TV Review - My Husband Won't Fit

This Japanese series aired earlier this year on Fuji TV. It follows a young Japanese couple for about 20 years of their lives. It starts out with them meeting in college and proceeds into the first decade or so of their marriage. For more than half the series, it's narrated through voice-over by Kumiko, a short-haired, country girl who aspires to become a teacher. She lives in a crummy, apartment building where her neighbor is fellow college student, Kenichi Watanabe, a very handsome and charming, aspiring teacher as well. He involves himself in her life immediately. She allows it, taking to him instantly. They start dating, but they realize that they can't have sex with each other. Numerous attempts at intercourse fail over and over again. They fall in love with one another, enjoying each other's company. They can talk and laugh together, so they decide to get married.

Their issue though is that they can't have intercourse with the complaint being that Kenichi can't put his penis inside Kumiko. Strangely though, the series never explains why that's the case. The initial assumption is that Kenichi's penis is so large that no vagina stands a chance. Except, Kenichi can have intercourse with other women, many other women with no trouble. The next assumption is that Kumiko's vagina is so tiny that no penis stands a chance. Except, Kumiko is able to have intercourse with other men, many other men with no trouble. Therefore, their sexual incompatibility is completely inexplicable. Even when Kumiko comes up with the idea, 2 years into their marriage, to try some kind of lubricant, still it's only partially successful, but still not functional.

This physical problem causes rifts in their relationship. Predictably, it causes them to seek sexual satisfaction with other people. Both of them begin to have affairs, totally meaningless affairs, which lay down the theme that this series is attempting to explore. That theme asks if sex equals love and vice versa. The series tries to come down on the side of sex not equally love or love doesn't require sex. In this case though, the specific type of sex is that of vaginal sex. Unfortunately, if vaginal sex is the only kind of sex in question, then it makes this series incapable of exploring the theme in a full way.

Vaginal sex is the only kind of sex that they attempt together. Kumiko suggests oral sex, but Kenichi denies that form and he never says why. Him denying her giving oral sex or vice versa feels contrived or as a plot device. It also makes this series limiting or strictly a heterosexual issue. Homosexuality and queer sexuality aren't confined to simply vaginal sex. Yet, this series is confined to vaginal sex. Without having Kumiko and Kenichi explore oral sex, anal sex or other forms, then their so-called sexual incompatibility doesn't feel as strong as an aspect in this narrative as it could or should.

The series veers off with a story line about Kumiko having trouble in her job as a teacher. While I appreciate a series giving a more-rounded view of a female character by showing her at her job, I feel like her work stuff was to the detriment of the show's central premise. There was a whole subplot about a problem student in Kumiko's class that felt like a distraction, even though it perhaps underlined her inability to confront her troubles at home, if she can't confront them at work either.

It's understandable that the show is from the point-of-view of Kumiko. It's really her story as she narrates the first six episodes. Yet, in Episode 7, the perspective changes and Kenichi narrates with voice-over. Unfortunately, I felt like the series took too long to switch perspectives. It seems like intentionally that the series wants to keep Kenichi's point-of-view obscure or a bit of a mystery, but it's a mystery that doesn't possess much value.

Frustratingly, the series doesn't become really engaging until Episode 9, which is the penultimate episode. The series is bogged down with a lot of the mundane and banality of marriage. There are an inordinate amount of scenes of Kumiko and Kenichi just sitting and eating. That banality though does set up what is a pretty great episode, that of the finale or the last episode. In Episode 10, the finale, Kumiko and Kenichi have dinner with both of their parents. It's in that scene that the two tell their parents they won't be getting grandchildren from them. It's thoroughly refreshing to see a couple not want kids, which is the opposite of 99 percent of all romantic depictions, it seems. The writing of the scene and the episode really leans into a level of comedy not embraced in the previous episodes and it makes the ending of this frustrating series surprisingly entertaining.

Rated TV-MA.
Running Time: 40 mins. / 10 eps.

Available on Netflix.