Familiar Wife is a drama I started watching earlier this year while it was airing after it was recommended by my Japanese teacher. I did try watching it live but only got the gist of the story, so very quickly found somewhere to watch with subtitles. Note – this review is for the Japanese remake of the Korean original, which I am also currently watching!
Familiar Wife, or 知ってるワイフ, is the story of Motoharu and Mio, a married couple with two young children who are struggling in their own ways. Motoharu is fed up of his life, being stressed out about work, scolded by Mio for not picking up his fair share of the housework and childcare, and his only solace is his beloved Playstation, where as Mio is trying to juggle a part time job with childcare, looking after her mother (who has dementia) and keeping on top of the housework. Because she’s unsupported she ends up shouting a lot and exploding at Motoharu. He calls Mio a monster and wishes he had made a different choice in partner when he had the opportunity to back at university. So, when a stranger tells him about a rare phenomenon in which he can travel back in time he takes it and is determined to change his life.
As you can expect, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, and Motoharu’s new life isn’t exactly what he bargained for. He has the woman of his dreams but is she really the best for him? He’s still in the same job but has a flashy car, a big house and access to his wife’s money, but he doesn’t have his beloved children and isn’t allowed to see his family because his new wife has strict rules. One day in his new life Mio reappears at the bank he works, now as his new colleague. Fate keeps bringing them together and he can’t escape from her… was he always destined to end up with her?
I struggled with the beginning of this drama – I was shouting at my laptop because Motoharu came across as self-centred and childish, not taking responsibility around the house and acting surprised when he was scolded. Of course your partner is going to get pissed off if you just run off to your Playstation! I couldn’t relate to him and I just felt sorry for Mio, who was trying desperately to hold their life together. Mio, in her role in Motoharu’s new life, seemed happy but struggled taking care of her mother (who had dementia), and as she got to know Motoharu again couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was important to her, somehow. I started to eventually cheer for them as a couple, hoping they’d both get their happiness back eventually because watching Motoharu mope around was depressing.
Because I haven’t watched all of the original I can’t compare this to it yet, but as the drama reached its end I started to enjoy it more. It didn’t end in the way I expected it to (I kept guessing what the ending would look like as I waited for the finale) but I was still happy with it and felt that the characters got their happy ending, even if it included lots of lessons learned from before. Relationships are hard work and it requires both partners to put in the effort to make it successful, otherwise stress builds up, arguments happen and you just drift apart. I’m not sure I would travel back in time if I was offered the opportunity… not for love anyway, for other things yes! If I had to rate this, I’d give it a solid 8/10 – I would give it higher but I can’t because of Motoharu’s attitude. If he’d just listened to his wife he wouldn’t have ended up in this mess… a lesson for all husbands out there, mine included.
アマンダの勉強 / Amanda Learns! 