Rikokatsu
リコカツ
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
A whirlwind marriage begins its divorce proceedings in the first episode — 離婚活動 as romance.
Saki Mizuguchi, an editor on a fashion magazine, is rescued on a mountain by Koichi Obara, an ace of the Air Self-Defense Force's air rescue wing. He proposes on their first date, and she says yes. Married life goes wrong at once. He rises at four, reads out his family's house rules and wears the same clothes every weekend; her fish comes out raw, and his praise of her 'first-class looks' tells her she was chosen for her face. Before long both of them have said the word divorce, and they begin 'rikokatsu', quietly working towards one while hiding it from everyone.
Hiding it is hard because their parents are splitting up too. Koichi's mother, Kaoru, walks out on his domineering father, leaving her ring and a divorce form, and becomes a live-in maid at a Hakone inn. Saki's mother, Midori, a model with popular essays, moves in with the couple after her husband admits an affair. Saki's former boyfriend Takaya, a lawyer, advises her mother; Ren Minazuki, a self-centred romance novelist, becomes Saki's author and then her admirer; Jun Ichinose, Koichi's junior on the rescue team, loves him and plays tricks on Saki.
They decide to try again and fail. Koichi's long commute makes him late, a younger colleague takes his mission and is injured, and Koichi asks Saki to give up work and be at home. She cannot, and in the middle of the series they divorce. Everyone around them seems to divorce as well. Each pretends to be seeing someone else, until, at the place of their first date, they tell each other they still love each other. The families find their own shapes. Midori, cheated of her savings and hiding breast cancer, agrees to treatment when her husband begs her to live. Koichi's father, humbled at last, is told that he and Kaoru cannot be the couple they were but can make new memories.
In the final episode Saki is offered three years' training in Paris. Koichi drafts his resignation to follow her; she says she will not go. He asks what she really wants, and tells her he can wait. She says she wants to be his wife again; he says he wants to be her husband again. They set rules for the years apart and keep them over video calls. On the day she is due home she rings to say she has been delayed, then walks through the door. They exchange rings, and she kisses him.
Starring
Keiko Kitagawaas Saki Mizuguchi
A fashion-magazine editor who marries the man who rescued her after a single date, and soon wants out.
Saki Mizuguchi’s story
Saki's boyfriend of five years has just said he cannot picture marrying her when she falls on a mountain and is rescued by Koichi. She accepts his proposal, and the marriage goes wrong at once: his house rules, his unchanging clothes, and his praise of her 'first-class looks', which tells her what people have always told her, that her face is what counts. When Koichi asks her to give up her work, she will not, and they divorce. She tells him she is going back to Takaya, then cannot say the words to Takaya. At the place of their first date she tells Koichi she loves him. Offered three years' training in Paris, she refuses to go, until he says he can wait. She goes, and on the day she is due home she walks in and kisses him.
Eita Nagayamaas Koichi Obara
An old-fashioned air-rescue specialist who proposes on the first date and struggles to live with a modern wife.
Koichi Obara’s story
When Koichi rescues Saki, he feels that this is what he became a rescuer for. Weeks into the marriage, his four o'clock starts and family rules have them both talking of divorce. When his mother leaves his domineering father, he tells his father a wife should not be the only one who puts up with things, and hears his own fault in the words. They try again, but after a junior is injured standing in for him, he asks Saki to give up her job; when she cannot, he hands in the divorce papers. He pretends to be seeing Jun, then tells her at the place of their first date that he loves her helplessly. When Paris comes up he drafts his resignation to follow her, then promises to wait; three years later she is back at his door.
Mitsuomi Takahashias Takaya Aoyama
A lawyer and Saki's boyfriend of five years before her marriage, who still hopes to win her back.
Jin Shirasuas Ren Minazuki
A self-centred romance novelist whom Saki edits, and who falls for her.
Momoko Tanabeas Jun Ichinose
Koichi's junior on the rescue team, who loves him and schemes against Saki.
Kotono Mitsuishias Midori Mizuguchi
Saki's mother, a model with popular essays, who resolves to divorce her unfaithful husband.
Why it matters
Rikokatsu turns the Japanese habit of naming life's projects, konkatsu for the hunt for a spouse among them, back on itself: a couple who married after one date begin divorce activities almost at once. Beneath the comedy it asks what a marriage is for. Koichi's father expects his wife to serve him; his mother walks out and finds work of her own; Koichi, who believes he is kind, still asks his wife to give up her career for the sake of his commute. The series lets three generations of couples split and reshape themselves, and arrives at a marriage the two choose again rather than inherit. It reached a large audience: on TVer, the commercial broadcasters' streaming portal, it set the record for plays of a single programme. What it leaves is a gentle question: whether two people who get everything about living together wrong can still be right for each other.