Anata no Koto wa Sorehodo
あなたのことはそれほど
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
Married to the man she loves second best, a young wife runs into her first love again and begins an affair with him.
Mitsu works on the front desk of an eye clinic. When a patient, Ryota Watanabe, asks her out, she finds him gentle, steady and entirely devoted to her. But the person she has loved most since primary school is Koki Arishima, a classmate who moved away without saying goodbye, and a fortune-teller once told her that she should marry the man she loves second best. She marries Ryota. Nearly thirty, she runs into Arishima again. He is married too, and his wife, Reika, has just had their daughter; when he says so, Mitsu admits she has a husband, promises to ask for nothing, and the affair goes on.
Ryota already knows. He has been reading her phone, and instead of confronting her he keeps smiling, cooking and holding on with a calm that frightens her. Mitsu turns up at the Arishimas' flat and meets Reika; Ryota, in turn, seeks out the Arishimas, and Reika, clever and composed, begins to watch her husband. Arishima ends the affair. Mitsu leaves home and asks for a divorce, and Ryota will not fill in the form. Arishima confesses to Reika. Mitsu fears she may be pregnant. Leaflets slandering her are scattered around the building where she lived with Ryota, the work, it later emerges, of Minami, a lonely neighbour of the Arishimas.
In the final episode Mitsu is not pregnant, and Ryota agrees to the divorce. Reika has taken their daughter to her parents' house, and Arishima goes there every morning and evening until she lets him back; he tells Mitsu they will never meet or write again. Then Mitsu learns that the papers were never filed and that Ryota has vanished from work. Afraid he means to take his own life, she goes after him and offers to try again. He tells her that is guilt, not love, that he no longer loves her all that much, and that perhaps she has never really loved anyone. She says perhaps not. He laughs, calls her honest and cruel, and says that at least he married the person he loved most. She tells him his love was a gentle kind of violence, and apologises for hurting him. They shake hands, and he throws away his wedding ring. A year later Arishima and Reika are settled again, and Mitsu, divorced and alone, glimpses Ryota at a wedding venue. When a friend asks if he is just going to leave her there, he answers: not that much.
Starring
Haruas Mitsu Watanabe
An eye-clinic receptionist who married the man she loved second best and, on meeting her first love again, follows her heart without guilt.
Mitsu Watanabe’s story
Mitsu is nearly thirty and married to Ryota when she runs into Arishima, her love since primary school. She tells him she is married too, promises to ask for nothing and carries on. When Ryota reveals he knew all along, she turns up at the Arishimas' and meets Reika. Arishima ends it; she leaves home, asks for a divorce and fears she is pregnant. She is not; Ryota agrees, then never files the papers and disappears. Afraid he means to take his own life, she goes after him and offers to try again. He calls it guilt, not love, and says perhaps she has never loved anyone; she agrees. She tells him his love was a gentle kind of violence, apologises, and they shake hands. A year later, divorced and alone, she still cannot be glad for other people.
Masahiro Higashideas Ryota Watanabe
Mitsu's gentle, devoted husband, who learns of the affair and holds on to her with a smiling, frightening calm.
Ryota Watanabe’s story
Ryota cooks and puts Mitsu first, and ever since he heard her murmur Arishima's name in her sleep he has been reading her phone. He seeks out the Arishimas and will not fill in the divorce form. Once she proves not to be pregnant, he tells her to post the papers and he will file them; he asks her friend Kyoko to witness them and weeps that the divorce is Mitsu's birthday present to him. He calls Arishima a wicked man. Then he keeps the papers and disappears. When Mitsu finds him he tells her he no longer loves her all that much, laughs at her honesty, says that at least he married the person he loved most, and throws away his ring. A year later, asked if he will just leave her there, he answers: not that much.
Nobuyuki Suzukias Koki Arishima
Mitsu's first love from school, now a married father of a newborn daughter, who drifts into the affair and then fights to keep his family.
Koki Arishima’s story
Arishima was the popular boy at school, married his high-school classmate Reika and dotes on their newborn daughter, Ako. He drifts into the affair with Mitsu while Reika is staying with her parents after the birth, and ends it when Reika's coolness frightens him. He confesses, and Reika takes Ako to her parents' house. He asks Ryota to take Mitsu back and is called a wicked man. Every morning and evening he goes to say goodbye and hello to his daughter; when he tells Reika he loves her, she slaps him, again and again. He answers Mitsu's news of her divorce by saying they will never meet or write again, and that he and Reika will never split up. One morning he kisses Reika without warning, and she holds him. A year later they are happy together.
Riisa Nakaas Reika Arishima
Arishima's clever, composed wife, a new mother who senses the affair and corners her husband with reason rather than rage.
Reika Arishima’s story
Reika was the plain class president who kissed Arishima first, in high school, and married him. Now she is home with their newborn daughter, Ako, herself the child of parents who have lived apart for years. Mitsu's visit and Ryota's approaches sharpen her suspicions. When her husband confesses, she takes Ako to her parents' house, tells him not to rush to fetch her, and tells her mother she will not become like her. As Arishima comes every morning and evening to see their daughter, she tells him his effort is like pressing someone to accept a proposal; when he says he loves her, she slaps him, again and again. One morning he kisses her without warning, and, remembering how she once kissed him out of nowhere, she holds him. A year later they are happy together.
Aya Omasaas Kyoko Iida
Mitsu's best friend since junior high, who disapproves of the affair and tells her the truths she does not want to hear.
Shoko Nakagawaas Minami Yokoyama
A lonely housewife in the Arishimas' building, unhappy in her own marriage, who attaches herself to Reika.
Why it matters
This series refuses the usual moral weather of the affair drama. Mitsu feels almost no guilt, and one writer called it a transparent affair drama: its heroine carries no darkness and acts on nothing but being in love. The more unsettling issue sits on the other side of the marriage, with a husband who reads her phone, knows everything and answers with smiles, dinners and a refusal to let go; viewers compared Masahiro Higashide's performance to the notorious mother-bound husband of a 1992 drama. In the last episode Mitsu names what she lived with: his love was a gentle kind of violence. The series lets both things be true, that she betrayed him and that his devotion was a cage, and it gives no one the comfort of a verdict. Its title, a shrug of a phrase meaning roughly not all that much, becomes his last word.