Artificial Beauty (2002): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 2002, Artificial Beauty is a drama series.

What it’s about. Honami Saotome seems to have the ideal life, working as a fashion model. Behind her perfect face is an unfortunate girl who born into a family that has a long history of "the ugly bug". Since childhood, she was bullied for being ugly, and to start a new life, she decides to have plastic surgery on her entire body. Nobody knows that behind her glamorous lifestyle, there is a girl afraid that her secret may be found out, or that her face may fall apart. Though Honami has the inner strength of never giving up, her arrogance of doing anything for her own happiness is just too much. Meanwhile, Ryusui Fujishima is the heir to a grand master of flower arrangement, whose philosophy is, "flower arrangement starts from hating flowers". He is the man who values essence more than appearance, whether it's flowers or people. He is then attracted not to Honami's looks, but to her tough and bold personality: like a wild flower growing between rocks.

Who’s in it. Artificial Beauty stars Ryoko Yonekura as Honami Saotome, Manami Konishi as Isaki Fujishima, Kippei Shiina as Ryusui Fujishima and Haruhiko Kato as Ryohei Takeda, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 9.0/10, Artificial Beauty sits among the best-reviewed titles in the catalogue.

Where to watch. Streaming options change often. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Artificial Beauty page.

If you liked it. Fans of Artificial Beauty tend to enjoy Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and Attack on Titan.