Love You Just as You Are

At thirty, Akira Isomori (Jin Shirasu) is comfortably settled in his exceptionally normal life. A committed salary man, happily married to his novelist wife Sonoko (Yua Shinkawa), Akira has known nothing but the comfortable routine that comes with a five-year marriage and a steady job. But that comfortable life is changed in an instant, the moment his health takes an unexpected turn. Suffering an unbearable headache, Akira is rushed to the hospital where his worst fears are confirmed. Diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, Akira is rushed into surgery but the man who goes into the operating room is not the same as the man who comes out. Diagnosed with a rare medical condition known as “Sex Altering Syndrome”, the only way to save Akira’s life is for him to spend the rest of it as a woman. Finding herself now married to the woman Akira (Natsuna), Sonoko isn’t sure how to handle this sudden and completely unexpected change.  As Sonoko struggles to adjust to her husband’s new appearance, Akira also finds adjusting to life as a woman difficult. Will the love that Akira and Sonoko share be enough to help them overcome this unexpected challenge or will the difficulties of this new life prove to be too much? Based on the manga “Individual Differences” by Kinoko Higurashi, “Love You Just As You Are” is a 2022 Japanese romance drama directed by Daisuke Yamauchi.