Shadow Work

This drama is based on the 2022 novel of the same name by Sano Hiromi, winner of the Edogawa Rampo Prize and author of Dareka ga Kono Machi de, which was previously adapted into the WOWOW drama series.
 
The story depicts the “ultimate sisterhood” formed by wives suffering from domestic violence, who, at the end of despair, find a way to survive together.
 
The protagonist is Noriko, a housewife who has lost her sense of self after years of daily domestic abuse from her husband, to the point where she believes that the violence is her own fault.
After fleeing to a hospital, she encounters a mysterious figure. Guided by this person, she begins living in a shared house on Enoshima with other women who have suffered the same kind of abuse.
As Noriko slowly regains her true self and rediscovers a richer life, she eventually comes face-to-face with a secret rule that governs the house.

This movie is another adaptation based on the novel by Sano Hiromi. In 2025, a drama adaptation was released with a different cast on WOWOW.
 
Set in a traditional Japanese house nestled by the sea, this enigmatic shelter known as “Ouchi” takes in women who have suffered abuse at the hands of spouses or parents. Within its walls, a tense crime thriller unfolds, where a creeping sense of unease calls everything into question.
 
Noriko fled her husband, who subjected her to daily abuse. Lost in despair, she was offered a lifeline by Michiko, a nurse at the hospital where she was admitted. Michiko brought her to a quiet, secluded facility tucked away on the outskirts of Miura Beach — a shelter for women who had survived violence at the hands of spouses or parents. The women who lived there named it “Ouchi. (Our Home)”
 
Life inside followed strict rules, yet the days were calm and sheltered. But before long, Noriko began to sense that something was not quite right. Meanwhile, Kaoru, a detective investigating a mysterious case, was closing in on the secrets of “Ouchi.”