Fake Affair
偽装不倫
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
On impulse, a single woman claims her sister's wedding ring as her own, and the younger man who believes her proposes an affair.
Shoko Hama is thirty-two, single, living with her parents and between temp contracts, and she has given up on marriage-hunting. On the day her contract ends she sets off alone to Hakata, wearing a dress borrowed from her married older sister, Yoko. In its pocket is Yoko's wedding ring. On the plane a falling bag hits her on the head and she drops the ring; the bag's owner, a young photographer called Jo Banno, picks it up, and Shoko, on impulse, says the ring is hers. Taking her for a married woman, he proposes an affair for the length of the trip. On the last night they sleep together, and she flies home without leaving her number, and without the ring.
In Tokyo the lie grows. Asked for a photograph of her husband, she shows Jo her brother-in-law, Kenji. She discovers that Yoko, who seems to have the perfect marriage, is seeing Futa, a twenty-three-year-old boxer who does not know she is married, and Shoko is drawn into covering for her. What Shoko does not know is that Jo has a brain tumour that may be inoperable. He came back from Spain to enjoy the time he has left, and chose a married woman for his last love so that no one would be left grieving. When Kenji discovers the affair, Yoko gives Futa up. Shoko at last confesses she is single, and Jo, who has already heard it from his sister, Akari, ends it, telling her he was only ever in it because it was an affair.
Shoko goes back to life on her own, and even goes on a date with a winery heir. Then she learns that Jo has gone to Spain for surgery, and that he decided to have it because of her. He returns two months later and does not seem to remember her; she resolves to start again from nothing. Yoko asks Kenji for a divorce; he challenges Futa to a boxing match, loses, and lets her go, and she moves in with Futa. Shoko discovers that Jo's memory loss is an act: the operation has damaged his sight, and he means to spare her. She finds him at the airport, about to leave for Spain, and tells him there will be no more lies, and that she cannot lie about being happy with him. He holds her, and slips the ring he once gave her back onto her ring finger.
Starring
Anas Shoko Hama
A thirty-two-year-old temp who has given up marriage-hunting and, on a trip alone, pretends to be married.
Shoko Hama’s story
On a trip to Hakata, Shoko claims her sister's wedding ring as her own, and Jo, taking her for a married woman, proposes an affair for the length of the trip. In Tokyo she keeps meaning to tell him the truth and never does: she passes off her brother-in-law's photograph as her husband's, and covers for her sister's affair. When she finally confesses, Jo ends it; he was only in it, he says, because it was an affair. She goes back to life alone until she learns he has had surgery in Spain because of her. He returns seeming not to remember her, and she resolves to start again honestly. Learning that the forgetting is an act to hide his failing sight, she catches him at the airport and tells him there will be no more lies.
Hio Miyazawaas Jo Banno
A young photographer back from Spain who proposes an affair while hiding that he has a brain tumour.
Jo Banno’s story
Jo has come home from Spain to enjoy the time left to him, and wants his last love to be a married woman, so that no one will grieve for him. Shoko, wearing a wedding ring on the flight to Hakata, seems to be exactly that. In Tokyo he puts a ring he bought in Iwate on her finger, then tells her to forget him. When his sister tells him Shoko is single, he ends it, saying he was only in it for the affair. For her sake he has the operation in Spain; it damages his sight, and to spare her he pretends to have forgotten her. At the airport, about to leave again, he is found by Shoko; he holds her, says he wants to be with her always, and slips the Iwate ring back on her finger.
Yukie Nakamaas Yoko Yoshizawa
Shoko's older sister, seemingly happily married, who is secretly seeing a young boxer.
Yoko Yoshizawa’s story
Futa, the twenty-three-year-old boxer Yoko is seeing, does not know she has a husband, and her affair runs on alibis that pull in Shoko: a staged emergency to escape her anniversary dinner, a lie to get out of a weekend away so that she can watch Futa fight. Kenji grows suspicious, recognises Futa's voice and at last sees them together. Deciding that no one can be happy this way, Yoko gives Futa up and stays. But a chance meeting with Futa at a hair salon sets her thinking of a future with him, and she asks Kenji for a divorce. He challenges Futa to a boxing match, loses, and for once they talk honestly; he agrees and moves out, and Yoko chooses Futa.
Shosuke Taniharaas Kenji Yoshizawa
Yoko's husband, a trading-company man whose photograph Shoko passes off as her own husband's.
Toshiki Setoas Futa Yagami
A twenty-three-year-old boxer who loves Yoko without knowing she is married.
MEGUMIas Akari Banno
Jo's older sister, who runs a Spanish restaurant and worries about his health.
Why it matters
Fake Affair borrows the shape of an affair drama and hollows it out: the heroine is single, the marriage she claims is her sister's, and the only person deceived is the man she loves. Around that joke it sets two serious subjects. One is the pressure on a single woman past thirty, labelled a 'parasite single' by the people around her after years of marriage-hunting parties at which she could never be herself. The other is lying for love: Shoko lies from fear of losing Jo, Jo lies to spare her his death, Yoko lies to keep both her marriage and her lover, and the series treats each lie with sympathy and no illusions about its cost. Adapted from Akiko Higashimura's web manga, it moves the story from Korea to Hakata. It leaves an obvious question hanging: how much of any romance rests on a story told to the other person?