'He's Expecting' Review: Japanese drama gives fresh take on male pregnancy
Netflix has released new series 'He's Expecting'. The show is a fresh take on fatherhood and male pregnancy. This is a genre that is sure to bring you a fresh standpoint on parenthood.
The show starts with Kentaro Hiyami (Takumi Saitoh), a Japanese businessman who works hard and aspires to take over the company one day. After his interaction with a friend of his, Aki (Juri Ueno), and spending the night with her, he soon starts to feel nauseous and dizzy after one of his client meetings. On following up with the doctor (Kazuya Takahashi), he realizes he's pregnant!
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The story moves on to episode 2, where Hiyami understands what changes he should deal with now that he's expecting and informs Aki about it. He starts noticing his nipples getting darker and his breast starts to milk at the sound of a baby cry. The fatigue gets the best out of him and he finally decides to get the child aborted as this was all getting in the middle of his newly signed project. Keeping the story going, episode 3 shows us how Hiyami is hell-bent on getting this abortion but changes his mind when he meets another pregnant man, Miyaji (Shohei Uno), at the hospital. The duo soon gets to talking and Hiyami visits the latter's home. After meeting his family, he starts feeling empathy toward the life inside him. Meanwhile, when the ideas in his new project start to wear out, Hiyami pitches suggests the client work with male pregnancy and agrees to be the face of it.
Continuing this what-next Japanese drama, episode 4 shows us Hiyami, celebrating his success in the new project and his colleagues throwing baby showers for him. He then decides to help all the men that are dealing with pregnancy and develops a portal for all of them to communicate.
Soon, all the expecting fathers meet at a cafe and discuss each other's wild pregnancy stories. Episode 5 shifts the story to an unsettling phase where the advertising company takes it way too far with Hiyami's childbirth. This frustrates him and he decides to resign. Meanwhile, Aki gets out of Tokyo to go see her parents and meet with old friends for a reunion. The reunion goes down south as her friends disapprove of the idea of men getting pregnant. She heads back home and reveals to her parents that she's the mother of Hiyami's child, the model that is in all newspapers lately. Things don't go quite as expected there too. She then decides to head back to Tokyo and informs Hiyami that she is ready to co-parent, but marriage is off the cards for now.
In episode 6, Kentaro invites his mom (Mariko Tsutsui) and dad (Lily Franky) and this pulls strings of tension between his mom and dad. He finds out his dad had given birth to him and also learns about his dad's past. Aki receives a job offer she can't refuse. The story moves to a grim turn when the press finds out Kentaro was born to a fraud. Media frenzy gets to him and his dad abandons him again. He goes looking for his father while Aki and Kentaro's mother bond.
Some untold truth unfolds and old flames settle between Kentaro and his dad. Aki accepts the Singapore offer while Kentaro visits a press conference where he's ready to give birth right after his big speech.
ENDING EXPLAINED
The ending of this beautiful story is as heart-warming as it can ever be. The final episode shows The Big Day! Kentaro Hiyami gives birth to a baby boy. Soon the days succeeding are all about birth registration forms and everything toys. Kentaro and Aki decide to follow their dreams, all the while raising baby Ko.
This story shows how the switch of roles can lead to a swapping of responsibilities. The series is directed from the point of view of a man that becomes unexpectedly pregnant but makes the most out of it. The plot of the show interchanges reality with a possibility that subconsciously takes us to a world of understanding that would normally not be explored. This series should be put in the not-to-miss category.
