The Land of Beauty
きれいのくに
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
In a near-future where most adults bought one of the same two faces before cosmetic surgery was banned, teenagers discover what individuality costs.
Eri, a hairdresser in her forties, and Hiroyuki, a tax accountant, have been married for ten years, both for the second time. Their life looks elegant, but they no longer sleep together, and Eri does not want her husband to see her body. The morning after her birthday Hiroyuki wakes beside Eri as she was ten years earlier, and she keeps growing younger: to the woman he met, then to a twenty-three-year-old he never knew, a trainee hairdresser whose boyfriend pressed her into an abortion. Young again, she is pursued by his junior; Hiroyuki desires her and cannot touch her, and she turns her anger on him and on the men's side of the world. Then the story reveals itself as a public-information film, shown in virtual reality to a high-school class.
In their country some 49 million of the 61 million adults aged from their twenties to their fifties had surgery to take the same fashionable faces: the men look like Goro Inagaki, the women like Rosa Kato. After damage to health and crimes committed behind identical faces, cosmetic surgery was banned ten years ago. Five childhood friends are growing up among those faces. Nakayama has the adult face himself, because his parents had his genes edited before he was born. Reira goes on paid dates with adult men, the exploitation of a schoolgirl that the story calls papa-katsu, until one of them sexually assaults her in a karaoke room; afterwards the face she sees everywhere, Nakayama's included, makes her sick. Takashi loves Reira and is turned down. Seiya and Rin, neighbours, love each other and cannot say so. Rin, called ugly since primary school, is drawn to illegal surgery and signs up for the same paid dates herself; her first date, a police officer with an unaltered face, takes her instead to a bar called Kirei no Kuni where unaltered people gather. Rin decides on the operation, then draws back.
In the final episode Seiya asks Rin out again and, after a day at an amusement park, tells her he likes her, maybe, and they become a couple. Reira asks Nakayama to help her 'rehabilitate', and in the karaoke room where she was attacked she sings the song her attacker sang while Nakayama cries with her. Rin tells Seiya she will have the surgery after all; he says he did not fall for her face, and goes with her. The change is so slight that nobody else notices. Seiya does. They walk through streets where loudspeakers warn against illegal surgery, she radiant and he not quite sure.
Starring
Yo Yoshidaas Eri Hashimoto / Onoda
The ageing wife in the public-information film, and Onoda, the actress who played her and never changed her face.
Eri Hashimoto / Onoda’s story
Eri, ten years into a second marriage, no longer sleeps with Hiroyuki and does not want him to see her body. From the morning after her birthday, her husband sees her as she was when they met, then younger still. At twenty-three, as a trainee hairdresser, she was pressed into an abortion by the man who became her first husband. Young again, she is courted by Hiroyuki's junior, while her husband desires her and cannot touch her; she turns her anger on him and on the men's side of the world. By the time she is twenty-three in his eyes, the marriage has broken down. In a closing interview she says he wanted her young and sweet without knowing it, and he, stumbling, agrees. Then the story is revealed as a film shown to a high-school class.
Goro Inagakias The man
The fashionable male face worn by fathers, teachers, a film director and the client who attacks Reira.
Yuzu Aokias Seiya
A high-school boy who loves his neighbour Rin and hates to be thought to care about looks.
Seiya’s story
Seiya keeps his head shaved and would hate anyone to think he cares about looks. He loves Rin, his neighbour since childhood, and cannot tell her. After Reira is assaulted he breaks a date with Rin to stay with Reira, and Rin sees them together. When he learns that Rin has begun paid dates, he is shaken. Takashi's confession to Reira pushes him to act: he asks Rin out again and, after a day at an amusement park, tells her he likes her, maybe, and they become a couple. When Rin says she will have the illegal operation after all, he promises that a changed face will not change how he feels, and goes with her. The change is so slight that only he notices. He walks beside her through the streets, she radiant, he not quite sure.
Ai Mikamias Rin
Seiya's neighbour, called ugly since childhood, who is drawn to illegal cosmetic surgery.
Rin’s story
Rin wishes she had the face that the person she loves would love. Hurt at seeing Seiya with Reira, she signs up for paid dates with adult men, the exploitation Reira has already suffered. Her first client, a police officer with an unaltered face, takes her instead to Kirei no Kuni, a bar where unaltered people gather, and there she learns how illegal surgery is done. At a cinema she asks Onoda, an actress who never changed her face, whether she likes it; Onoda thinks she likes herself as she is. Rin books the operation, then draws back. Once she and Seiya are a couple, she decides the surgery is her own affair and has it, with him beside her. No one notices the change but Seiya, and she walks out radiant.
Natsumi Okamotoas Reira
One of the five friends, exploited on paid dates with adult men until one of them assaults her.
Reira’s story
Reira is one of five friends who have grown up among the adults' identical faces, and she goes on paid dates with adult men, an exploitation of a schoolgirl that the story calls papa-katsu. In a karaoke room a client wearing the face every adult man wears sexually assaults her, and strikes her as she tries to get away. Afterwards she cannot see that face without feeling sick, and it is Nakayama's face too, because his parents had his genes edited before he was born. She avoids him, then tells him why. She turns Takashi down when he says he loves her. In the last episode she asks Nakayama to help her 'rehabilitate', and in the karaoke room where she was attacked she sings the song her attacker sang, while Nakayama cries beside her.
Tetsu Hiraharaas Hiroyuki Hashimoto
Eri's husband in the film within the series, a tax accountant who cannot touch the young wife he wanted.
Why it matters
The Land of Beauty imagines a country that went all the way with lookism: most adults bought the same two faces, the state then banned surgery outright, and the teenagers who inherit that world are left with their own faces and every doubt about them. The playwright Takuya Kato, who wrote it, said that underneath lies the wish to have the face the person one loves finds beautiful. The drama treats looks as a matter of power as much as vanity: a wife whose husband wanted her young, a girl assaulted by a man whose face is on every street, a boy made to look like everyone's father before he was born. Its methods are strange, Goro Inagaki's face laid by visual effects over crowds of adults, and it does not moralise. Rin's operation is small and her own choice, and whether it frees her or only moves the problem is left open.