Welcome to The Avocado’s weekly discussion of Japanese pop culture! The Full-Time Wife Escapist (We Married as a Job) is a live-action series based on a romantic comedy Josei manga. And it’s very good! You can watch the series on Netflix or Rakuten Viki, and I highly recommend it. I haven’t read the manga yet, but it is also available in English if you’re interested (I plan to read it when I can). The series is a great balance between comedy, drama, and romance. The cast has amazing chemistry (in fact, the two lead actors eventually married!), and all of the characters are dynamic and realistic in their own unique ways. I really enjoyed this exploration of friendship, work, and marriage. As an extra bonus, the show also introduced me to my new musical obsession: Gen Hoshino!

The ending theme is performed by the lead actor, Gen Hoshino. The song is occupied by a dance that became hugely popular in Japan and beyond. It is known as the “Koi Dance” and it will make it impossible to skip the credits at the end of each episode (I was going to share the credits here, but I decided it’s better if you get to have the delightful experience of seeing the cast dancing after watching the first episode). It’s not hard to imagine why it became so popular, and continues to be, with the music video having almost 250 million views on YouTube:

After hearing this song, I immediately wanted to hear more, and I found that Gen Hoshino has 5 albums of music to explore (as an aside, you might recognize his music from the first ending of Spy x Family). I’m currently digging into his most recent album, Pop Virus, and it is so, so good. Just the perfect mix of chill vibes and upbeat pop. So not only is Full-Time Wife Escapist a great series, it gave me the gift of this wonderful music!

Anyway…

What have you been watching/reading/playing/eating/listening to lately?

Happy Wednesday! 🙂