A dose of reality: It takes hard work to maintain a Happy Marriage
I finished watching this drama, and I still don’t know why it’s called “1122 Ii Fuufu”. So I went to my best friend Google and they told me “11-22” can be read phonetically as “ii fuufu” which means “good married couple”. Mystery solved! I also asked my best friend the meaning/flower language of Cape Jasmine and it is Purity and Love.I had this drama on my PTW for a while but I had to wait to be in the right mood to watch, as the topic of infidelity is quite prevalent in Japanese dramas, and watching too many will overload my brain. After a little fasting on infidelity drama, I finally watched it.
What I like:
It’s really hard to not hate flawed characters sometimes who make decisions that you don’t agree with. In “1122 Ii Fuufu”, all the characters are flawed and they made questionable choices given their circumstances. Surprisingly, I empathize with all of them and actually like the characters to a certain extent. I do not agree or condone their actions, but I can see why. Well, even if one of them is a piece of shit (well, they call themselves that in the drama, not me…LOL), or one is irresponsible and refuses to face reality. No matter what your reasoning is, cheating is never the right thing to do. I appreciate this drama showing how complicated these relationships could be. Real life marriage takes a lot of effort, especially when you have been married for a while, or put in a difficult situation because of your family members. The stress, the disappointment and the lack of energy and time, can all contribute to an unhappy marriage.
What I have mixed feelings:
For one, I was quite surprised at the ending. I thought the opposite would be the end game. But given how the main leads are somewhat uncertain on how they feel or a little wishy-washy throughout the drama, I can understand the ending. I’m just surprised and thought it was somewhat unrealistic. Another unrealistic part is the tiny little development on Rei, the cute, handsome boy. I don’t want to spoil it, but he should remain professional. Lastly, my main criticism is on the execution. The drama is very dialog-heavy and slow paced, especially in the last 3 episodes. I don’t know how, but I wish there’s a way to tell the same story but in a more interesting way. All the conversations between the couples are meaningful and are important, but requires a lot of attention to not feel bored.
Would I recommend “1122 Ii Fuufu”? Yes but only to those who are mature enough to deal with the harsh realities and the not-so-pretty side of marriage. This is not a fluffy romance. This is about flawed characters who make decisions you don’t agree with. If you are up for a dose of reality, the acting is excellent and the complicated feelings and mess are interesting. This drama definitely deserves a higher rating than the current 7.3.
Completed: 3/10/2025 - Review #553
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1122
If you're looking for a drama that talks about marriage problems, this drama is for you. It has a touching and realistic ending, I liked..
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🚨SPOILER🚨
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ichiko getting back together with her husband is such a beautiful scene😭😭
I liked Ichiko's farewell with Rei, I wanted to know more about him.
the scene of Mitsuki hurting otoya's private part and saying "if I'm not going to be the one to have sex with you, no one else will", my reaction was: 😮 of all the women he went to have an affair he chose a crazy girl.
I thought Mitsuki's story with her husband had a good ending.
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"Just how did we get here?
1122: For a Happy Marriage was an interesting look into unhappy marriages. I’ve vacillated in my rating because I can’t say that I liked any of the characters nor was I satisfied with the ending.Ichiko and Otoyan have been married for seven years, seemingly happy to all of their friends. What no one knows is that they haven’t had sex in two years and Otoyan has a lover that Ichiko approves of. Being a rational person, Ichiko set up guidelines, mainly don’t bring his affair into the house. Everything seemed to be working until Otoyan violently rejected her sexual advances one night. Suddenly thrown into an existential crisis, Ichiko contemplates acquiring her own lover which shakes Otoyan up. Otoyan’s lover is having her own problems. She’s caring for an autistic child with no help from her husband and keeping her affair on the down low.
Ichiko was a tough nut to crack, she viewed herself as a calm ocean. Calm or horribly repressed, I’m not sure which. She often had a blank look on her face when others talked with her as if she was barely present. The child of an abusive father and needy mother she valued order over emotions. She often heard only what she wanted to hear. People have different sex drives to be sure, but Otoyan seemed like the kind of guy who didn’t even wrinkle the sheets, so it made me wonder if Ichiko had ever actually had an orgasm. One night with the handsome Rei seemed to answer that question, though she wasn’t hot to repeat the experience which I found confusing.
Otoyan took the path of least resistance in his life which unfortunately doesn’t always take you where you want to go. Extremely helpful and kind hearted he enjoyed taking care of others. He blissfully didn’t realize the pain he caused by bringing home the flowers from the ikebana class he took with his lover, smiling all the time from being in love, and taking phone calls from his lover at home. He also didn’t seem to be of this world, especially when he glossed over being violently attacked one night, later easily forgiving his attacker. However, he seemed to draw the line with Ichiko stepping outside of their marriage for sexual fulfillment. And while he refused to touch his wife out of loyalty to his lover, Mizuki was still having sex with her husband. His repression abilities rated right up there with Ichiko’s. Their lack of communicating about important topics often landed them in marital hot water, though with this couple it was always luke warm.
What ultimately caused my issues with this drama was that I didn’t find either Ichiko or Otoyan particularly interesting. Watching two people go through the motions with conversations scripted out of a therapy textbook wasn’t exactly riveting. Even Ichiko’s friendship with the passionate Rei had all the life sucked out of it as she barely acknowledged his existence. I didn’t mind that the drama explored different couples handling the doldrums and challenges marriage can offer in unconventional manners, but with all the sex going on, no one was very satisfied. I honestly wasn’t surprised the way the drama ended, it was as monotonous as Ichicko and Otoyan’s relationship.
31 July 2025 7.25 rated down to a 7.0
Trigger warning: One sexual encounter though no bits and pieces were shown.
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Fresh storyline
I enjoyed this drama as it's got a lot of 'fresh', new plots compared to most dramas with the same old repeat storylines, This show probably isn't the first of its kind but it's definitely not a common storyline, and not one I have ever seen before. It's raw and shows us watchers the difficulties an old stale marriage faces. It made me think about the FL's way of thinking and her decision-making, she made me surprisingly envious. Her decision-making is questionable but also brave and carefree at the same time. The FL comes across as mature, accepting and can communicate quite well about her feelings here and there. The ML, well I did feel pity for him here and there I just couldn't understand why he would do the actions he did and still keep sane and happy but in saying that, he has needs and wants too so I can see where he was coming from. I do like the uniqueness of this drama and the conversations were refreshing. You should definitely watch this if you're sick of the same romance dramas as I think Japan has more of a variety of stories than most. Give this one a go.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Marriage shouldnt be this hard imo....meh ending.
Love the lead actress; she is such a great actress and this is 1 of her recent works that I actually liked; she doesn't unfortunately always pick scripts that I like but this was an exception. This drama was such a great take on marriage and quite realistic and I love how it presented different viewpoints; yes there is cheating involved but you have to watch to see why it happens and that it isnt exactly like other " cheating dramas".I would have gave this drama an even lower ranking if the main couple stayed together as a married couple; Marriage isnt supposed to be that damm hard; they were better off as very good friends. Their marriage life was always like 2 very good roommates cohabitating together. They looked more excited about eating together than doing anything intimate; no thank you lol (yet with Reikun she was so passionate ) .I even started fast-forwarding the scenes when they were eating together at one point; irritating lol.
I lowkey wished she gave Reikun a chance; he loved her and I think that she liked him too but she got it fixated in her head that her and husband HAVE to work even though that marriage life wasnt what it was supposed to be.
I hate to do this but I will give it a solid 7.5. I really dont think they needed to have any sort of relationship beyond friendship after their divorce. Love the drama but I didnt like that ending because what is the lesson here? When you watch the drama, I dont think they are fit to be in a long lasting romantic/passionate relationship together. I just think that this ending is a cop out.
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This review may contain spoilers
No fairy tale endings here.
Unlike how the title of this drama is based on the two characters' names being ichi and ni, 1 and 2, this is not some light-hearted romance comedy.I find this series to hold one of the most mature look and handling on topics of how intimacy and sexual desires effects the romantic relationship.
It has possibly given me more understanding to people who cannot conform to societal standards and expectations for their lack of outwardly affection.
A standard that is ironically, typically perpetuated by popular media such as tv dramas and mangas.
Spoilers ahead:
Our main perspective character, ichi, suffers from committal issues and has trouble with performing acts of physical intimacy with her husband due to childhood trama from her parents.
We as the viewer gets glimpses of her life navigating how to love her husband with how she is, and her husband as well. Their odd situation led to them hurting the people around them as well as themselves in the process.
Life is messy, as much as we try to keep it organized, just as Ichi's room becomes a mess to reflect her inner turmoil.
The ending was expected, as perfectly imperfect as it seems, and it is in a sense, an open ending, as they still love each other deeply, but it is because of how much they love that they cannot live together.
It is troubling to see your loved one struggle and suffer because of you. It is troubling when you feel like you are walking on eggshells when you are in the same room.
They indeed understand each other, in the end. Therefore the question of is there anything I can help you with is met with silence.
Because the mode of depression is caused by his presence, by her inability to give him the life he dreams of, and that is often true, and sometimes love is expressed by letting go.
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The pain of adulthood, relationships aka marriage and life goals… Loved everything about it.
Not to watch if you want to be entertained per se. But very interesting as you might reflect on what make a love relationship, or not, etc. Just another point of view.
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