Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Some marriages end when romance dies, but the lead couple in the romantic comedy series ‘Bijinesu Kon: Suki ni Nattara Rikonshimasu’ have a pact to file for divorce if they fall in love. Based on the manga of the same name by Kirato Ruka, the literal English translation of the Japanese title (ビジネス婚―好きになったら離婚します―) is – Business Marriage: If You Fall in Love, You Will Divorce.
Directed by Tanazawa Takayoshi (‘Hanzawa Naoki’/’Kimi ni wa Todokanai‘), this nine-episode series stars Sugai Yuuka as Sayama Miyabi, a dedicated real-estate saleswoman who gets dumped on her sixth anniversary. Devastated, Miyabi swears off romance to focus on work, but when wealthy company head Donose Tsukasa (Kusakawa Takuya) proposes a ‘business marriage’—a mutually beneficial arrangement to get his parents off his back and grant her work perks—she agrees. The catch? If either develops romantic feelings, they must divorce.
‘Fake marriages’ are a familiar theme in Japanese movies and series, so ‘Bijinesu Kon: Suki ni Nattara Rikonshimasu’ is a pretty predictable series when it comes to plot. Even if viewers go blind into this series, they will quickly make out that it’s based on a manga due to the sheer exaggerated pace with which the primary premise is established. Miyabi meets Tsukasa for the first time while showing him a property and in less than an hour of their meeting, Tsukasa asks her if she’d like to marry him. And in the most unrealistic, absurd plot development, Miyabi says ‘yes’ in the same meeting, she doesn’t even ask for some time to think over such a life-changing decision. It’s not funny, it’s just weird. I thought they will take at least a few days to set some basic trust between the two characters before they agree on the ‘business marriage’.
Sugai Yuuka flits between hilariously cute and awkwardly uncomfortable as Miyabi, the more sincere and grounded of the two characters. She treats everything like serious work, and even makes a presentation on how she and Tsukasa should go about their marriage and make it a success without catching feelings. But of-course, both of them fall for each other, and try to hide it, to avoid breaking up. ‘Bijinesu Kon: Suki ni Nattara Rikonshimasu’ quickly becomes annoying, and even though Kusakawa Takuya displays some charm as the leading man Tsukasa, the chemistry between the two actors isn’t there. There are generous kissing scenes between the two, but Miyabi often looks like a kidnapped captive who has given up fighting in those moments, while Kusakawa appears to be doing a quick errand. There’s more chemistry between Miyabi and Kusakawa’s best-friend Mitsumune Shion (Inoue Sora), a handsome, charming young man, despite few scenes between them.
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The cinematography for ‘Bijinesu Kon: Suki ni Nattara Rikonshimasu’ is quite distracting, with a weird shiny filter unnecessarily appearing during many scenes. The background props and settings were often too loud or looked flat out fake. Though I don’t usually comment on wardrobe choices, the styling department really outdid themselves with Miyabi—half the time, she’s dressed like a middle-aged cat lady with slim chances of ever walking down the aisle.
While there are definitely some comedic moments in the series, due to the lukewarm chemistry between the leads, it’s easy to lose interest in the show. Besides, the plot gets dragged out after episode six and the show should’ve really been wrapped up withing eight episodes. The last two episodes unnecessarily introduce a new conflict between the lead couple, which ironically stems from one of them confessing their love, while the other was about to do the same! Towards the end, Tsukasa behaves like an unreasonable, immature teen, and I was rooting for her to walk away or date the dashing Mitsumune Shion.
Rating: 4 on 10. You can stream the series on Viki.
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