give in to their feelings that is. I’m definitely looking forward to that, though, even if this series might be short.
