Fishbowl Wives – Season 1 Episode 8 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

The Fishbowl Wives

How does Takuya respond to the video footage?

Episode 8 of Fishbowl Wives begins with Masako promising to publish the video of Takuya abusing Sakura unless he agrees to the divorce. She’s going to be representing Sakura from now on and there’s also going to be a restraining order put in place to prevent this happening again.

Takuya’s career is in pieces, and the company is going down. Employees are resigning but Takuya is not leaving without a fight. You see, Sakura is key to the PR image of his company so he requests couple mediation. The divorce won’t be able to go through without both parties agreeing to this first.

While Sakura reluctantly agrees to this, she lends her support to Haruto, telling him she’ll stand by his side whatever he chooses to do regarding his work.

Does Haruto go back to working for his father?

Haruto shows up to see his father and has made a big decision. He’s going to marry Sakura and will do whatever it takes to make that happen. He’s found his true purpose tending for goldfish, something that’s made him feel alive. While working for his father he felt suffocated and trapped.

For Haruto, he’s proud of the work he does given how many happy faces he sees every day. So naturally, he decides not to return to the company. He’s going to stay at the goldfish shop.

What happens at couple mediation? Do Takuya and Sakura get divorced?

Meanwhile, Takuya and Sakura show up at therapy where the former admits he’s sorry for being controlling and lashing out. He admits he genuinely loves Sakura, struggling to hold back tears. He admits he only came to mediation so he could see her but he has no intention of fighting against the divorce.

Takuya is not going to drag this out and take it to court, which could have gotten very messy had he chosen to do that. For Sakura though, he’s worried over what this means and whether Takuya is really, genuinely, sorry.

Sakura shows up at the apartment complex but learns that Takuya has moved out. He’s sold the apartment and the business is failing. Sakura even shows up at the salon and find the place empty, save for Takuya who bitterly retorts that you reap what you sow, realizing his own downfall.

Why does Sakura leave Haruto?

Sakura feels guilty and decides to try and save the business. She does the rounds, meeting various influential business men and women, offering to pay back the debts owed but she doesn’t get anywhere. A lot of these companies have pulled out of doing business with them.

Sakura continues on her crusade but Haruto promises to stand by her side the whole time. Her empathy is one of the things he’s fallen in love with and admits meeting her is one of the best things to ever happen to him. So naturally, the pair end up making love.

In the morning, Sakura laves without saying goodbye, deciding to follow her own happiness before potentially returning later on down the line. For now though, she’s going in pursuit of her own happiness.

How does Fishbowl Wives end?

Two years pass, as we catch up with our various characters. Yuri is pregnant, Tsuta and Noriko are still together, while Saya and Sota are both running again.

Meanwhile, Yuriha has found solitude with her husband but also continues her affair with Momoki behind his back. It’s also revealed here that the shaman is the one who uploaded all the pictures of Sakura and Haruto in the first place.

Both Takuya and Sakura have their own salons now and seem to be doing a lot better. Sakura and Haruto are both thriving alone but there’s undoubtedly an undercurrent of longing. As fireworks explode overhead, Sakura and Haruto watch the display separately. Tellingly though, Sakura happens to do so from Haruto’s beach.

The Episode Review

So this romantic drama bows out with a conclusive chapter that wraps up all these arcs while also doing so in a rather questionable way. Some of these stories – like Yuriho’s cheating – champion the idea of affairs and how it’s good to do this to keep your own relationships healthy. It’s a weird message to send out – and not one that sits entirely well with me.

The Haruto and Sakura situation also bows on a rather contentious note, although Sakura’s empathetic heart goes some way to help understand why she’s helping Takuya who has seemingly turned a corner now and no longer the abuser he once was. We’ll have to wait and see if that actually sticks though.

For now, Fishbowl Wives bows out with a pretty decent final episode, albeit one with a bit of a tonally disparate message about cheating and infidelity.