Even If You Don't Do It
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Discussed in the Journal
JournalThe Desire Gap Is a Difference of Context, Not of QuantityStoryline
The whole story, ending included.
Two sexless marriages, two people who start to want each other — prime-time Japan finally naming セックスレス.
Michi Yoshino, thirty-two, works for a construction firm. She and her husband, Youichi, who manages a café, still get on after five years of marriage, but he has not touched her in two years, and she has begun to wonder what is wrong with her. Makoto Niina, a manager at her company, is known around the office as a devoted husband. At the firm's cherry-blossom party he confides that his marriage is sexless too: his wife, Kaede, deputy editor of a fashion magazine, lives for her work. Both of them love their partners, which is what makes it hurt, and they become comrades.
When Kaede turns Makoto away on their anniversary, he and Michi drift together: a day at an aquarium and a kiss, on the same night Youichi sleeps impulsively with Yuika Mishima, a new hand at his café; then, on a work trip, an embrace Michi ends in tears. She breaks it off to face her marriage, and Youichi confesses that it is only with her that he cannot have sex, and that he has cheated once. She runs to Makoto, but he has chosen to try again with Kaede. Kaede confronts Michi. Then, when their spouses at last reach for them, Michi and Makoto both find themselves saying no. Kaede moves out. Youichi proposes buying a one-bedroom flat, and Michi sees that he has never pictured a child in their future.
On Makoto's last night at the firm they run for a bus together, then stop: they are done running away. Makoto asks Kaede for a divorce, and she agrees at once. When Michi asks Youichi, he offers to have a child if she wants one, and she tells him she will not wear herself away any longer. Both couples divorce. Makoto tells Michi he loves her; she turns him down, meaning to stand on her own.
Months pass. Living alone is lonelier than Michi expected. Kaede, now editing a baby magazine, tells Makoto that his spiritual affair with Michi gives her the chills, calls Michi a thieving cat to her face, then takes her drinking and marches her to Youichi's café, where Makoto has come to settle things. He says he could not fill the hole in Michi's heart and wishes them happiness. As they leave, Michi goes back for something she forgot, and she and Youichi decide to try again. Outside, Kaede offers to be Makoto's comrade.
Starring
Naoas Michi Yoshino
A thirty-two-year-old office worker whose husband has not touched her in two years and who longs for a child.
Michi Yoshino’s story
Michi has tried everything to make her husband want her, and finds a comrade in her manager, Makoto, whose marriage is sexless too. After a day at an aquarium they kiss; on a work trip she lets him hold her, then weeps, and he lets go. She ends it to face her marriage, and Youichi confesses that she is the only one he cannot sleep with, and that he has cheated once. When he finally reaches for her, she says no, and his plan for a one-bedroom flat shows her he has never pictured a child. She asks for a divorce, turns Makoto down to stand on her own, and finds living alone lonelier than she expected. Marched by Kaede to Youichi's café, she leaves, then goes back for something she forgot, and she and Youichi decide to try again.
Eita Nagayamaas Youichi Yoshino
Michi's easygoing husband, a café manager who loves her but cannot bring himself to sleep with her.
Youichi Yoshino’s story
Youichi cares more about coffee than customers. On the night Michi kisses Makoto, he sleeps with Yuika, a new hand at his café, on impulse; guilty, he turns back next morning to nurse Michi through a fever. He admits to Michi that he has cheated once. When he finally reaches for her, she says no. He proposes a one-bedroom flat, then shows her a bigger one. When she asks for a divorce he offers her a child, and she tells him she will not wear herself away any longer. Divorced, he sees her on a date and summons Makoto in a temper. When she comes back for something forgotten, they try again.
Takanori Iwataas Makoto Niina
A manager at Michi's company, known as a devoted husband, whose own marriage has been sexless for years.
Makoto Niina’s story
Makoto confides in Michi, whose marriage is sexless too, and they become comrades. When Kaede turns him away on their anniversary, he drifts towards Michi: an aquarium, a kiss, an embrace on a work trip that he ends when she cries. After she breaks it off, he redoes the anniversary with Kaede, but at home he goes to bed alone. On his last night at the firm he takes Michi's hand and runs for a bus, and they stop. He asks Kaede for a divorce, and she agrees at once. He tells Michi he loves her and thanks her for turning him down plainly. At Youichi's café he says he could not fill the hole in her heart, and outside, Kaede offers to be his comrade.
Minami Tanakaas Kaede Niina
Makoto's wife, deputy editor of a fashion magazine, whose work has crowded out everything else in her marriage.
Kaede Niina’s story
On their anniversary Kaede arrives late, her mind still on work, and turns Makoto away. She apologises and sets out a meal; he goes to bed without eating. She confronts Michi. When Makoto redoes their anniversary and she is ready, he goes to bed alone. She moves into a hotel to test him, and no message comes asking her home. When he asks for a divorce, she agrees at once. Months later, editing a baby magazine, she tells him his spiritual affair with Michi gives her the chills, calls Michi a thieving cat, takes her drinking and marches her to Youichi's café. Outside, she offers to be Makoto's comrade.
Honami Satoas Yuika Mishima
A mysterious new hand at Youichi's café, pursued for damages over an old affair, with whom he cheats once.
Rena Takedaas Hana Kitahara
Michi's frank younger colleague, who sees through her and warns her that confessing would only wound her husband.
Why it matters
This Fuji TV series puts sexlessness at the centre of a prime-time drama and treats it as something two loving people can fall into without either being a villain. Both marriages in it are affectionate, and both are stuck. The series is careful about the difference between an emotional affair and a physical one, and between desire and resentment: when the neglected spouses are finally approached, they refuse. It names the harder question underneath, Michi's wish for a child and Youichi's unspoken reluctance. Made by the team behind the 2014 affair drama Hirugao, it set records for catch-up viewing, and its ending left many viewers baffled: Michi goes back to the husband who hurt her. That choice is the series' real argument, that a marriage may be worth repairing precisely because both people now know what it cost.