Only Just Married Review: A Fake Marriage That Will Make You Fall In Love With The Lead Couple For Real

Only Just Married is a contract marriage story where two complete strangers get into a marriage of convenience and end up falling for each other. For me, the show felt more like an arranged marriage situation because it follows a similar course wherein two strangers come together, learn about one another every single day, slowly understand the meaning of a relationship, and then finally fall in love.

I was predisposed to like this show because:

• contract marriage/forced cohabitation is one of my favorite tropes
• I loved Kentaro Sakaguchi in Tokyo Tarareba Girls and was looking forward to watching more of him.

However, the show tends to struggle with the slow pace, poor fillers, and the lack of a cohesive plot. It takes a circuitous route to the climax that can tire you out as a viewer. Read on as I tell you the great, good, and bad about this drama.

Only Just Married (Konin Todoke ni Han wo Oshita dake desu ga) (2021) (10 Episodes)

Akiha Okado (Nana Seino) is a 27-year-old graphic designer who loves her job and is content being a single, independent woman. Since her childhood, she has always lived by herself and wishes to continue the same, as she has no interest in marriage or romance. One day she meets a guy named Shu Momose (Kentaro Sakaguchi) who bluntly asks her to get into a fake marriage with him.

At first, Akiha balks at his idea but a sudden change in circumstances pushes her toward Shu and she reluctantly agrees to be his fake wife. As Akiha starts living with Shu, she understands him better and gradually falls for her awkward, handsome fake husband. But he cannot love her back as his heartstrings are already twined to someone else.  

I enjoyed watching ‘Only Just Married’ because…

…the endearing leads made up for a lacking script with their sincere performance.

We are first introduced to Akiha Okado who works for a small graphics design company. She works hard for every penny she makes and spends on little things that make her happy. Her most expensive buy is an orangey-red sofa that adorns her tiny messy, apartment.

Living alone comes easily to her as growing up her parents were hardly around because they travel extensively for work. Akiha lived mostly with her grandmother who too was always out busy managing her restaurant. She now lives alone and enjoys following a regular set routine.

One day, at a restaurant she sees a handsome young man propose marriage to a pretty girl. She excitedly waits to witness a memorable moment but to her surprise, the girl lifts her glass and splashes water into the man’s face before turning down his proposal.

Akiha is left shocked wondering why a girl would reject such a handsome man. Later, Akiha happens to be invited to join her client for dinner where he introduces her to his junior Shu Momose who is the same man who got rejected by the girl earlier.

At dinner, Akiha casually mentions that she is single and is not interested in marriage. When Shu hears about her disinterest in marriage he asks her to marry him. She looks askance at the sudden proposal especially after witnessing his previous rejection. He explains that he just wants to get into a fake marriage so that people stop pestering him with personal questions. Shu’s fake marriage proposal earns him another splash of water in the face but this time from Akiha.     

Moments later, Akiha learns that her grandmother is ill and her uncle plans to sell her restaurant. To add to her woes, Akiha’s grandmother expresses her only desire to see Akiha married. Shu, who is privy to Akiha’s dilemma, once again proposes a fake marriage to her so her grandmother can be happy with her decision.

Akiha turns him down yet again but when she lacks funds to save her grandmother’s restaurant, she reluctantly gives in after he agrees to lend her the money she needs. They then mutually agree to fake a marriage until Akiha returns the money to Shu after which she can divorce him.

At first, Akiha finds Shu to be neurotic, rigid, and unfriendly. His imperious rules of staying within a set boundary and not meddling in one another’s life make her feel stuck with the wrong man. But as days go by she notices slight changes in his behavior and attitude towards her. Being a cheerful young woman, she manages to warm up to his difficult and patronizing personality and ends up falling hard for him.

But Shu is madly in love with someone he cannot have and his fake marriage is a façade to hide his true feelings for the one he actually loves.

Akiha does not mind Shu’s obsession with another woman. Instead, she accepts him with his baggage and decides to love him the way he is.

As we move along, every episode we see how Akiha and Shu slowly learn little things about each other and their families. A love confession is not easy because Akiha knows how Shu feels about the woman in his life while Shu is totally oblivious to Akiha’s feelings for him.

Akiha and Shu are the most adorable people you will ever meet. They are not a perfect couple but individually they are both affectionate and caring towards everyone. I did not like the writing of this show but Akiha and Shu made me watch it till the end.

It was my first time watching actress Nana Seino and I loved her peppy performance. Akiha is a lively and enthusiastic person and Nana infuses life into the character with her natural acting.

Coming to Shu Momose, I think Kentaro Sakaguchi did an excellent job playing an awkward and shy character. He’d cross his arms often, keep his gaze low, widen his eyes in confusion, and smile innocently when feeling shy. He looked his character and acted his character brilliantly.

As viewers, we see Shu through Akiha’s eyes so in the first three episodes Shu seems to be a stuck-up character but he undergoes a complete transformation by episode 4.

It is after episode 4 that we are able to see Shu in a different light. We see the other side of him and that’s when you better understand him and even start liking him. You then understand why he is the way he is.

I did NOT LIKE ‘Only Just Married’ because…

…the poorly written story arcs and inconsequential fillers interspersed throughout the show were real dampeners. Akiha and Shu are complete strangers so their love story progresses in a way that each episode is dedicated to learning something new about love, relationships, and life. This happens not only through their personal experiences but also through advice from friends, family, and colleagues.   

The supporting actors in this show are only meant to help and guide our leads to realize their true feelings for one another, which is fine but then the writer does not stop there and goes on to show a glimpse of their personal lives too. For instance, Akiha’s boss is going through a divorce. This boss of hers is a nice guy and very supportive of Akiha’s ambition. But he hardly matters as a character. His presence or absence makes no difference but we still have to watch his backstory which is not even that interesting.

Similarly, we see random scenes of other half-baked characters who make no difference to our leads. Perhaps, the show had to have 10 episodes but the meaningful content could only make sense in 6 or 7 episodes so they must’ve put in fillers in a haste. The fillers slowed down Akiha and Shu’s story, which frustrated me.

In fact, the fillers often disrupted the flow of the story. While you are fully immersed in Akiha and Shu’s story wanting them to clear the misunderstanding, suddenly you see one character being chastised by a girl he turned down and Shu coming to his rescue. This scene was so random. I get it that the writer was trying to show how helpful Shu is and wanted to have Shu become better friends with the guy who would then help Shu get closer to Akiha. But for me, the scene was just distracting and annoying. 

[[Spoiler]] Similarly, with all the problems seemingly solved in the final episode, you expect Akiha and Shu to act as a genuine couple but the writers create a misunderstanding there too and rob us of a potential cute episode. Argh!! [[Spoiler]] 

‘Only Just Married’ is an average dorama with a good leading couple. There was tremendous scope to amp up the romance but the writers failed to grab that opportunity. The focus of the show remained on Akiha and Shu exploring the meaning of love and marriage but sadly it did not have the kind of impact it was supposed to have. However, the show is still worth a try as our leads do not disappoint. They deliver a good performance to keep you engaged and entertained. 

I give ‘Only Just Married’ 3 out of 5 rating. Cheerful Akiha and aloof Shu show you how opposites attract. Love is all about accepting one another with their strengths and flaws. Watch it only for Akiha and Shu’s heartwarming love story.

 

Image Courtesy: TBS 

 

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