As a fan of drama and a sucker for romance, I’m always looking for new romantic TV shows or movies to watch. After Netflix released the new Japanese drama ‘Fishbowl Wives’, about six women cheating on their husbands, you know I had to watch it! We often blame the cheater when it comes to infidelity, but this series shows the events that occurred to each wife and provides insight into their relationships and what ultimately led them to cheat. Though I fully support the notion that cheaters are assh*les, this series showed a different side of infidelity, as well as the horrible and questionable actions of some of the husbands. Here’s my ranking of the worst husbands on Fishbowl Wives! SPOILERS AHEAD!
#6 Least Worst: Sota
Episode 4 explored Sota and Saya’s relationship. Saya, dubbed ‘The Chaperone Wife,’ is frequently seen lying on the couch with a beer in hand, clearly depressed. This occurred after Sota persuaded Saya to quit her job and become a full-time housewife without taking into account any of his wife’s concerns, which is what caused them to drift apart in the first place. What earns him the last spot among the bad husbands is that he tries to put himself in his wife’s shoes for a moment before finally realising what he did wrong and saving their relationship (right before Saya was about to cheat on him)! Saya is definitely in the wrong here for not communicating to Sota how she was really feeling about being a housewife, as well as cheating on him, even though it was not ‘all the way’!
#5 Minoru
From this episode, we know that Yuka, Minoru’s wife, wants kids. Yet, Minoru always seems disinterested in her. Whenever Yuka initiates sex, he always refuses and makes up an excuse. He also shoots down the idea of having children at all, saying that they should take things slow. This was the main reason why Yuka ultimately chose to cheat on him and go back to her ex. Is he a bad guy? No. But they should have talked to each other about whether they wanted kids before they got married. Plus, a sexless marriage is no fun for anyone!
#4 Yuriha’s Husband
This was certainly one of the weaker episodes, since we barely got to see the husband! It’s shown that Yuriha’s husband is prioritizing his mum over her. What’s worse than a distant husband? A mommy’s boy. Even though his mum was being very hostile and disrespectful towards his wife, he still chose to side with his mom.
#3 Baba, aka Taguchi Takuzo
Imagine cheating on your husband… with your husband? The wife in this scenario, Hisaku, apparently suffers from a dissociative disorder, which is a form of amnesia caused by extreme stress. And whenever the topic of infidelity comes up, she would have extreme headaches, due to her husband cheating on her in the past. One day, after she meets a stranger, she proceeds to sleep with him, but what she didn’t realize was that the stranger was actually her ex-husband the whole time! This one’s a different kind of bad, since he concealed his identity and has cheated in the past!
#2 Taro
After watching this episode, I just felt bad for the wife. Taro has a cuckolding kink, meaning he gets turned on by his partner having sex or being intimate with someone else. Despite the fact that his wife, Noriko, is clearly uncomfortable with it, he continues to ask her to be intimate with his coworker, Tsuta, so that HE can be turned on and sleep with her! The irony is that his wife actually falls for Tsuta, and proceeds to cheat on Taro with him.
#1 Worst: Takuya
On to the worst of all, Takuya. Being that he is part of the main cast in this show, they gave him plenty of screen time, showing him being an abusive husband and a shitty human being in general. Not only was he the first one who cheated, he’s also physically abusive to his wife. With that, he deserves to be at the top of the ‘Worst Husbands’ ranking.
To reiterate – in my opinion, cheating is wrong. Yet this show somehow manages to glamorize it, almost as if it’s encouraging the characters to cheat, and blurs the line between right and wrong. If you’re looking for a soapy drama with a dash of ridiculousness and romance, ‘Fishbowl Wives’ might just be the show for you.
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