Title: 婚カツ！Konkatsu!
English Title: Marriage Hunting
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Year: 2009
Episode: 11
Cast:
- 中居正広 Nakai Masahiro
- 上戸彩 Ueto Aya
- 佐藤隆太 Sato Ryūta
- 小日向文世 Kohinata Fumiyo
- 上田竜也 Ueda Tatsuya
- 谷原章介 Tanihara Shosuke
- 橋爪功 Hashizume Isao
- 北村有起哉 Kitamura Yukiya
- 風吹ジュン Fubuki Jun
- 田中要次 Tanaka Yoji
- 風間俊介 Kazama Shunsuke
- 釈由美子 Shaku Yumiko
- りょう Ryo
- 山田親太朗 Yamada Shintaro
SYNOPSIS
パフィー PUFFY - Wedding BellAmamiya Kuniyuki is the eldest son of a tonkatsu restaurant owner. He hates tonkatsu and doesn't like to take over the family business. He applied for a staff position in his local government and when he finds out that the office only hires married people, he lies that he is about to get married.
Fukagawa Shigeru is Kuniyuki's best friend. He owns and manages the liquor shop in front of Kuniyuki's family restaurant. When he finds out that one requirement of Kuniyuki's job is that he should be married, he actively joins Kuniyuki in his marriage hunting process.
Hida Haruno works part-time at Kuniyuki's restaurant. She intends to work in the fashion industry but she is having a hard time looking for fashion-related jobs. She is in love with Kuniyuki but he treats her as a little sister.
REVIEW
Konkatsu is the shortened version of the phrase kekkon katsudo, which can roughly be translated as 'marriage hunting'. It's amazing how this phenomenon is widely accepted and widely practiced in Japan.
The drama presents the wide array of marriage hunting activities in Japan, from speed-dating to other similar matchmaking activities. It was interesting how some characters in the drama are serious about finding someone to get married to, it's like getting married is their purpose in life or something.
Remember how you seriously thought about where to go for college (or graduate school), what major to take up, which company to work for, etc.? Well, finding a marriage partner is as important, if not more so. Which is why some people believe it is important to strategically look for that partner, preferably through a wide range of activities where the people you meet are also doing the same.
I don't really know how I feel about marriage hunting activities. In a way, I do agree on the reasoning why it is important to seriously and strategically look for marriage partners. But then again, I think it's really embarrassing to be in a situation where people are expected to appeal to the opposite sex by proactively showing their charms and good points.
Perhaps I feel this way because konkatsu activities are planned and contrived that it seems unnatural. And when people ask how you and your partner met, saying you met in a konkatsu activity is unromantic, to say the least.
The lead characters of this drama lacks chemistry with each other. I haven't really watched a lot of Nakai Masahiro's dramas and movies so I'm not really sure if this is a special case for him. However, I've watched several productions of Ueto Aya and it seems that she doesn't really connect romantically with most, if not all, of her leading men.
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婚カツ！Konkatsu!
