DOUBLE FANTASY. So, I have really REALLY mixed feelings with this one. Double Fantasy is a really difficult series to rate and review. At only 5 episodes long, this Japanese drama is really more of a mini series. It's quite short and deals with some pretty heavy / difficult subject matter in such a short time span. Not sure if it was enough time. I'm still not sure if it accomplished what it seemed to set out to do or even how I feel about it...

The direction of the drama feels unsure whether the creators wanted the audience to empathize/identify or dislike/disapprove of the main lead Natsu Takato (Asami Mizukawa) a reserved and well-esteemed screenwriter, who struggles with secret lusts and desires outside of her seemingly perfect marriage. After living in fantasy simply isn't enough, Natsu suddenly pursues multiple experimental extra-marital relationships and the plot gradually grows weaker as the series progresses. It really seemed as if the writers lost not only interest but a clear sense of direction as well, at many points in this show.

Natsu, while a well acted character, is portrayed as bored, unhappy, indecisive, ungrateful and pretty much selfish in most of her life choices. If the series was meant to be a feministic anthem, surely she'd evolve into greater independence and a stronger sense of identity rather than slip into gradually more toxic and unhealthy situations. Rather this series felt more of a critique of feminism, or drawing parallels between mental illness and the feminine search for identity. Notably, Natsu spirals downwards rather than upwards...

The main subject matter is really about sex, identity, pleasure, morality, fidelity, marriage, affairs, freedom, convention, society, mental illness, feminism, etc. It has a Mature, NC-17 rating, and has quite a few unnecessary sexual scenes throughout and can be somewhat explicit at times. To me though it wasn't intended for the purposes of being arousing or pornographic but to show a realistic story of a woman going through a potentially serious life crisis, dangerous obsessive behavior and mental health issues. Honestly, at times the sex scenes felt mostly unnecessary and a bit jarring from the melancholy, introspective atmosphere of the series, and there were quite a few scenes that were just downright uncomfortable and cringe to watch, detracting from the overall mood. Had to skip through some of those.

Personally, I'm not one for watching shows centered around extra-marital affairs. Frankly, it's just not part of my honor code nor my cuppa tea. To each his own, I guess. That being said, I do appreciate honest portrayals of damaging lifestyles, that offer realistic glimpses into consequences of such behaviors as well as the inner psychological mindset driving such behaviors. So, while I never related to and rarely sympathized with the character of Natsu, I did really enjoy Asami Mizukawa's portrayal of such a deeply flawed and confused character. Sadly, there weren't many other memorable characters for me.

But, where the story suffered and failed to reward the viewer, in terms of relatable characters and meaningful storytelling, the cinematography at times was really well done and there was a deep tone throughout. I do feel that if the director had focused more on the psychological, introspective aspect of Natsu and her struggles and less on pointless somewhat pretentious scenes of eroticism it would have been more compelling, at least for me. The ending was much too abrupt and open-ended for my liking also. Overall, this was mostly a miss, besides a few memorable scenes here and there. Hardly can recommend.