{ "id": "epydwsnhv7", "slug": "lets-get-divorced", "title": "Let's Get Divorced (離婚しようよ)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_international_serials", "label": "International serial drama and telenovelas", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_international_serials" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia", "label": "East Asian drama series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials", "label": "East Asian web and streaming serials", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials.alpha-iv-to-my", "label": "Titles Iv to My", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials.alpha-iv-to-my" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials", "label": "Asia (other) · 2021 and later: East Asian web and streaming serials", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2021", "label": "Asia (other) · 2021 and later", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2021" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2021.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2021.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2021.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2021.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2021.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2021.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_international_serials", "label": "International serial drama and telenovelas", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_international_serials" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia", "label": "East Asian drama series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials", "label": "East Asian web and streaming serials", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Let's Get Divorced (離婚しようよ) is a 2023 nine-episode Japanese Netflix comedy from TBS Sparkle, co-written by Kudo Kankuro and Oishi Shizuka, starring Tori Matsuzaka and Riisa Naka as a politician-actress couple trying to divorce; it topped Netflix Japan and reached the global non-English top ten.", "snippet": "Let's Get Divorced (離婚しようよ) is a 2023 nine-episode Japanese Netflix comedy from TBS Sparkle, co-written by Kudo Kankuro and Oishi Shizuka, starring Tori Matsuzaka and Riisa Naka as a politician-actress couple trying to divorce; it topped Netflix Japan and reached the global non-English top ten.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials.alpha-iv-to-my", "markdown": "# Let's Get Divorced (離婚しようよ)\n\n**Let's Get Divorced** (離婚しようよ) is a 2023 Japanese comedy series for Netflix in which a third-generation politician and his actress wife, five years into a loveless marriage, join forces to get a divorce while the power players who profit from their marriage block them at every turn.[1](https://www.netflix.com/title/81476361) It was produced by TBS Sparkle as TBS's first Netflix original drama, with production copyright held by TBS Television, and began streaming worldwide on June 22, 2023.[2](https://innovation.tbs.co.jp/neo_interview/481/) The screenplay is an unusual co-writing effort by two of Japan's best-known television writers, Kudo Kankuro and Oishi Shizuka.[3](https://about.netflix.com/ja/news/netflix-reveals-main-cast-for-upcoming-japanese-series-lets-get-divorced)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Format | Japanese comedy series, 9 episodes, released June 22, 2023 on Netflix[1](https://www.netflix.com/title/81476361) |\n| Writers | Kudo Kankuro and Oishi Shizuka, co-writing an original story[3](https://about.netflix.com/ja/news/netflix-reveals-main-cast-for-upcoming-japanese-series-lets-get-divorced) |\n| Lead cast | Tori Matsuzaka as politician Taishi Shoji; Riisa Naka as his wife, actress Yui Kurosawa; Ryo Nishikido[1](https://www.netflix.com/title/81476361) |\n| Production | TBS Sparkle's first Netflix original drama; production copyright TBS Television[2](https://innovation.tbs.co.jp/neo_interview/481/) |\n| Performance | First in Japan and tenth among non-English series in Netflix's weekly ranking for June 26 to July 2, 2023[4](https://www.itmedia.co.jp/business/articles/2307/13/news126.html) |\n| Episode length | About 62 minutes on average[5](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/lets-get-divorced) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story and characters\n\nTaishi Shoji, played by Tori Matsuzaka, is a spoiled third-generation Diet member from Ehime with a history of infidelity reports and repeated gaffes; his wife Yui Kurosawa, played by Riisa Naka, is a national actress voted the number one actress men want to marry, whose sweet image hides a sharp tongue.[7](https://www.cinematoday.jp/page/A0008864) The couple, in their fifth year of marriage, decide to divorce, but the scandal and revelations that follow entangle everyone around them, and the farcical separation escalates into a major public commotion.[8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_yeekhhEwI)\n\nThe supporting cast is built around gray characters who are neither purely good nor bad: the capable secretary Saotome who cleans up after Taishi (Omi Toshinori), the scheming veteran politician Sota Go (Koji Yamamoto), the self-styled artist Kyoji (Ryo Nishikido), and Sakurako (Risa Oda), who had an affair with Taishi and then navigates the fallout by positioning herself as the victim.[7](https://www.cinematoday.jp/page/A0008864) Midway through the series, the ambitious Sota declares his candidacy from Ehime's fifth district to take Taishi's seat, and the divorce plot turns into an election story.[9](https://filmarks.com/dramas/11451/15879) Because so many people benefit from the marriage, the couple must work together to reach their goal of divorcing.[1](https://www.netflix.com/title/81476361)\n\n## Origin of the project\n\nThe plan began around 2019 to 2020, when the TBS division handling distribution business was arranging a joint Netflix and TBS production and asked producer Isoyama Akira to submit an internal proposal. She recalled feeling that, having been asked directly, she had to get the pitch accepted.[2](https://innovation.tbs.co.jp/neo_interview/481/)\n\nThe divorce theme came from Kudo himself. When Isoyama first approached him hoping for a love story, he replied that an ordinary romance ending in mutual affection would be difficult to write, but that he would want to write about a couple with a bad relationship, pointing to the Netflix film *Marriage Story*, which follows a couple through the divorce process, as the kind of subject that suited him.[2](https://innovation.tbs.co.jp/neo_interview/481/) Isoyama then decided that a cynical, cool, realistic female perspective was needed, and invited Oishi Shizuka to join the project.[2](https://innovation.tbs.co.jp/neo_interview/481/)\n\nThe title itself is a riff on Yoshida Taro's well-known song \"Kekkon Shiyou Yo\" (\"Let's Get Married\"), a deliberately cheeky inversion that signals the show is not a pure, sentimental story.[6](https://www.cinematoday.jp/news/N0137501)\n\n## Writing method and style\n\nThe two writers worked in what has been called the \"Kudo Shizuka\" style: rather than dividing episodes between them, they wrote scene by scene, trading small pieces back and forth. The result leans toward Oishi's taste in story structure, roughly six or seven parts to her credit by one critic's estimate, while the direction carries more of Kudo's sensibility.[10](https://numero.jp/20230724-flip-side-of-the-news-49/)\n\nThe show was pitched from the start as a home comedy rather than a serious divorce drama, and its promotion adopted a tabloid-scoop framing. Critics noted that it plays the divorce farce with a fairly black comedic tone, exploiting the scandalous register that Netflix originals favor, and that its nine episodes of about an hour each are easy to start watching.[7](https://www.cinematoday.jp/page/A0008864)\n\n## Reception\n\nThe series was a hit in Japan and abroad. It held the number one spot in Netflix Japan's daily TV ranking for eight days as of July 6, 2023, and entered the weekly global top ten for non-English series at tenth place; TBS also reported popularity in Hong Kong and Taiwan.[7](https://www.cinematoday.jp/page/A0008864) • [4](https://www.itmedia.co.jp/business/articles/2307/13/news126.html) It was the third drama TBS had produced for Netflix.[4](https://www.itmedia.co.jp/business/articles/2307/13/news126.html) On JustWatch it holds a user rating of 6.6 from 546 votes.[5](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/lets-get-divorced) Viewer reviews in Japan singled out the comic performances, the election storyline that turns unexpectedly stirring, and the contrast with older home comedies: where Showa-era family comedies resolved inside the closed space of the living room, this series shows family problems instantly becoming social problems.[11](https://eiga.com/drama/series/rikon/review/) • [9](https://filmarks.com/dramas/11451/15879)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Let's Get Divorced, Netflix](https://www.netflix.com/title/81476361)\n2. [TBS Innovation Land: Interview with TBS drama producer Isoyama Akira on the birth of the Netflix drama 離婚しようよ](https://innovation.tbs.co.jp/neo_interview/481/)\n3. [About Netflix: Netflix reveals main cast for upcoming Japanese series Let's Get Divorced](https://about.netflix.com/ja/news/netflix-reveals-main-cast-for-upcoming-japanese-series-lets-get-divorced)\n4. [ITmedia Business Online: 離婚しようよ ranks first in Japan and tenth worldwide, a first for TBS](https://www.itmedia.co.jp/business/articles/2307/13/news126.html)\n5. [JustWatch: Let's Get Divorced (2023)](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/lets-get-divorced)\n6. [Cinema Today: The title of 離婚しようよ was inspired by Yoshida Taro's famous song](https://www.cinematoday.jp/news/N0137501)\n7. [Cinema Today: What makes 離婚しようよ interesting? Trending on Netflix](https://www.cinematoday.jp/page/A0008864)\n8. [Netflix Japan YouTube: official series trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_yeekhhEwI)\n9. [Filmarks: 離婚しようよ drama information and reviews](https://filmarks.com/dramas/11451/15879)\n10. [Numero TOKYO: The drama 離婚しようよ becomes a worldwide hit](https://numero.jp/20230724-flip-side-of-the-news-49/)\n11. [Eiga.com: 離婚しようよ reviews](https://eiga.com/drama/series/rikon/review/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › East Asian web and streaming serials › Titles Iv to My*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/lets-get-divorced", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/lets-get-divorced.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Let's Get Divorced (離婚しようよ)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/lets-get-divorced. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Let's Get Divorced (離婚しようよ)](https://www.edgepedia.org/lets-get-divorced)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/lets-get-divorced](https://www.edgepedia.org/lets-get-divorced). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Let's Get Divorced (離婚しようよ)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/lets-get-divorced. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Let's Get Divorced is a 2023 nine-episode Japanese Netflix comedy from TBS Sparkle, co-written by Kudo Kankuro and Oishi Shizuka, starring Tori Matsuzaka and Riisa Naka as a politician-actress couple trying to divorce; it topped Netflix Japan and reached the global non-English top ten." }