Two best friends, one unspoken love triangle, zero confrontations — Japanese restraint at its most devastating.
Season 2 • Episode 5
LatestSenkichi Mizuta, a pharmaceutical company employee, and Shuzo Kadokura, a war profiteer, are diametrically opposed in appearance and personality, but are best friends. Kadokura secretly loves Mizuta's wife, Tami, and both Mizuta and Tami are aware of it. The drama depicts the subtle relationship between the two men and the people around them against the backdrop of the times and customs of the early Showa period, in which both are aware of each other's love, but no one speaks of it.
Writing
Mukoda's dialogue: what's said vs. unsaid, masterfully cruel.
Acting
Frankie Sakai's face does three acts of tragedy in one glance.
Creator
Kuniko Mukoda
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The title 'A-Un' references the open-mouthed 'a' and closed-mouthed 'un' Buddhist guardian statues — perfectly capturing the series' dynamic of visible vs. hidden emotion.
Kuniko Mukoda was Japan's queen of TV drama before her tragic 1981 plane crash; this remains her most formally daring work.
JP
