FINAL Update 9/26/2025: The summer 2025 drama season is ended. Surprisingly, #1 is NOT Perfect Adultery, which had lead my ranking list for much of the season. Instead, it's a literal two-for -#1, with Replica and Marry My Husband: Japan at the top. Both have the advantage of being longer series, thus a 1 for Production score. Replica also has a great theme song, increasing its score. This while Marry... has a rare Location score of 1. All in all, a fairly entertaining season of TV. Tied with Perfect... at #3 is Learning to Love. On the other hand, my first 2.5 score ever goes to The Reason My Boyfriend Married My Older Sister. Actually I should have dropped this awful series, but I kept wanting to give it one more chance. That's the danger with me sticking with a show-- the risk of a low score.
Are you certain it's going to finish on episode 13, usually TVer say finale on previews for last episode?
I translated this from the homepage.
Episode 13 Tuesday, September 23, "I can't do this... I just want to get this over with." His wife, Chiharu (Nimura Sawa), had an affair with her fourth partner, Takuya's (Maeda Koki), a co-worker named Rino (Hori Miona). After learning the whole story, Takuya decides to break up with Chiharu and tells Rino, "It looks like things are going to be what you wanted. Congratulations." However, knowing Chiharu's true feelings, Rino has mixed feelings... Meanwhile, Chiharu receives an anonymous email exposing her affair at work. The culprit is a detective hired by Chiharu's mother, Kyoko (Miyazaki Yoshiko), to investigate the affair. The detective begins blackmailing Chiharu for money, using photographic evidence of the affair as leverage... Unaware of this, Takuya heads out for a heartbroken drink with his childhood friends, Sakurai (Nomura Shuhei) and Uchino (Kaya Soya). Takuya, unusually drunk, stays the night at Uchino's house, and the three of them sleep together like they did in their student days. As Takuya reminisces, Sakurai says, "You can always tell me. I'll go back to any age, so let's do it together." Takuya's words touch his heart...
In the morning, Takuya leaves Uchino's house and heads straight to work at City Hall, where Chiharu appears with divorce papers in hand. They're the same papers Takuya had written a while ago. Upon seeing them, Chiharu's name is already written on them. "...It wasn't until I was with Takuya that I had expectations of myself. I thought I could change with you. I wanted to change and learn to love myself. I'm so sorry." With these words, Chiharu leaves. Takuya sees her off without chasing her, hands the papers to Rino, who is nearby, and asks, "Please process the paperwork." Is Takuya and Chiharu's divorce finally finalized?! Then, Chiharu quits her job and her art class and suddenly disappears.
Behind Chiharu's disappearance lies the shadow of a corrupt detective...! Upon learning this, Takuya teams up with Sakurai, Uchino, Mina (Onishi Reiho), and An (Naenano) to confront the corrupt detective! What future will the couple choose after their "complete infidelity"?! The fateful final episode!!
Takuya finds out who the 4th person that’s supposedly cheating on him with his wife is. It’s Rino. But actually I think it’s more like a one-way love. And while Takuya and Chiharu are finally opening up to each other the episode suddenly ends.
An unexpected twist in episode 12. Also, a quite abrupt ending, if I may add. And an odd number for a finale, but episode 13 will finish up this series.
Update 9/4/2025: Perfect Adultery retains the top spot...But #2 Replica is running neck and neck...#3 Learning to Love is solid in its position...But Revenge Spy and Forbidden to Love have switched places, with the whodunnit thriller at #4...Coming in at #6 is Cinderella Closet, thanks to Hikaru acting like the man he really is and going for Haruka...Tada no Renai Nanka de Kikkonai: Kojirase Joshi to Fechina Buka hangs on to the #7 spot...Ubai Ai, Manatsu drops two spots to #8..These eight dramas are my current must-see dramas...summer is coming to a close, and so are most of this season's dramas-- looking forward to the final finish!
Update 8/21/2025: No change in the top two, with Perfect Adultery still in the top spot, with Replica hot on its heels at #2...But there is a new #3, with Learning to Love jumping three spots to vault into third place, with an excellent episode #6, entitled "A field trip for two," wherein our two protagonists spending a day at the beach...Revenge Spy drops to #4, but it's good that the fake relationship between the two ML's becomes real, because I was getting bored...Moving up three spots to #5 is Forbidden to Love, even though there's not much romance to be found in it...Ubai Ai, Manatsu keeps the moves up to the #6 spot, and in episode #4, Takahashi Maryjun put on a wonderful, vengeful performance as spiteful Mirai, wife of Taimu, played by Yasuda Ken...Tada no Renai Nanka de Kikkonai: Kojirase Joshi to Fechina Buka drops to #7, although episode #8 was a hot one, with the usual antics of the two ML's, along with the return of Tatsuki's high school love...These top seven are my current Must-Watch dramas.
Re: Episode 5 - Takahashi Maryjun as Mirai put on quite the performance in this one! Definitely star of the show. She really gave it to the two ML’s. Bravo!
I really really want to watch this again, as it coincides with when I first came to live in Japan. Plus, it's…
As of today, you can watch most of the series on YouTube, except that I think episode #8 is mistakenly a copy of episode #7. Plus, the quality is not good. And I'm really disappointed that Bird's intro song is cut out, probably due to possible copyright problems. The story is meh-- a lot of bickering sisters, and I don't know/care about their love lives.
6 episodes in and this is one of my favourite dramas of late.
Agreed. I'm mostly a fan of romance/comedy dramas, but this one, to be honest, is mostly thriller. But it's in my top 10 this season, the rest involving romance and or at least dating. The story, pacing, the actors, the acting itself-- all well done. Ihara Rikka's sometimes bulging, bloodshot eyes are perfect for this show. I like Watanabe Keisuke's bad/good/strange character. Another one of his recent roles was in a similar thriller: Zaibatsu Fukushu: Aniyome ni Natta Moto yome e. And surprisingly, a nice performance by former gravure idol Wakana Sakai.
Update 8/10/2025: Holding on to the top spot at #1 is Perfect Adultery, with a fine episode #6, which finds a passive agressive Takuya and tail-between-her-legs Chiharu at a BBQ...While Replica hangs on at #2, with an episode #5 that focuses heavily on the meteoric rise and fall of Narcissist Karin...Still at #3 is Revenge Spy, where Hana flashes a bright smile after Yuga gives her an orca sticker...Keeping the #4 spot is Tada no Renai Nanka de Kikkonai: Kojirase Joshi to Fechina Buka, which continues its trend of Sakura and Tatsuki enjoying a tryst at the end of the episode... The Yakuza Boss's Beloved is the new #5, with a strong showing in episode #3, where Makoto and Ren become even closer, both to love and danger...Learning to Love (#6) has, with episode #5, finally joined my list of dramas which most interest me this season--while Manami is still indecisive, Kaoru has seemingly fallen for her.... Up to #7 is Ubai Ai, Manatsu, on the heels of a powerful episode #3-- the pool scene was quite hot!...While it has not yet joined my list of most interesting dramas yet, Forbidden Love is thoroughly enjoyable at #8...Cinderella Closet has fallen four spots to #9...A late edition to this season's offererings is Watashi no Kare ga Ane no Otto ni natta Riyu, starring Akita Shiori and Takada Riho--we'll see how this evil older sister/innocent younger sister drama plays out, but so far so good at #13...Moshimo Sekai ni "Renai" ga Nakattara has also finally started, with a respectable beginning at #15, although, after watching two episodes, I've come to the conclusion that the premise of the drama is so silly--it tries to envision what a world be like if there was no "love."
Episode #5, originally scheduled for August 2, was pushed back to August 9 because of the World Aquatics Singapore 2025 Swimming Finals Day 7 broadcast.
Update 7/30/2025: Replica and Perfect Adultery switch spots! In episode #5 of Perfect Adultery, the aftermath of Takuya catching Chiharu pretty much in the act was very powerful, despite this being a romantic comedy. On the other hand, episode #4 of Replica was centered upon Sumire completing her revenge against Kippei, which wasn't so tantalizing...Also, Cinderella Closet and The Yakuza Boss's Beloved are moving up, into the 5th and 6th spots...Recently dropped The Asayama Family--too much bickering and zero love from my perspective.
Update 7/24/2025: After a few weeks at #1, Tada no Renai Nanka de Kikkonai has dropped out of 1st. Replacing it is Triendl Reina's Replica, on the strength of its story, execution, and beauty of both Triendl and support actress Miyamoto Mayu...Gorgeous Nimura Sawa's tale of adultery, Kanzen Furin, holds sway at #2, while Ohashi Kazuya's Love & Revenge is hot on its tail, with the help of a dog in episode #3...The aforementioned shows are the ones which most interest me this drama season, thus far...Grapara! had a brief fling among my top dramas for a little while, but has lost its sizzle and now sits in the late teens...Still waiting for Shimazaki Haruka's new drama to start--we'll see how well she fares...
Episode 13
Tuesday, September 23,
"I can't do this... I just want to get this over with." His wife, Chiharu (Nimura Sawa), had an affair with her fourth partner, Takuya's (Maeda Koki), a co-worker named Rino (Hori Miona). After learning the whole story, Takuya decides to break up with Chiharu and tells Rino, "It looks like things are going to be what you wanted. Congratulations." However, knowing Chiharu's true feelings, Rino has mixed feelings...
Meanwhile, Chiharu receives an anonymous email exposing her affair at work. The culprit is a detective hired by Chiharu's mother, Kyoko (Miyazaki Yoshiko), to investigate the affair. The detective begins blackmailing Chiharu for money, using photographic evidence of the affair as leverage...
Unaware of this, Takuya heads out for a heartbroken drink with his childhood friends, Sakurai (Nomura Shuhei) and Uchino (Kaya Soya). Takuya, unusually drunk, stays the night at Uchino's house, and the three of them sleep together like they did in their student days. As Takuya reminisces, Sakurai says, "You can always tell me. I'll go back to any age, so let's do it together." Takuya's words touch his heart...
In the morning, Takuya leaves Uchino's house and heads straight to work at City Hall, where Chiharu appears with divorce papers in hand. They're the same papers Takuya had written a while ago. Upon seeing them, Chiharu's name is already written on them. "...It wasn't until I was with Takuya that I had expectations of myself. I thought I could change with you. I wanted to change and learn to love myself. I'm so sorry." With these words, Chiharu leaves. Takuya sees her off without chasing her, hands the papers to Rino, who is nearby, and asks, "Please process the paperwork." Is Takuya and Chiharu's divorce finally finalized?! Then, Chiharu quits her job and her art class and suddenly disappears.
Behind Chiharu's disappearance lies the shadow of a corrupt detective...! Upon learning this, Takuya teams up with Sakurai, Uchino, Mina (Onishi Reiho), and An (Naenano) to confront the corrupt detective! What future will the couple choose after their "complete infidelity"?! The fateful final episode!!
The channel is called Retro J. Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSbc-jhX6gyQt211XBhXIOA