(Jdrama Review) Ninja ni Kekkon wa Muzukashii

English title: Marriage is Difficult for A Ninja

The Plot

Kusakari Hotaru is married to Kusakari Goro and she works as a pharmacist. She holds a secret that she is really a ninja and part of Koka Ninja’s family. Her husband holds a routine job as a postal delivery man, but he has a secret as well. He is also a ninja and part of Iga Ninja’s family. Even though Kusakari Hotaru and Kusakari Goro are a married couple, they are unaware their partner is a ninja. For generations, the Koka Ninja and Iga Ninja families have been rivals and quite hostile to each other. While Kusakari Hotaru and Kusakari Goro married because of love and their marriage life started off well, their relationship has deteriorated over things like home chores and using the bathroom. An assassination then takes place. Will Kusakari Hotaru and Kusakari Goro choose their marriage or their family affiliation?

The live action was based on manga by Yokozeki Dai with the same title. The same author also wrote drama with ninja as the theme, entitled Lupin no Musume or Daughter of Lupin that was released in 2019. I watched it and did enjoy it.  Well, I did not read the manga, so I couldn't compare between the live action drama and the manga.

If you love watching romance with some actions and some plot twists, bonus some cameo from many popular actors and actresses, this drama is for you. Frankly speaking, I stopped watching it in episode 6 then I continued it since waiting for some ongoing doramas is really torturing. LOL.

First time reading the synopsis, I felt like this drama has the vibe of Okusama wa, Tori Atsukai Chui (Caution, Hazardous Wife) with Haruka Ayase and Hidetoshi Nishijima as the main leads. Well, even though it has the same vibe, watching fighting between husband and wife must be thrilling. For all this time, I knew ninja from Mandarin movies very long time ago. Why not giving this drama a try, right?

In the beginning you’ll find the characters, mostly the main leads talking to the viewers about their life as a married couple or the mission they have a part of ninja organizations. Kusakari Hotaru (Nanao) was from Koga and Goro Kusakari was from Iga. You can guess that the two organizations had competed from such a long time. They got married with some hope that their partner was from ordinary citizen, with no ninja as the background. But, well, they were like Romeo and Juliet who got married without knowing each other’s background.

Problems between the two arose after a murder of an important politician. Iga accused someone from Koga. A slender figure appeared in CCTV that looked like Hotaru. Goro couldn’t believe that he had married a ninja, moreover, a ninja from Iga. Two of them tried to observe each other. When they found out, would they divorce each other or tried to make compromises?

The romance between the two got aggravated by Goro’s childhood friend, Sayo Kazetomi, who seemed to have feeling to him. Meeting Goro after being separated for a couple of years spice up her old feeling that made Hotaru felt uncomfortable. Not only she was from Iga, Koga’s rival, Sayo was from Koga from the start. She didn't stop bulging Ford's marriage until Goro looked at her. But, would he?

Ninja was actually a kind of old for me, yakuza might be newer in movies. But this drama gave modern vibe like tik tok dance performed by Hotaru's sister. The cafe where they mingled had ninja vibe. The house, where Kusakari lived, was like a dream house in reality.  It's modern, with some hidden places where you could hide weapons. The typical weapon of ninja was there, too. I remembered clearly the Mandarin movies I watched when I was child. When shuriken was thrown, enemies or people barely avoided it. 

The drama script was well written with some plot twists here and there. Not to mention some cameo who showed up in Koga's house with some passwords.  The comedy,  either from the action or the conversation made the tension a bit slow. 

The actors did a great job, too. Nanao as Hotaro was perfect for her role. Nobuyuki Suzuki as Goro was great, too. And one arising ikemen I'm looking forward to his work is Taiyou Fujiwara as Ura, Goro's colleague. I'm glad that he was not only some supporting role who danced nininin ninja in the cafe. 😁 The mystery about the murder was a bit easy to guess. 

some casts

 

My rating:

Story/ plot: 9/10

Acting/ casts: 8,5/10

Music: 7/10

Re-watch value: 8/10

Share this post