If I Could Turn Back Time: Fuka Koshiba in “Watashi no Otto to Kekkon Shite~Marry My Husband”

A Life Relived: Fuka Koshiba in Marry My Husband

Just began watching the new drama “Watashi no Otto to Kekkon Shite~Marry My Husband” and so far, it's been a heck of a ride!!!! 

The story: Misa Kanbe (Fuka Koshiba ) is a woman who has grown up surrounded by love from those around her, including caring Father (Shigeo Kanbe and Grandmother (Satoko Abe)...

....a best friend from childhood Reina Isaka (Sei Shiraishi) 

a satisfying job at a marketing company...

...and a happy and successful marriage to a well to do businessman Tomoya (Yu Yokoyama)! Yes, life seems good!

But by the time we meet up with Misa, it is at a low point in her life- despite working hard all her life she is now stricken with cancer and is currently hospitalized. Her beloved father has passed away and her elderly grandmother is languishing at a care center, suffering from dementia.

Despite how bad things are, however,  she still has her best friend Reina at her side, and with her hard-working husband Tomoya to support her, this helps get her through the trying days and keeps her spirit positive...or at least, that's how it looks on the surface!

This all comes crashing down, however, when one day the hospital grants her a one-day pass to leave the hospital and go home...

…only for Misa to find her best friend and husband in BED with each other! 

At first trying to play it off as a spur of the moment thing, it’s revealed that they;’ve been at it for almost half a year- all the time while Misa is dying of cancer and bedridden. “Why couldn’t you have waited til I was gone?” she cries in anguish, but it gets worse when she finds her weaselly husband has managed to steal the huge insurance payout when she does pass, a payment that was meant to care for Misa’s afflicted Grandmother.

With this truth out, the supposed best friend and caring husband lay it all on the table- they’ve never cared for Misa and have only used her to get what they want from her.

In an argument about the insurance, Misa gets into a scuffle with Tomoya and, in the heat of the battle is pushed off the edge of their apartment floor and plummets to her death, the true knowledge of her friends and husband’s betrayal going with her to the grave… or so she thinks!

After her life fades to black Misa is stunned to awaken back at work and not just any work, it is her job as it was in 2015, some 10 years ago! 

She can scarcely believe what is happening to her, even as events she has lived once before begin playing all over again!

So much is different from her 2025 life- here in 2015, she still has her health and appetite. COVID hasn’t happened yet, the Olympics are still around the corner, Reina is still her “best friend”… and Misa has yet to marry Tomoya!!!

The situation with Reina and Tomoya is tricky at best. At this point in 2015 Reina is still playing the sweet and caring friend, and Tomoya is aggressively pursuing her as a marriage partner. Knowing what will happen, she must do all she can to stop the future!!!

As Misa’s mind reels with this discovery, she absentmindedly lets a percolator overboil and is about to be scalded by it- until her senior at the company Wataru Suzuki (Takeru Sato) leaps in to save her and HE gets burned instead! 

Misa has a distinct memory of it being HER that got burned, and realizes that with some intervention, her fate CAN be changed!

This Wataru Suzuki seems to read Misa well- he tells her that he’s been watching her and how she’s always let herself be pushed around and bullied by insidious people around her because of her naive and trusting nature.

“A person with common sense would steer clear of those kinds of people, but you naively go in and expect the best outcome. But garbage should be thrown out. Anyone who doesn’t wish for your happiness has no place in your life.”

This is a wake-up call to the mild mannered Misa, and as the events begin approaching that will take her down the path to that sad life in the future, she makes a strong resolution to take her destiny by the hands and twist and wrangle it into the life she truly deserves all while taking all her misfortune and redirecting it to her adversaries!

WELL, that’s a wrap for episode 1 of this highly anticipated show- it was based on a popular Korean drama and there has been quite a BUZZ for this Japanese adaptation!  As for me, you all know how much I hate “persecution dramas” where a huge chunk of the show shows the hero/heroine being bullied and oppressed, and WOW, did Marry My Husband have a lot of THAT! So much that I actually began to speed- watch through those scenes, eager to get past it and on with the show! But Fuka Koshiba is her usual great self- so lovable and likable that you want her to succeed in her goals, I just wish I didn’t have to sit through all the “bad” stuff. She’d better develop a spine by next episode! 

Sadly I was so worried that this was going to be nothing but another persecution flick, that I read the synopsis of the Korean drama so I could get a sense of where it was going to go...and ended up spoiling a HUGE plot twist for me, GAHHH! Well, folks are saying the Japan version is way different from the Korean one, so maybe the plot will be completely changed, who knows.

PS: BOY OH BOY, with all his jackassery roles in shows like Mai Agare and Zettai Reido, my friend Saburo is convinced that actor Yu Yokoyama is a douchey guy in real life, despite my telling him how much fun he is in Kanjani8. WELL, after THIS role as the jerk husband Tomoya, I’m guessing Yokoyama's reputation as a lowlife scum will be cemented in the books forever!

And Sei Shiraishi, pretty Sei! I hope this role  doesn’t permanently tarnish her image as Japan’s sweetheart. I mean, Sei’s done bad girl roles before but BOY, her portrayal of the evil Reina just shrieks of “THIS WOMAN MUST GO TO HELL vibes!!! LOLOL

In any case, the Fuka Koshiba factor makes this a must watch anyway, so we'll definitely be tuning in to this one to see where it goes!!!!