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| Kyoko Fukada and Haruka Fukuhara in 18/40 |
Haruka Fukuhara is Arisu Nakagawa, an 18 year old teen who has been raised by her late mother to appreciate art and artists (especially the works of Paul Klee), and, upon graduation, has already made plans to attend a college life in pursuit of being an art curator.
But her life takes a wild turn when she discovers that she is pregnant with child, with a man who seemingly wants none of the responsibility or ownership of a baby. “I need some time away to think things over”, he says, as he withdraws from her, making her feel completely alone.
In the meantime, Kyoko Fukada is a near-40 single businesswoman named Toko Naruse, who has spent her life working hard to become a success in her field of art promotion who is lauded and respected among her peers.
She has met a prospective partner thru a matching app, on a site that pairs up people with the intention of getting married and having children. They both even have the same child-rearing pamphlets! But this will be one of the dreams she has that due to circumstances, she will be unable to fulfill…
Arisu finally gets a message from her boyfriend who says he is ready to meet, but when Arisu gets there, she is confronted by his MOTHER instead. She informs Arisu that her son has moved away and that all dealing with the pregnancy will go through her. She tells a shocked Arisu that they will cover the bills for a termination, though Arisu herself has not yet even decided what she will do about the baby. She rejects the Mother’s help, and says she will take care of the problem herself.
A visibly stressed Arisu is walking aimlessly through the city with the weight upon her shoulders, when she feels sharp pangs of pain lacing through her stomach. Just at that moment, Toko happens to walk by, and, seeing the young girl doubled over, rushes over to help her.
“The baby” Arisu mumbles through her pain, and Toko tells her there is a clinic nearby that she was on her way to, and asks if she can make the short trip. Helping her up, Toko guides her to the center, where her friend Dr. Shibasaki (Wakana Matsumoto) agrees to see Arisu immediately.
Thankfully all seems well, as the Doctor cites Arisu's stress for her pains. She does tell her that she is 5 weeks pregnant, and that now is the time for her to decide what to do about her situation. If she decides to keep the baby, the clinic can keep her on and help. If she ultimately decides to terminate, they will recommend a clinic she can go to.
The doctor sees Toko next, who is there to begin her regular checkups in anticipation of having a child. But after she is looked over, she is horrified to be told that there is a problem with her ovaries (swelling and cysts), and as such, will be near impossible for her to become pregnant and bear a child. In an instant, her dreams of a family are dashed.
The doctor is more concerned with taking care of the malady at hand, and Toko is taken to a bed to get a drip put in her. As it happens, it is in the same room where Arisu is recovering.
Arisu hears Toko softly sobbing through the curtain, and when she asks if she is okay, she realizes it’s the same lady who brought her here.
Through the curtain, the two have a heart to heart talk- One, the older, wiser woman who is regretful she passed on childbirth for her career and now cannot have a chance at it, and the other a wide-eyed youth who has dreams and plans to accomplish and sees a baby as a hindrance to her goals.
Unfortunately, they’ve shoehorned in two romance interests for the ladies, and I must admit they interest me NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST. Very generic and one-dimensional romance stuff, and every time the show diverts to their scenes, I just go "Gehhhhh" and want to fast forward thru it!
Below: Toko with her romance interest Kase (Shuhei Uesugi)
...and Arisu with Yuma (Ouji Suzuka)
Truthfully, part of me wonders if the guys are there just so the friendship between Arisu and Toko won’t seem, you know, sexual. I DID notice that in the drama’s initial promo pics, it looked like this:
...where even I had to double take and think “Are these two women…together?”
But by the time of the next promotional pic, they had added the male interests, making it look more like a regular romance drama:
In any case, we’ll see how this one goes. As regular readers of this blog know, I love both lead actresses and will watch anything they’re in, just hope it doesn’t get bogged down with the usual romance stuff….
