Love Affairs in the Afternoon

Original Title: 昼顔 – 平日午後３時の恋人たち-

Episodes: 11

Year: 2014

Channel: Fuji TV

Theme: Melodrama

Love Affairs in the Afternoon is a drama focusing on the extra-marital affairs of two housewives – Sawa and Rikako. As the title implies, the two women get to spend time with their lovers during the afternoon when their husbands are at their 9 to 5 jobs.

Sawa has been married for five years to her self centered husband. Their married life is peaceful and sadly uneventful. The couple hasn’t had sex in forever and Sawa’s husband is more focused on his two hamsters than his wife. Let’s add that Sawa’s mother-in-law is the nosy type. She inserts herself in the couple’s life and spend quite some time in their apartment – cooking, gossiping, and spying on Sawa. Is Sawa cheating? Who was the man she was talking to earlier? The mother in law is also pressuring Sawa to have children. She even goes as far as to dig deep enough and find out about the couple’s sex life. The mother in law then finds it justified to give advice about the couple’s sex life. Let’s add the rude comments such as : “You are just not sexy at all” or “Can’t you be fashionable sometimes?”

Kingyo Club

Original Title: 金魚倶楽部, Kingyo Club

Episodes: 10

Year: 2011

Country: Japan

Channel: NHK

Theme: Friendship, Slice of Life, Angst, School

         Plot: Kingyo Club is a short 10 episode slice of life Japanese drama, very much played out like a whimsical dream. Haru, a third year high school student, is completely uninterested in school and dramas within it. He often skips class and hangs out in an abandoned club-like room. His two best friends  Kida Kayoko and Yanagihashi Sho are the ones who keep him from totally isolating himself. Furthermore, Kida has a crush on Haru while Sho is pinning for Kida. One day Haru’s apathy is broken when he sees a young girl named Koto being bullied by several other girls. These girls beat her up as well drench her clothes in paint, and Haru steps in to stop them. However, later he sees Koto up on the rooftop of the school and runs there in a frenzy thinking she is about to throw herself off the top. However, Koto is merely enjoying some time alone, trying to make sense of her troubles. Much of comes from the fact that her mother is basically a prostitute and she herself is painfully shy. Haru takes an odd interest in her and thus forms the friendship between the two teens. They form a unique little Goldfish club in the club room when Haru wins some goldfish from a game. The story flows along, angst filled, and overflowing with cuteness as the two figure each out and heal the wounds that each have suffered. Slowly Koto comes out of her shell while Haru takes more of a interest in his peers. Slowly, a romance blossoms between them.