Aahana Swrup
‘Soul Mate’ is a Japanese romance drama series in which a pivotal meeting defines the trajectory of two men’s lives over the course of a decade. When college-level ice hockey player, Ryu, arrives in Berlin for a vacation, it’s to run away from a tragedy back home. Although Johan doesn’t know it yet, the Korean boxer is similarly on the perpetual run from the harsher truths of life. In the foreign city, the two men collide fatefully and end up changing each other’s lives in the span of a few short days. As a result, they decide to stay in touch afterward, even as they return to their own countries. As life continues to evolve, so does their connection, until they’re once again brought together, this time with deliberate intent. Even so, despite setting down the foundation for a future together, Ryu and Johan aren’t immune to the fickle mercuriality of life. Thus, their fate together remains on a precarious balance. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Johan and Ryu Build a Life Together in Tokyo
Johan and Ryu’s meeting in Berlin is as cinematic as it is fateful. The two meet at a church confessional booth that the hockey player visits out of guilt and the boxer out of curiosity. Shortly after the former’s confession, the building is set on fire, plunging into disaster. Riddled with remorse and grief over Arata’s suicide attempt, Ryu almost goes down with the Church fire. Nonetheless, despite barely knowing the other man, Johan feels enough of a pull towards him to pull him out of the fiery tendrils and towards safety. However, it isn’t until Ryu unwittingly ends up at a boxing match, with Johan as one of the opponents, that a connection actually takes hold between the duo. The time they spend in Berlin unlocks something in both protagonists, allowing them to return to their lives with a new perspective, as well as the other’s phone number.
This launches Ryu and Johan into a long-distance friendship. The latter briefly visits the now-former hockey player in Japan, where the two spend a couple of days together, strengthening their meaningful bond and integrating into each other’s lives. Even though Johan has to serve his mandatory military time afterward, by then their friendship has become strong enough to survive the discrepancies in geography. Shortly thereafter, a personal transgression against the former boxer makes it impossible for him to stay in his hometown without inviting widespread homophobia and social exclusion. This almost pushes Johan into a life of isolation and condemnation. Nonetheless, Ryu manages to show up just in time to save his friend from himself. In the end, he invites the other man to return with him to Tokyo, where the two can stay by each other’s side and build a home together.
A Tragedy Compels Johan to Walk Out on Ryu
In Tokyo, Johan moves into Ryu’s apartment and starts a new chapter in his life. He begins studying for the entrance exams at a Japanese college and prepares to apply for a teaching position at a Korean school. The two men create a domestic routine together in which the days end with Ryu’s return from his nursing job to home-cooked meals from his partner as the two take comfort in each other’s reliable company. Ryu’s parents become Johan’s new family, and his friends, Seiichi and Sumiko, become integral parts of the other man’s life. For the same reason, when Seiichi dies in an unfortunate car accident, leaving his wife alone and with an unborn child, Johan extends the invitation for Sumiko to move in with them.
When Sumiko’s daughter, Kanau, is born, she’s welcomed into a family with one mother and two additional guardians who both love her like their own kid. For months, this remains Ryu and Johan’s new normal. Alongside their respective relationships with Sumiko and Kanau, their own dynamic also continues to grow and flourish, settling into a quiet but unmistakable romantic partnership. However, misfortune eventually knocks on the couple’s door. Johan gets diagnosed with a terminal, incurable disease that will paralyze his body in time. The diagnosis promises a long future of expensive, time-consuming, and emotionally taxing treatment with no real cure promised at the end. Therefore, in order to save Ryu from the same, Johan makes an impossible choice. He makes the other man believe he has found someone else, another man he wants to spend his life with, and walks away from the home the two have built in their time together.
Johan and Ryu Find Their Way Back to Each Other Despite Their Doomed Future
After Johan’s abandonment, Ryu is left alone and without any clear answers. Still, life goes on, and the latter continues to move forward with it. He continues to be Sumiko’s best friend and a reliable parental figure in young Kanau’s life. When the COVID-19 pandemic hits, the duo moves back to Ryu’s parents’ house, where they stick with their careers and grow as a unique family. Even though nothing romantic ever happens between the two best friends, they realize that a legal marriage would be the best way to ensure Ryu gets to stay in Kanau’s life and retain parental rights without any troubles. For the same reason, they decide to get married. A strange thing happens during this time, when he happens upon a comic apparently written by Johan, which brings back a flood of old memories and open wounds. Around the same time, Sumiko shares some life-changing news with her best friend.
As it turns out, Johan’s sister, Sua, has reached out to Sumiko recently to share the truth about her brother’s diagnosis. Meanwhile, Johan remains in hospice care in Berlin. His paralysis has set in, and he’s waiting to live out the last few days of his life. As a last goodbye, he employs his nurse’s help to film a video for Ryu, recounting their story and sharing his honest feelings. Even though he had chosen to spare his partner the pain of seeing him fade away, he couldn’t help but wish that he could have spent his dying days with him. Fortunately for him, Ryu hasn’t given up on him just yet, regardless of their years-long estrangement. After learning about his terminal illness from Sua, Ryu arrives in Berlin, where he finally reunites with the other man. In the end, Johan’s days are numbered. Still, the two men decide to spend them together, sealing the end of their bittersweet love story.
Read More: Soul Mate: Are Johan and Ryu Gay? Are They in Love?
