30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii (2020)

A hilarious and poignant rom-com with a dash of the supernatural.

A hilarious and poignant rom-com with a dash of the supernatural. A selfless devoted love confronts a good natured guy suffering from indecisiveness and low self esteem. But being loved and supported so completely helps him grow as a person. He gradually becomes courageous enough to break out of his cocoon and confront his own true feelings. A serious story presented in a hilarious manner, which is actually quite difficult.
I love how sensitively the director portrays the persistent nature of low self esteem. There is this scene where the character realizes that he is the center of attention and everyone around actually has feelings for him, but instead of thinking of himself as a stud, he still manages to find flaws with himself.
Looking forward to a happy ending. Don't miss it if you are bl fan and tuck it in the bookmark section to watch it again in future. Will bring a smile on your face on a sad day!

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Probably the best live action japanese comedies from a manga

Its hard not to give this a 10 across the board because the show is just lighthearted fun. The writing is excellent and far outshines most other Japanese comedies that came from a manga (I'm guessing this is from a bl manga comedy because of the absurd story premise). It is funny and the main story so far has not veered into cringe comedy, which I greatly appreciate. The secondary character and secondary storyline does veer into painfully cringe worthy behavior but the character is aware that he is acting link an idiot and questioning his own behavior and that saves it from being too painful i think, and gives a little more empathy for the character. I honestly have been totally unaware of the music because i was so wrapped up in the story, which is oddly compelling. I started watching with supper and ended up watching all available episodes that night. I wish I'd seen more comedies like this. Most manga storylines seem to translate well into anime, but look painful played as a drama. This shows that if done carefully, even a ridiculously absurd story can be made into an excellent and fun live action drama. Its funny and charming.

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I loved it, love it and will love it. My 2nd favorite RomCom drama of the year. Pure, funny, cute, romantic, what is not to love?? This drama gives me the same vibes as Yuri on Ice and Kimi ni Todoke: (A) Adachi=Yuri/Sawako and (B) Kurosawa=Victor/Kazehaya.

- A sees B as a hero, respects him, thinks B is amazing.
- B is crazy about A
- A has self-esteem issues, is also shy
- B encourages A to do things
- A thinks lowly of himself/herself, but actually many people is there to support him/her
- B may be the sun, but A is someone we need to protect at all cost

I love A, my adopted baby <3

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Enjoyed it a lot

Kurosawa and Adachi, such a cute couple not to mention such eye candies :-)

Machida Keita and Akaso Eiji portrayed their characters really well - the cool Kurosawa and adorkable Adachi. Kurosawa’s subtle happy face whenever Adaji is the first to initiate was so cute, the little expressions conveys his feelings.

The drama was focused on their love story, from the surprised discovery to their promise to be together. There was some drama mixed into all the cuteness which made the feelings more realistic.

I enjoyed the drama and am rooting for Kurosawa and Adachi’s happy ever after.

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Magical Touch

So this is the first JDrama that I have actually enjoyed.

The storyline was pretty different then any normal BL, out of nowhere. Surprising us with its wholesome and refreshing original plotline. This is a story about an introverted sales man who was just going with the flow of life and not much caring about love thus stayed as a virgin. and it was also kind of funny, (wonder what what it would like to have that kind touch). I did find Adachi, kind of funny in a very cute way and, Kurosawa, and his intense crush on him, refreshing and extremely hilarious.
I like how Kurosawa always thinks of Adachi, and makes his first experiences in everything a special memory.
Adachi is someone we all can relate to especially us introverts. He looks down on himself, lacks confidence, and always gives up fighting for himself and others when needed., Where else Kurosawa is completely opposite of Adachi. He is an extrovert person and the most popular guy in the office. He is a perfectionist in whatever he does. However, when it comes to Adachi he loses his calms and his confidence wavers. All he wants is to stay beside Adachi and make him smile. Kurosawa will be happy and content as long as Adachi is happy and stay beside him even if as colleagues but that's going to change very soon though.

The best thing about this drama is that all the characters no matter how small or big their role is very much like real life. All of us can relate to them in our life personally.

My only downside to this drama is that we never got to see there first kiss and see the expression on Adachi or Kurosawa expressions, and this for me was a bit of let down, and after building up and seeing how each developed and what was going through each of there minds it would have been nice to see this.

Overall: For me, the character development was so good. Adachi overcoming his fear of losing his power and mingling with people, understanding people without his power showed huge character development! Finally, Kurosawa can have his sweet life with Adachi. A Cherry Magic effect indeed!!!

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My standard for Romance is ruined

Re-watched each ep more than a dozen of times (except ep11... too painful). Perfect casting, OST, story, comedy and romance. The chemistry btw Eiji and Eita <3, the secondary characters, the comedy, the little details... top notch. Super romantic, Kurosawa is a man to swoon for and Adachi a cutie to protect. I am a fan of MM romances where we have a man who loves to adore and take care of his loved one, and the other who deserves to be spoiled, so this was right up to my alley.

People complain about the lack of skinship and that is homophobic... if words, actions and eyes that express love is not enough then I don't know what it is. I prefer a good storytelling than awkward kisses, and the story here was the most romantic I've seen in Asian dramas.

If I have to complain about one thing, it would be the actor who played Minato, but for his looks only. Because he looks like a teenager, Tsuge is the most hated :( I wish a different actor for Minato was chosen...

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Simple Magic

I had high expectations going into Cherry Magic because I've heard so much about it. However, it left me with some mixed feelings. For the most part, I enjoyed it, but I don't think it quite lived up to the hype. The premise of the story was interesting and was pretty well done, I liked the characters and the fact there wasn't a villain, but the pace lagged towards the end and things started feeling repetitive. Even so, I found it to be a pleasant enough experience watching it.

I liked the story premise, though I can safely say it is, regrettably, not true. The way people's internal thoughts were portrayed, while not accurate, was still well done. The thought processes were too linear and too conversation like to be realistic, in my opinion, but within the story it worked to get what was needed across. I do think more could have been done with it. Adachi seemed to struggle more with the morality of his gift, while I feel like responding to people's thoughts instead of what they said would have been a challenge as well. We see that touched on twice, but only with Kurosawa and only towards the end of the drama. I think it would have been interesting to explore that aspect more. I also would have liked to have seen more of Adachi's life after he no longer had his gift and the change that created. Lastly, though not a huge deal, I didn't necessarily appreciate the kiss baiting between Adachi and Kurosawa. There are multiple moments where they are about to kiss, but something always interrupts and in the end, we never actually see them properly kiss. There was a fairly good distribution of humor and serious moments. There's more humor earlier on and then it gradually turns more serious though still with enough levity to keep things balanced. There is absolutely no judgement towards any of the characters being gay. While Fujisaki is the only one at work who is aware of Adachi and Kurosawa's relationship to any degree, outside of that, there's never any indication that they or Tsuge and Minato I did like the relationship development between Kurosawa and Adachi. Though that was part of what got a bit repetitive and slow towards the end, it held strong for the majority of the drama. Tsuge and Minato's relationship was less well developed and seemed a bit more implausible given their very limited access and knowledge of each other, but was still cute. The pacing was inconsistent. This drama is a slow burn, which I don't mind at all, but slow burn dramas needs to have steady pacing to keep the viewer from getting bored. And unfortunately the pacing here started to lag a little over halfway through and didn't pick up again until the last two episodes. It didn't feel like much was happening during those episodes and some aspects started to feel repetitive. At that point, the focus was starting to turn towards Adachi feeling a moral dilemma regarding his gift and what advantages it might be giving him. Outside those scenes though, a lot of what transpired felt unnecessary and didn't contribute much to the story or, like I said before, felt like a rehash of past scenes.

The characters were all fairly solid, again, I liked that there wasn't a villain and it was more a focus on dealing with our internal demons. One aspect that I particularly liked was the use of Fujisaki. I'm so used to BL dramas making poor use of their female characters or making them into the villain that it was a pleasant surprise to have a woman portrayed in a positive light.
-Adachi was a favorite character probably because he was the one I could most identify with. He's socially awkward, shy, self-conscious, and a bit of a wallflower. He struggles to see his own worth and positive aspects of himself. That is until his gift kicks in and he starts connecting with his colleague Kurosawa and discovers that Kurosawa likes him. His character growth is gradual but well done as he slowly gains confidence in himself and learns to step outside his comfort zone. He has a symbiotic relationship with Kurosawa beyond just their love for each other. Kurosawa is able to be himself around Adachi while Adachi learns from Kurosawa and is encouraged by him. Adachi finds his new gift to be both a benefit and a curse. From the beginning Adachi was shown to be unobtrusive, comfortable in his shell, however, he was also shown to be kind. Maybe not overtly, but he's attentive in his work and helpful where he can be. Once he finds that he can hear people's thoughts, though he doesn't generally go out of his way do so, when he does hear someone's thoughts and he has a way of helping them, he does so. And it's not just Kurosawa, though he does go more out of his way to assist him. But with Tsuge, Rokkaku and Fujisaki, he does his best to help them as well, often stepping outside his comfort zone to do so. Eventually though he begins to question the morality of his gift and if it's really okay for him to have the access to people's thoughts that he has and whether that gives him an unfair advantage. It comes to a head when he impulsively uses what he heard to help him in a work competition. Whether using his knowledge is cheating is left up to the viewer, but Adachi believes that he has. This event coupled with hearing about several surprises that Kurosawa has for him, eventually leads him to a breaking point and he tells Kurosawa about his gift before they end up breaking up. That is, until he finally realizes that he truly does love Kurosawa and want to be with him, regardless.
-Kurosawa is the golden boy. He's attractive, he's smart, and he's well liked, but we come to discover that he pushes himself to maintain a facade of perfection not only because that's what expected of him, but also to prove that he's not just a pretty face. He's attracted to Adachi because Adachi sees beyond what he projects and actually sees him and appreciates him. As they begin to interact more and he gets to know Adachi better, what started as something more akin to a crush blossoms into love. The positive aspects that many people miss about Adachi and that Adachi doesn't notice himself are seen by Kurosawa and appreciated. Kurosawa is conscious of Adachi's moods and behaviour and works to make him comfortable all the while wanting more. He's careful to not cross the line, no matter how much he wants to and he's very respectful of Adachi. He becomes a support for Adachi, building his confidence and helping him as he can, but also slowly learns that he can rely on Adachi as well and find equal footing. When he finds out about Adachi's gift, he's not judgmental or accusatory, instead he again puts things in Adachi's hands and let's him take the lead, even if that means he gets hurt. And in the end, he reveals that he doesn't think ill of Adachi for hiding his gift, but is instead grateful for where it brought them. He's just such a pure character and you have to really appreciate him.
-Tsuge is Adachi's friend from college and they are similar in many ways. Tsuge is also an introvert who doesn't like to step outside his comfort zone and is socially awkward. Despite being a virgin himself, he writes romance novels, and is the person Adachi initially goes to for advice when his gift manifests. Tsuge doesn't believe him, at least not until he hits his own 30th birthday and has the same gift. Tsuge is an interesting character because he looks very scholarly and put together, but he's actually a bit haphazard and his reactions are very over the top, amusingly so. His initial reaction when he meets Minato isn't exactly favorable, until he hears his thoughts and starts to fall for him. For Tsuge, he has to overcome his own perceptions of his self-worth and learn to communicate. His growth is quicker than Adachi's, necessarily so since he isn't a central character, but it is still present, and despite entering into a relationship with Minato and starting to learn how to be in a relationship, he is still very much himself. He doesn't change for Minato, they simply learn to coexist.
-Minato isn't given a whole lot of background and he remains a bit of an enigma throughout. He's on the younger side and we know he likes cats, wants to make it as a dancer, and is gay. That's about it. I would have liked to see him developed more and known more about him. His feelings for Tsuge and how they developed are relatively vague. He things Tsuge's a good person for rescuing Udon, but what more there might be is pretty much left in the dark. Nevertheless, I liked his character and thought he was good for Tsuge, pulling him out in the world more and exposing him to different experiences. We don't get as much of an impression on what he gets from Tsuge other than likely someone more mature, in age at least, and stable as well as encouragement as Tsuge doesn't find Minato's dreams foolish and supports him.
-Rokkako was adorable and unpredictable, I never knew what to expect from him. While he seems like he's good at his job, he's not as wise when it comes to interpersonal relationships and reading social cues. I was initially a bit wary of him, wondering if he was going to prove to be romantic competition for either Adachi or Kurosawa, but he quickly proved to be just a generally very decent guy, if a bit of a dope at times, though an adorable one. I liked how he admired both Adachi and Kurosawa and looked up to both of them. I also appreciated his loyalty to Minato and the way he was willing to fight Tsuge. That bein said he is a bit of a hothead and once he gets something in his head, he tends to run with it. Still, nothing he does is meant maliciously and I really enjoyed his character.
-Fujisaki was the lone supporting female character, but she brought a lot to the table. Initially introduced as a possible love interest for Adachi by his supervisor, she instead becomes a friend and supporter. Her thoughts reveal that she likes Adachi, though based on the interpretation I saw, it seems that like is as a person, not romantically. Adachi's initial support of her leads to a greater friendship between the two and she is seen acting as a support for Adachi later on and a bit of an advisor for Kurosawa. Unlike Rokkaku, she is perceptive and she can read the signs between Adachi and Kurosawa and she fully supports them, even orchestrating a firework show for them there at the end when the real event is cancelled. I loved her character and found her to be such a sweet soul.

The acting was quite good all around. Akaso and Machida had a subtle chemistry that really worked for their characters. It was quiet, comfortable, but also obviously not any kind of buddy chemistry. And the buildup of it was portrayed very nicely. Individually, I thought they both did a good job. Akaso's reactions as Adachi tended to be more over the top than Machida's but it didn't feel silly unless it was supposed it. He brought a good balance to the role. Machida was very steadfast as Kurosawa but he wasn't boring. He was consistent throughout and remained engaged regardless of the scene of what he was doing. Asaka was similarly over the top in portraying Tsuge, though his was certainly played more for laughs. He did it well though and despite the fact it was comedic and exaggerated, it didn't feel overdone. He also had a good balance of portraying the bookish author who tended to overreact. Yutaro was good as Minato even though he didn't get as much screen time. He brought a certain boyish innocence while at the same time showing that he wasn't naive. He had good chemistry with Asaka and they played off of each other well.

Japanese production is always a bit hit or miss for me. I don't always love the lighting choices, it can come across as a bit dark and gloomy to me, and the sets can have a sameness to them that just blend with other dramas. Cherry Magic, however, had a pretty decent balance with the lighting and with the office setting, it worked. While I didn't find the sets to be anything extraordinary, there were some aspects, mostly with Adachi's room that made it feel a bit more personal. I liked the opening and closing music, but didn't find them to be anything spectacular, although they fit well with the credits. I did, however, really like the visuals of both credits. The opening credits had an almost ethereal quality to them and I really appreciated the artistry of it. I would have liked to seen more of that quality in the drama as well, but you can't have everything. The ending credits gave a very comfortable and warm vibe, that I also appreciated.

I mostly watched Cherry Magic in anticipation of the Thai version that's currently being filmed. I wanted to get a feel for the story and characters as I find it interesting how various countries tell the same story differently and alter aspects of the plot and characters. Despite the fact that it didn't live up to the hype, I enjoyed this drama. The story was interesting and kept me invested for the most part and I really enjoyed the characters and their development. This is a drama I would recommend and while I don't know if I will watch it again, I do consider it worth the watch.

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the best bl drama ever!!!

this thing needs a season 2!!! like you wont get enough of it. Even though the main didn't really kissed, their love is soo powerful that even a hug is like seeing a kiss and the supporting couple are soo cute with their ups and down. Overall, if you don't watch this your leaving under a rock cause its not like other bl drama. PLEASE WATCH ITT!!!!

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DONT MIND THIS JUST TRIYING TO FILL UP SPACE :)

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PAY MY THERAPY

This is one of these series that i love but at the same time i hate. But why i hate it? well, this show really makes me sad, cause it's such a pure and beaultiful story, the kind of story that i want to live myself, you know? and sometimes i think "well, it's just a drama, not real life" but sometimes i also think "that's not impossible, i want to be loved like this", and then i actually goes through a existential crisis, i think things like "will i ever be loved by someone" and that kind of shit, which makes me really sad, but yeah, this review is to talk about the show, not about my teenager insecurities haha so, the show is one of the best i've ever seen in my life, really, i would watch it a million times. 10 out of 10.

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Must watch

A healthy adult relationship sprinkled with a little magic.
It's a classic "popular kid x unpopular kid" story, and I'm a sucker for well executed clichés :D The developement of feelings seemed gradual and to do that in the limited about of time this show has is really worth mentioning.

What I really liked is that the BL aspect didn't feel f*tishized or idolized but simply natural. I have been watching my fair share of BL's and I seem to prefer the more realistic/slice of life portayal of LGBTQ+ relationships. While I did wish they had a real kiss, I didn't miss it at all as the show felt complete even without it.

I really enjoyed every minute of it and can see this becoming a comfort drama for me :)

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