There are times I wonder about the reasons some filmmakers are considered to be auteurs. The primary one has to be the ability to present any story in a distinctive manner and establish a certain style that is easily recognizable as the work of a specific individual. Hirokazu Kore-eda, for example, is known for taking relatable stories about people and telling those in a minimalist, reflective manner that often becomes an introspection for the viewers. We are, of course, talking about Netflix’s Japanese miniseries Asura here. The very popular novel — by author Kuniko Mukoda — has already been adapted twice, once as a TV series back in 1979 and the other time as a feature film in 2013. Yet, the latest adaptation has a lot of value attached to it, thanks to Kore-eda’s association with it. The Japanese filmmaker, of course, is regarded as one of the greatest in modern-day cinema, and he is no stranger to the TV/web series format either (he made his series debut in 2023 with Netflix’s The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House, which was very well received). His mastery of the craft is on full display with Asura, which might come off as a basic story about infidelity, but there are many layers and intricacies in the plot that Kore-eda has managed to bring out. We’re going to discuss that in detail and also look into whether Takao was really cheating on Makiko or not — which must be the question you have after watching Asura.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In The Show?
Before we start, let me just tell you that I haven’t read the novel, and the entire discussion here is going to be based on what we see in the latest adaptation, so there isn’t going to be any ‘book vs. series’ comparison.
In the year 1979, librarian Takoko hires an investigator, Katsumatato to inquire whether her father, Kotaro, is having an affair or not. Turns out, Kotaro is indeed cheating on his wife, Fuji, with a woman named Tomoko, for at least a decade. He even has a little boy named Shoji with her. Frustrated and disgusted, Takoko breaks the news to her three sisters. Tsunako, the eldest, works as a flower arranger at a restaurant where she is having an affair with the married owner (his wife doesn’t know). Makako, the second sister, is a homemaker married to a man, Takao — they have two teenage children, Yoko and Hiroo. And the youngest, Sakiko, is a waitress who’s in a relationship with aspiring boxer Hide. The sister’s reaction to the terrible news is drastically different. Makiko does not accept it at first by staying in denial — she wouldn’t even look at the photos and documents. Sakiko is okay with it and not bothered by much; in fact, she blames Takoko for snooping in their parents’ private affairs. Tsunako, on the other hand, is just taking it as it is — she doesn’t even mind seeing the photos. Takao, who’s present there, also handles it like his elder sister-in-law and asks everyone to calm down. Takoko and Sakiko end up having a fight.
When the dust settles, though, Tsunako and Makoko collectively decide on behalf of everyone that they’re going to do everything to hide their father’s affair from their mother. It only makes sense given Fuji is an innocent woman, completely devoted to her husband, and she doesn’t need to go through this ordeal at this age. Takoko does not necessarily agree with her two elder sisters but still plays along. Katsumata, meanwhile, develops a crush on Takoko, which eventually gets reciprocated. At the restaurant where Tsunako works, Takao meets Katsumata with the hope of convincing Takoko that he made a mistake with the investigation. That goes in vain as Takako intercepts the meeting. Another confusion is soon created when a random note appears in the newspaper, penned by an anonymous woman whose father is having an affair, and she suspects her husband might also be having one. The sisters point the finger at Makoko, who’s the only one with a husband, but she vehemently denies writing it. All the sisters try their best to hide the newspaper from their parents —especially Fuji— to prevent the family from breaking down into pieces.
It gets eventually clarified that Shoji is not Koratao’s son, but of another man. That doesn’t change the situation much — other than the relief the sisters feel for not having a half-brother. Kotaro is still cheating on his wife, and the situation is getting out of hand. When Shoji has an accident, Kotaro rushes to the hospital and doesn’t return home for a long time. Fuji and the sisters, who have all gathered at their Ikegami home, panic while Takao goes to see what has happened. Again, Tsunako and Makoko get worried when their mother tells them that Sakiko has asked her to meet her privately. While they think that their younger sister might spill the beans to their mother, it is actually Sakiko introducing Hide to Fuji. Makoko also finds out about Tsunako’s affair by the way, and like every other thing, she doesn’t know how to process it. Anyway, you soon realize this is not a story where everything gets fixed — Kotaro ends his affair and turns into a happy- family-dad. It is quietly revealed that Fuji was always aware of her husband’s affair but chose to ignore it. It feels as if she purposefully ignored the whole thing all this while and kept living in a bubble that she created for herself. The bubble is broken when Kotaro himself tells his wife that it’s over between him and Tomoko, as the latter is now marrying another man. However, when Fuji goes to see Tomoko herself , she fails to bear the brunt of it and collapses in front of Makoko.
Fuji dies shortly after, leaving her husband and four daughters behind. It can be concluded that the newspaper note was actually written by her only. Her inability to confront her husband about his affair can very well be considered as the reason for her tragic ending. That’s also one of the central themes of this story — women not being able to do anything about their husbands’ affairs and choosing to live in pain. By no means they should be blamed for that, though—given they are the victims of a patriarchal world which they didn’t wish for. And the Japanese society of 1979 was most definitely not one which you can particularly call ‘progressive’, where women can actually do something about their husband’s adultery.
Four sisters and their many troubles
Unlike many stories that make one particular thing its focal point and build everything else around it, Asura has Kotaro’s affair as a backdrop only — while each of the sisters has their individual issues, all of which are extremely engaging (for the audience) due to solid writing and convincing acting by the cast.
Tsunako’s arc is largely about her affair with the restaurant owner. While it is fundamentally wrong to be in a romantic relationship with a married man without his wife’s knowledge, we do need to consider the fact that Tsunako is extremely lonely. Sure, you can say her sisters are there, but they all have their own lives. And her grown-up son Masiki, who lives elsewhere, has his own as well — we see him briefly with his girlfriend, by the way. Tsunako is still very much aware that she is in the wrong here, and there are many times she tries to end it, but the man appears to be quite persistent. Even after getting caught by his wife — who literally holds Tsunako and her husband at gunpoint (only a toy gun, though) — he chooses to continue the affair. By the end of the story, it becomes very clear that Tsunako is the woman he loves, but it is quite impossible for him to leave his wife. For Tsunako as well, leaving this man appears to be impossible. She even meets another man upon Makiko’s insistence as a potential suitor but bails midway.
Speaking of Makiko, she is clearly her mother’s daughter. By which I mean she’ll do everything other than having a serious conversation with her husband regarding the infidelity, if there’s any. First she makes herself believe that Takao is not cheating on her, and then when she can’t convince herself, she gets obsessed with her husband’s whereabouts to the extent where even Takao is aware of what his wife is doing. Her initial reaction to the news of her father’s cheating also makes total sense, if we are to go by her activity in the show. Not to mention, she is very much insecure about losing her husband and even her kid to a younger, prettier woman. The introduction of Takao’s secretary, Akagi, further fuels the insecurity, and the show does hint at Makiko’s suspicion about her husband actually being true. We’re going to talk about it more later.
Shifting the focus to the younger sisters, Takoko and Sakiko, who are very contrasting in terms of personality, but always at loggerheads with each other. Of course they are like every other pair of siblings who always fight but genuinely care about each other, deep down. Takoko, who has always been the nerd in the family, is awkward and reserved. She has done well academically and landed herself a job at the library —which fits her— but she hasn’t been able to make friends or find love. That has a lot to do with her lack of self-confidence and the belief that she is not good enough. Sakiko, on the other hand, is outgoing and vivacious. Her grades have never been as good as Takoko’s, but she never had a problem getting boys lined up for her. She does like to show off, but that stems from a place where she believes that her sister doesn’t take her seriously and thinks she will never be able to achieve much.
Both Takoko’s and Sakiko’s life situations change as the story progresses. After much struggle, Takoko finds love in Katsumata, which mainly happens thanks to his persistence. Sakiko continues to stay with Hide, in thick and thin. Eventually, when Hide becomes successful, Sakiko finally starts showing off how great her life is. In reality, though, you see how it is actually crumbling down with Hide being erratic and, quite frankly, a bad partner.
Hide, Katsumata, Takao, and Kotaro — the different varieties of men
Asura is certainly about the four sisters — in fact, the show even explains the title where Makao compares them with the spirit of Asura (the term is Indian,; it means disruptive god in this context). But the men in the show are also quite important as their activities directly affect the women. Had Kotaro not cheated, Fuji probably would have had a happier, more content life. There’s no way around it. And it’s not that he has cheated once, as we see Tsunako telling her sisters that their father did it before as well. It is the male privilege and the way of society that allowed Kotaro to go on with his life peacefully while his wife kept suffering. However, we can’t definitively call him a bad man. Because it is also undeniable that he does love the girls. He even cares about Sochi, who is not even his own child. Even after his breakup with Tomoko, he continues to remain in contact with the little boy, who sees him as a father. His commitment towards the kid is nothing but admirable. Kotaro is not a perfect man, but he tries to do the best he can under the circumstances.
The same can’t be said about Hide, though. The first appearance of the guy is quite deceiving, as he comes off as quite humble and good-natured. But success gets to him in a bad way. It also has a lot to do with Sakiko constantly normalizing all the terrible things Hide is doing, including casually cheating with a woman. In an ideal world, Sakiko should have dumped someone like Hide without much thinking. Instead, she ends up having a kid with him, which messes up her life further — practically meaning she can’t leave this man. Hide doesn’t change and keeps getting worse. He never treats Sakiko well, continues to throw tantrums, and even creates a scene at Takiko and Katsumata’s wedding — no wonder Takiko didn’t want Sakiko and Hide there. His ultimate outcome is quite tragic, though, as he collapses during the all-important championship game and ends up in a coma. Sakiko cheating on him with a random stranger is morally wrong for sure, but can you really blame her here? Of course, she is so unlucky that the stranger blackmails her. Thankfully, Takako and Katsumata come to her rescue.
Katsumata has to be the best of the men in the story. He is no alpha, but exactly the kind Takako needs in order to be happy. The man is uncomplicated, which is a rare quality, and so honest that he ends up confessing to Kotaro that he was investigating his affair — and that’s how he met Takako in the first place. The greatest quality of Katsumata (other than being a good investigator) has to be always being there for Takako. His love for her is silent, but also a great example of how action speaks louder than words, at least at times. Contrary to Katsumata, Takao is no saint, and we’re going to talk about that in our final segment.
Did Takao cheat on Makiko?
I really liked how Asura never actually gives a proper answer to the question and leaves us dwelling over it. That is pretty neat storytelling, and Kore-eda should be lauded for pulling it off on screen. Honestly, there are several moments in the show where it does feel like Takao is actually cheating, but then again we have scenes that throttle the same theory. The man jokes about his wife suspecting him of being unfaithful, acts pretty nonchalant when she finally throws the question, and also doesn’t stop himself from remaining close to his secretary, Akagi. These are signs of not cheating. In the final scene, at Akagi’s wedding, we see Makiko telling her husband that she never really believed that he was actually cheating. That confirms that Makiko has finally reached the point where she has decided to stop pursuing the truth.
If you ask me, I will say there’s a chance that Takao did cheat on his wife. Maybe not for a long time, but his closeness to the secretary does hint at that. Also, other than Katsumata, the men in the show walk with a certain amount of privilege that makes them normalize cheating. That has been the case for a long time, and we cannot say for sure that things have changed now, at least in that context. That’s why Kore-eda’s show here is very relevant. Neither does it try to justify infidelity, nor does it try to glorify it. Instead, it just shows what can happen if someone cheats—in many shapes and forms. What you make of that is totally up to you.