Romantics Anonymous
匿名の恋人たち
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
A chocolatier who cannot meet anyone's eyes and the chocolate shop's new head, who cannot touch another person — a romance about the fear of contact.
Hana Lee is a gifted chocolatier who cannot bear to meet anyone's eyes. She works in secret as the anonymous chocolatier behind Le Sauveur, a much-loved chocolate shop, and the only person she can face is its owner, Kenji Kuroiwa. On Valentine's Day, her birthday, Kenji collapses and dies, and the shop is bought by Futago Confectionery. Its new head is the company heir, Sosuke Fujiwara, who cannot touch another person, not even to shake hands. He summons the anonymous chocolatier; Hana turns up, is mistaken for an applicant for a floor job, and is hired. Trying to refuse, she knocks him over, and nothing happens: she can look at him, and he can touch her.
They agree to practise on each other, with dinners, looks, a hug. Sosuke tells her that as a boy he went into his sick brother's sterile room, and when his brother died he believed his own dirt had killed him. Hana thinks she loves Hiro Takada, owner of the jazz bar Brush and Sosuke's old school friend. Hiro is tangled up with Irene, the psychologist who counsels both Sosuke and Hana and never sleeps with the same man twice, since a mother addicted to love abandoned her. When Hana finally confesses to Hiro during a kendo bout, it is Sosuke behind the mask. Meanwhile the shop solves its problems one chocolate at a time.
Sosuke's father, Shuntaro, means to close Le Sauveur, and its only hope is to win the World Chocolate Masters with Pure Kenji, a chocolate only the anonymous chocolatier can make. Before Hana can tell the staff who she is, Sosuke's cousin Takashi exposes her. She resigns and goes abroad in search of the cacao Kenji used, while the staff ask for her back. Sosuke follows her. The legendary beans turn out to be damaged ones that were meant to be thrown away, Hana resolves to compete under her own name, and Sosuke tells her he loves her with the Korean word sarang.
Back in Japan, Shuntaro collapses, and Takashi, who has been buying up shares, moves to have Sosuke removed. On the same day, Sosuke, backed by the suppliers and customers he has won over, tells the shareholders that the happiness of the people who make things matters, and keeps his post; Hana, faltering under the eyes of the hall, finds Sosuke's face in the crowd, steadies, and wins. She tells him she loves him, and they kiss. Time passes. At their wedding the eyes are too much for her again, and the two of them run out of the ceremony together, laughing. At Irene's support group, new people arrive.
Starring
Shun Ogurias Sosuke Fujiwara
Heir to Futago Confectionery and new head of Le Sauveur, who has not been able to touch anyone since his brother died.
Sosuke Fujiwara’s story
As a boy, Sosuke slipped into his sick brother's sterile room, and when his brother died he blamed his own dirt. The floor worker he hires at Le Sauveur turns out to be the one person he can touch, and he and Hana agree to practise on each other. He coaches her towards the man she thinks she loves while falling for her himself: it is Sosuke behind the kendo mask when she confesses, and Sosuke who sees Hiro pull her close. When Takashi exposes her and she leaves, he follows her abroad and tells her he loves her in Korean: sarang. Back home he wins over the shareholders and reaches her competition in time. At their wedding, when she cannot bear the eyes, he takes her hand and they run out, laughing.
Han Hyo-jooas Hana Lee
A gifted chocolatier who cannot meet people's eyes and has worked in secret as Le Sauveur's anonymous chocolatier.
Hana Lee’s story
Kenji, Le Sauveur's owner, is the one person Hana can look in the eye, and he dies on her birthday. Hired by mistake as a floor worker, she finds she can meet the eyes of the new boss, Sosuke, and they practise on each other. She longs for Hiro, and when she finally confesses to a man in a kendo mask, it is Sosuke. Trying to reveal herself at a staff party, she panics and runs; when Takashi exposes her, she resigns, goes abroad in search of Kenji's cacao and decides to compete under her own name. At the World Chocolate Masters she falters, finds Sosuke's face and wins. She tells him she loves him. At their wedding the eyes are too much again, and they run out, laughing.
Jin Akanishias Hiro Takada
Owner of the jazz bar Brush, Sosuke's old school friend and the man Hana believes she loves.
Yuri Nakamuraas Irene
A psychologist and author who counsels both Sosuke and Hana, and who has sworn never to sleep with the same man twice.
Ryo Naritaas Takashi Fujiwara
Sosuke's cousin and right-hand man at the company, who has been quietly preparing to take it from him.
Koichi Satoas Shuntaro Fujiwara
Sosuke's father, the chairman of Futago Confectionery, who plans to close Le Sauveur.
Why it matters
Romantics Anonymous, a Japanese-Korean remake of the 2010 French-Belgian comedy, builds its romance on two anxieties: a man who cannot touch anyone and a woman who cannot bear to be looked at. It treats them as facts of life to be lived with, not faults to be cured by love. The lovers practise, fail and try again, and a support group shows other people carrying their own versions. The last scene makes the point plainly. After winning a world competition in front of a crowd, Hana still cannot bear the eyes at her own wedding, and the couple simply leave. Recovery here is uneven, and happiness does not wait for it to be complete. The series went to number one on Netflix's Japanese series chart soon after release, and its tenderness is of an unusual kind: two people discovering that the one person they can touch, or look at, is a place to begin.