S&X Ending Explained: Do Ichito and Yumi End Up Together?

The Japanese show ‘S&X’ presents an eccentric story about a sex therapist, who traverses the societal judgment and ridicule his profession invites to provide the best treatment to his patients. Ichito Shimotori, owner of the Shimotori Clinic, is a sexology expert who isn’t all that interested in the act himself. Yet, despite his own repulsion of sex, he’s dedicated to serving his patients to the best of his abilities. In his line of work, he and his nurse, Yuta, navigate through common problems, including erectile dysfunction and sex addiction, to relatively novel issues like virtual sex, fictional attraction, and more. However, when the doctor’s path crosses with Yumi Ichinose, an old friend, his own hidden complications with sex and sexual relationships begin to arise. Thus, in time, his past, a well-kept secret, begins to unravel. SPOILERS AHEAD.

S&X Recap

Ichito Shimotori’s job as a sex therapist tends to frequently raise a few eyebrows for a multitude of reasons. Nevertheless, he remains earnestly dedicated to his job, going to great lengths to diagnose the root of his patients’ sexual problems and helping them overcome them. One night, after a rather unsuccessful session with Sena Hayama, an unfaithful married woman who is addicted to sex, the therapist bumps into someone familiar on the road. This person is Yumi Ichinose, Ichito’s childhood friend, who is now a field reporter. Since their teenage years, the two have grown estranged. Their chance meeting compels the reporter to reignite their friendship and extend a dinner invitation. However, something holds Ichito back from re-entering Yumi’s orbit. As a result, he ends up blocking her number. Afterward, he pays a visit to Sion, his own sex therapist.

As it turns out, Ichito has a tense relationship with sex himself. In fact, he decided to pursue this field because he hates the act and is repulsed by it. His aversion to sex prevents him from forming any deep and romantic bonds with others, which is why he is reluctant to let Yumi back into his life. Nonetheless, the reporter eventually shows up at his door once he continues ignoring her attempts to contact him. Around the same time, Ichito treats another patient, 17-year-old Mio, who seems to have only a sexual interest in a fictional anime character. Through this case, the therapist realizes that connections can be made in a myriad of ways that don’t necessarily have to include physical intimacy. Consequently, he decides to give in to his feelings for Yumi and pursue their connection. Nonetheless, things go south when he gets triggered by an old memory in the middle of hooking up with the reporter.

This encounter introduces some friction in the couple’s relationship, which they both discuss with their sex therapist, who unbeknownst to them is the same woman: Sion. Moreover, the latter is actually in cahoots with Dean Toyahara, another academic who seems to have a distaste for Ichito and the entire sexology department. Meanwhile, Yumi struggles with being taken seriously at work, where her public perception as an innocent young woman continues to influence the stories she is permitted to explore. Eventually, she and Ichito clear the air between them and agree to give their relationship another try. However, another crisis soon hits when a stalking reporter captures photographs of them together and leaks them through tabloids. As a result, the news that the beloved reporter is dating a sex therapist spreads like wildfire, bringing the wrong kind of attention to both individuals’ work.

Things become especially complicated when the same reporter seeks out Ichito, eager to snoop into his life. It’s only a matter of time before his invasive investigation strikes a jackpot as he learns about a traumatic event that transpired in the sex therapist’s past. Once Ichito realizes that this incident is about to become fodder for public attention and entertainment, he makes a drastic decision. He knows that the upcoming article will tarnish his reputation and subsequently influence Yumi’s career. Furthermore, he’s worried about being perceived in a different light by her. For the same reason, he decides to pre-emptively break up with the reporter. Though initially heartbroken, Yumi eventually recognizes the real reason behind her ex’s actions. Thus, after a breakthrough with Sion, she decides to confront Ichito regardless of their rapidly unraveling relationship.

S&X Ending: Do Ichito and Yumi End Up Together?

Ichito and Yumi’s relationship seems to be doomed from the very beginning. The latter has issues with the expectation of innocence and purity that society continues to push upon her. On the other hand, the sex therapist has an inherently complicated relationship with sex, which makes him repulsive of the act. As such, there is a disconnect in the nature of both individuals’ relationship with intimacy. This makes it difficult for them to be on the same page, resulting in misunderstandings and eventual distance. Nonetheless, despite the various complications between them, their real problem lies in one foundational issue: lack of communication. Ichito and Yumi were friends while they were in high school together. During this time, the two made plans to meet up at a lantern festival for what could’ve been their first date. However, Ichito never showed up at the festival.

Since then, Yumi has felt abandoned and discarded by the other. As such, even now in her adulthood, she’s worried about being rejected by Ichito, a fear which is only reinforced by his aversion to pursuing a sexual relationship with her. Yet, these fears are founded on just one side of the story. Shortly after the lantern festival, the boy ended up changing schools, and the two drifted apart until fate brought them back together in their adulthood. Therefore, Yumi never knew the real reason behind his absence at the festival. After the reporter publishes the disparaging story about the sex therapist and his past, it paves the way for the reporter to finally learn the truth about that day. In doing so, she also learns the real reasons behind her partner’s sex repulsion. As such, once Ichito and Yumi begin to understand each other better, their problems begin to resolve themselves.

The latter realizes that the road to intimacy has to look different for them as a couple, while the former becomes more comfortable with opening up to his partner. Still, it takes some time for the duo to find their way back to each other following the unraveling of Ichito’s past. The therapist has certain things he needs to work through on his own, while the reporter has her own set of work challenges to overcome. Still, eventually, the two find their way back to each other as Yumi asks Ichito to be an expert feature on her upcoming news program. Afterward, the two decide to visit the lantern festival again together. This marks the start of a new beginning for the couple. The new dose of honesty and transparency between them, paired with Ichito’s ability to work through his past trauma, also allows the pair to pursue a sexual relationship together.

Why Did Ichito Become a Sex Therapist?

From the get-go, Ichito’s profession paints him as something of a black sheep in society. The people around him, including his peers, colleagues, and even the patients themselves, aren’t used to the idea of sex therapy, which casts an eccentric light on the therapist and his clinic. Therefore, his decision to pursue this line of work becomes even more intriguing once it’s revealed that Ichito is actually sex repulsed. In fact, he claims to hate sex entirely. Even more surprisingly, he shares that his hostile feelings towards sex are actually the real reason why he became a sex therapist.

As it turns out, the professional has a taut history with sex and the idea of sexual intimacy. Ichito grew up in a seemingly happy family. His father was a surgeon who seemed to have great love and care for his mother. However, a different reality of his family revealed itself to Ichito on the day of the lantern festival. Before the teenager could meet Yumi, he got a call from his father, who informed him that his mother was missing. As a result, the two went looking for her and eventually arrived at a stranger’s house. Through the window, his father revealed to the kid that his mother is having an affair with another man. Yet, catching his mother’s infidelity wasn’t the worst thing to happen that day.

After this discovery, Ichito’s father walked into the house and cut off his mother’s lover’s penis with a scalpel. The kid remained a witness to this entire encounter through the window. Naturally, this incident left a lasting scar on the teenager’s mind, who grew up to become repulsed by the idea of sex. For the same reason, when Ichito learned about sexology, he was eager to take up the subject. The traumatic event he witnessed as a child ruined his emotional and sentimental connections to the act. However, he wanted to see if he could overcome this repulsion by understanding the logical and biochemical mechanics of sex. Thus, he found himself on the track to becoming a sex therapist.

Initially, this decision was influenced by his convoluted feelings for his parents and his desire to undo the damage they did to his psyche. Yet, over the years, he began to truly care for his work. The eclectic array of patients who visited his clinic made him realize the importance of sex therapy and the good it can do in others’ lives. In fact, he even realizes that his own parents could have avoided their tragic fates if they had such resources open to them. Therefore, by the end, Ichito’s motives towards pursuing this career become more about his commitment to the job and his patients than his own traumatizing past.

Why Did Ichito’s Mother Cheat on Her Father? Why Did His Father Assault the Her Lover?

After the gruesome encounter between Ichito’s father, his mother, and her lover, the kid was swiftly taken out of his parents’ lives. His father went on to serve a prison sentence while his mother was institutionalized on account of the severe traumatization. The brutal day was the last day the son ever saw his mother. As such, he could never learn the truth about why things went down the way they did between his parents. Ichito had always believed that his parents were a perfect couple who loved and cared for one another. Naturally, that day changed this perception, but without any explanations or justification. Once he recounts the events of the day to Yumi, she encourages him to seek out the answers for himself by finally paying his mother a visit.

Unfortunately, for Ichito, by then it’s already too late. Even though his mother is alive, she is currently in a coma that has left her non-verbal and unresponsive. However, he unexpectedly runs into someone else at the mental health facility: Dean Toyahara. Thus, he makes the startling discovery that the older man is a frequent visitor to his mother’s bedside. Apparently, Toyahara used to be a close friend of Ichito’s father. In time, the two drifted apart. However, after he learned of the tragedy and the isolation of his friend’s wife, he began visiting her. This chance encounter gives the sex therapist an opportunity to get a different perspective on his parents’ marriage. As per the Dean, Ichito’s father was a highly perfectionist man. He sought perfection in his work as well as his personal life. Therefore, he began treating his wife as an extension of this same desire for the sublime.

Ichito’s father would dictate his mother’s fashion, her jewelry, and every other aspect of her life. Soon enough, this turned the latter’s life into a gilded cage where she wasn’t allowed control over anything. Thus, her extramarital affair started out as a way to seek some control in an otherwise trapped marriage. Her husband’s reaction to discovering this affair is further proof of his dehumanizing perception of his wife. Ichito believes that his father had the Pygmalion complex, in which he viewed his wife as a doll to be sculpted and designed for his own pleasure. Therefore, he stopped viewing her as a person and only saw her as one of his possessions. For the same reason, in light of the affair’s discovery, he only sought to punish the man who took his wife from him.

Why Was Toyahara Working With Sion?

The revelation that Toyahara has a pre-existing connection to Ichito’s past provides some much-needed context for his actions towards the young man. As an academic, he had held a unique distaste for the young sex therapist and his line of work. Initially, this seems to be a depiction of his own prudish orthodox thinking. In reality, it is actually a manifestation of his concern for the other academic. Toyahara is one of the few people who know the truth about Ichito’s past and the incident that unraveled between his parents. For the same reason, he’s confused by the young man’s decision to pursue sexology, given his traumatic past with sex. Similarly, the Dean’s collaboration with Sion holds a similar motive.

From the beginning, Toyahara has been worried about Ichito’s well-being. For the same reason, he had teamed up with Sion, who reported details of her session with the sex therapist back to him. Admittedly, this whole angle seems a step too ethically ambiguous. If Toyahara is simply a family friend, it doesn’t make sense for him to be so invested in the kid’s life. Likewise, his periodic visits to the mother seem suspicious, especially since he’s Ichito’s father’s estranged best friend. This paves the way for speculation about Toyahara potentially being the lover in the Shimotori family love triangle. In the end, season 1 concludes without any further exploration of his characterization, leaving the nuances of his interest in Ichito ambiguous.