Saturday 30 April 2022

TV Review: He's Expecting (2022) (Drama)

He's Expecting (ヒヤマケンタロウの妊娠)
2022
8 episodes
PG
Takumi Saitoh, Juri Ueno
Drama
Netflix

When a successful ad executive who's got it all figured out becomes pregnant, he's forced to confront social inequities he'd never considered before. (Netflix Synopsis)

I've seen a real divide on reviews for He's Expecting, with some people loving it and many loathing it, but for me it was really a middle-of-the-road piece. This was mostly a drama, but with an element of 'what-if-fantasy', so it didn't worry me if the 'science' wasn't spot on. The same would be true of many (if not all) M-Preg stories. The strength of the show was in the ideas and issues it raised, highlighting gender roles and the expectations attached to them, social stigma etc. Where it fell down a little in my opinion was not delving into these deep enough and not showing us enough of Kentaro's physical and mental difficulties throughout the pregnancy. I felt I wanted to see a bit more of his personal experience with it all, rather than the 'big picture' view. I was watching this mainly as Japanese language practice, but overall I would give it three stars. It was okay, but I wouldn't rave about it and one watch was enough.

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