In House Marriage Honey

Japanese title: 社内マリッジハニー

Other title: Shanai Marriage Honey

7 episodes

Aired on MBS from 2020 November to December 

Main cast:

• Itagaki Mizuki as Miura Manatsu
• Matsui Airi as Haruta Ami
• Wada Hayate as Matsushita Kazuya
• Oshida Gaku as Yamagata Yuki
• Miyata Tappei as Hori Ryuhei
• Nakamura Riho as Sakaguchi Sumika
• Asami Himeka as Miwa An
• Tateishi Toshiki as Mochizuki Kaimi
• Hyodo Katsumi as Nishitani Kentaro
• Kijima Asuka as Shinkawa Marina

Production credits:

• Original work: Manga by Fujiwara Emi
• Screenwriter: Uchihira Mio, Shimo Ayumi
• Director: Morita Ryo, Shingu Ryohei

Notes:

• So I watched this drama right after Coffee and vanilla, and they share a lot of similarities but I actually finished watching this one for reasons I will explain. It's also 7 episodes of 20 minutes so not that time-consuming.
  
• I also watch this one on Viki, with comments, and I didn't read the manga it's based on. 
• Again, warning: no explicit content but every aspect of marriage is covered if you know what I mean.
  

 

Review: -/+

Title: Two strangers get married on the day they met for... reasons. And then they realised that they work at the same company. Hence the title.

Girl: She's bubbly, outspoken and an accountant. Also "cunning". Be prepared to read this word (or the equivalent depending on subtitles) a lot. If you make it a drinking game, you would get very drunk.

Boy: He works at sales. He acts aloof but he's actually very cute.

Plot/ relationship: So there is no plot, because there are almost no conflict, and whatever conflict there is, it's resolved quicky and without too much angst. Which is refreshing in a way. Healthy communication in a drama is very rare. In this one, they have a problem or a misunderstanding, they just talk and it's resolved. On the downside, the main conflict is based on a motivation that doesn't make much sense and I feel like their reasons to get married with a stranger, which is the premise of the drama, aren't strong enough.

Other characters: They all have paper thin characterisations, and almost all of them are coworkers.

Funny? Yes. Usually Girl embarassing herself and Boy teasing. Also some expressions and reactions.

Cliches : People falling in love after marrying for other reasons. Borderline insta-love.

Music: Fine.

Bottom line: Like Coffee and vanilla, this drama is plagued with insta-love, no plot, underdeveloped character and universe. I hesitated between a - or a -/+, especially because the intimacy depicted sometimes made me uncomfortable, like 'uh, should I be here?" but, compared to Coffee and vanilla, it has more comedy, the dynamic between the couple is more interesting and I want to commend the communication between them. So -/+ it is.