#don-dake decides to ramble a little don't mind me

[don-dake]

『まだ結婚できない男』“Mada Kekkon Dekinai Otoko” (2019)

Known in English as “The Man Who Still Can't Get Married” or “He Who Still Can't Marry”, this 10-parter series is a sequel to 2006's (yup, very long break in between) “The Man Who Can't Get Married”『結婚できない男』(Kekkon Dekinai Otoko).

Knowing how sequels usually turn out (i.e. no good), and especially for one which was made over a decade after the first one, I was very apprehensive about starting this at first, no less because some of my favourite characters from the first didn't make it back as well.

But decided to finally give it a go and six episodes in and more than halfway through this sequel now, I can say with relief that while I'm still somewhat disappointed certain characters from the first didn't return (and didn't even get so much as a mention — as if they never existed), I'm glad this sequel manages to retain the vibe of the original quite well. Perhaps it helped too that I went into watching this with low expectations, so things can only look up if your expectations were already low, right? :)

Anyway, while the new supporting cast (in the form of Kuwano's new employees) fail to make much of an impression on me, I'm very happy with the addition of Yoshida Yoh and Inamori Izumi as the two new main female leads.

Perhaps there's a little bias here because I already am familiar with these two actresses and like some of their previous work, but I thought both managed to fill in the shoes left by their predecessors (Natsukawa Yui and Takashima Reiko respectively) very well.

Especially with Yoshida Yoh. I thought her chemistry with Abe Hiroshi was fantastic and at a lot of times, perhaps even enjoyed her character and interactions with other characters more than I did with Natsukawa Yui. Not that I dislike Natsukawa or anything, mind.

And I'm very glad Eiji and Kuwano's family made it back! Especially the character of Kuwano's mother; love that old lady and the actress (Kusabue Mitsuko) who played her too.

Also, special mention goes to the production team for putting care into recreating Kuwano's flat and office (and Kuwano's sister's house), making it much the same as the original. It's minor details like that that I appreciate; tells me too that at least the MKDO team attempted to satisfy fans of the original and are not pulling this sequel solely because they ran out of ideas for new stories! Hah!

Another special mention goes to Tatsuo the Pug aka, Ken the 2nd! :D

To sum up, I'd say a surprisingly good sequel, worth a watch if one does not mind its redundancy, the somewhat formulaic plot, and the now ruined implied happy ending of the first series! Hah!

Edited-to-add: Binge-watched and finished the series today (6th May). So, I did mention earlier the plot was formulaic, right? Right, more emphasis on the formulaic, is all I have to add. If you are already a fan of the first season like me, you would recognize the obvious similarities to the first season. There's really nothing new added in terms of character or even situational development.

Still, that's not to say it's necessarily a bad thing. “If it's not broken, don't fix it” as the saying goes, and this formula clearly works for “Kekkon”, for its strength is not really in plot, but in characters. And the characters old and new, still manage to charm me. :)

#don-dake decides to ramble a little don't mind me #Also as a Zuka fan (though not a very ardent one now) #I get a little thrill to know that #Sakihi Miyu #Has a small supporting role in this #Mada Kekkon Dekinai Otoko #Kekkon Dekinai Otoko #J Drama #Abe Hiroshi #Yoshida Yoh #Yoshida Yo #Inamori Izumi #Tsukamoto Takashi