This drama is the best j-drama I've ever seen. I love how unique (in a good way) this drama is. It's such an adorable, innocent, fluffy, beautiful and intriguing watch that holds your anticipation from start to finish. It had me grinning away to myself, and then I'm welling up the next minute. Don't let those fuwa-fuwa adjectives fool you though, there's also an underlying psychological theme and moments of intense emotions.
The acting - from the main roles to the sub roles - is perfect. I loved the side characters and their stories as much as I did the main characters. The characters are so well-developed. The music fits with each mood. For me, one of the highlights was just the production and camera work. There wasn't a single rushed or shaky scene, and the lighting added to the overall aesthetic. There isn't a single thing I didn't like.
I'm not exaggerating. It has skyrocketed to the top of my favorites list. I made my very manly male otaku friend who has never watched a drama in his life watch this, and he was hooked from scene one. If you're debating about watching it, you should probably just stop what you're doing and watch it right now.
This drama has just taken my heart and I'm sure I'll be watching it again very soon. I'm still reeling from all the happy feels it has just delivered. My poor kokoro.
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This review may contain spoilers
I'm not gonna do a drawn out review. If you read all the other comments and reviews there are many elements in which I agree....I did like the development of the majority of characters. The acting was pretty good for this standard of drama.
I was okay with the paperbag and her acceptance of it for up to episode 10-11.... and I actually enjoyed her perspective and caring. In this regard, the message behind the story was well received.....
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SPOILER ALERT:
However, for all the effort put into it, I was at once stunned at Macchan's slowness to grow up. His reason for wearing the paperbag was now proof that he was always a kindhearted person almost to the point of ignoring himself for the sake of others. So, this mannerism isn't a new behavior pattern because of Yuchan. For everything she did to support him, and yes I know he supported her but in a way that goes with his character not necessarily special, I wanted him to be more willing and eager to give back to her as well.... They never even fully talked about and resolved the fact that Kaori never DID see his face yet Yuchan is left feeling he only cares for her to a point. Her love for him is stronger and she gets that strength from watching Makoto's bravery. Never have I felt a second lead be so slighted for emotional heroism in a plot. He was everything I wanted Macchan to be and never, ever fully was to me. He couldn't run after her, and every "heart-to-heart" talk was provided to him by others efforts.....
... so to not allow me to understand the meaning behind Yuchan's expressions when he finally takes of the bag left me feeling left out of the story. You wanted me to be invested in this, and then you don't even let me understand it fully. Like at one point, Yuchan almost looked disappointed, and it felt awkward because I couldn't make a discernment myself on whether it was because of his "expression [i.e. sad or nervous face] or "attractiveness".... It almost looked like she was disappointed then pulled herself together to show him she'll love him despite being unattractive. ....but that wasn't the point, and I hate being left to feel this way.... the whole point wasn't even "his voice" but the emotions BEHIND the voice. That he was forcing himself to look a certain way to please others even though his emotions didn't match it... THAT WAS THE POINT.... but instead by playing it out this way, for me, it did end up devolving into an issue over good looks versus not so good looks. I just wished they'd shown ONE expression. For me that was the meaning... being able to face the world with your true self and face.
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What started as a joke had me marathoning episodes 1-11 in two days. It was addicting since the premise was rather predictable, but still watchable. Although I think the main actress was rather inexperienced compared with the others, she was still enjoyable and believable. I really appreciated the mini side stories sprinkled into the series in a non-obtrusive way. The music aside from the opening song (too cringey for me), was well chosen and mood appropriate in my opinion.
I've already recommended this drama to friends; she's a fan of Sakurai Dori anyway, so hopefully she'll be watching soon. Personally, for me I don't re-watch dramas overall so the rewatch value is fairly low.
I do recommend if every are looking for a shorter, easy to watch series, to watch Koe Koi. :)
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So here clumsy girl meets a boy with a paper bag on his head and falls in love with him, because of his beautiful voice and kind heart. That's mostly it. The story is pretty weak and characters don't really add anything to it. The female lead is completely one-dimensional and boring. I also have a problem with how "man with a bag" was treated in the show. There was not enough growth in his character and the reason of wearing the bag all these years (years!!!, not months) was pretty weak. So basically the finale doesn't feel all that rewarding.
What's more - did we really needed these pointless love triangles in this show? It's like they didn't even had any good ideas how to realize the main character and the idea behind him, so instead they went with stupid romantic plot full of usual genre cliches. And you don't even need to mention pointless subplot about romantic challenges of heroine's best friend.
Though I am glad that producers at least went with 20 min. episodes, but even in this case they couldn't manage without putting unnecessary flashbacks in there. So what's left are cuteness and fluffiness that you are going to get from this show, but it is certainly not enough to keep it relevant for whole twelve episodes. There is also not enough comedy in the show to at least make the ride fun.
I also think, that the show could've gone with more realistic approach, focusing on more serious school problems, like bullying, lack of tolerance and etc. They could've at least mention these problems instead of depicting some unrealistically perfect school environment where "man with the bag" is being treated friendly and where only after few days everyone is completely fine with his behavior.
Technical aspects of the show are those of your usual romantic comedy. Acting is bearable, music has basically one good tune that is used everywhere, and visuals are nothing special, but i can give additional points for Sakurai Takahiro and his voice acting for "man with a bag". That basically was a reason why i tried this show.
There are not enough worthy aspects to this drama for me to recommend it. It's cute and fun in the beginning with a bit of depth added to the main character "man with a bag". But that is not enough to lift show's boring rom-com story, unsatisfying finale and bland cast of characters.
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The plot of this drama is centered on a girl, Yoshioka Yuiko (very well portrayed by Nagano Mei) who falls for a classmate, Matsubara, after hearing his voice (to be fair, they chose Sakurai Takahiro to voice him, which is pretty brilliant, if you ask me, and seiyuus are really taking over idols lately in the j-music world, so this could be the beginning of something here, but I digress). When she meets him, we find out Matsubara hides his face behind a paper bag, something rooting in reasons we'll find out as the drama goes on. Yuiko accepts Matsubara since the very beginning and doesn't ask questions, focusing on who he is as a person and that relationship will help him open up about his past and his feelings.
There are, of course, love triangles galore. There's a couple girls who like Matsubara at different points of the drama, but I found them rather bland, especially in comparison to another character who is in love with Yuiko: Hyodo Makoto (brilliantly played by Ryusei Ryo). There are other smaller stories involving Yuiko's and Matsubara's best friends, as well as Makoto's friends (including a really good performance by Sakurada Dori).
This drama surprised me, in a good way. I was expecting that, for the whole cutesy aesthetic and the school romance, it was going to be just that, but it's so much more. There's social anxiety, growing issues, self-doubt, strong friendships and, since the whole harmless vibe it has leaves out any possibility of mindless bullying (everyone just accepts Matsubara without really asking much), it's allowed to focus on their inner troubles rather than cliche problems. Matsubara's biggest obstacle is always himself, as is Yuiko's, and that's very refreshing in this kind of story. Maybe a bit naive, but it's a different take on something we may have seen before, albeit in a different form.
I wouldn't go as far as to call it the Nobuta Wo Produce of its time, but it's definitely a breath of fresh air of actually meaningful relationships and healthy roads towards self-improvement in a year marked with toxic love triangles.
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This review may contain spoilers
I didn’t like it!
When I first found out about this drama, everyone was saying how good it was and that it was a cute story. So I did what any person would do and I watched it!Not gonna lie, the plot did get me intrigued at the beginning. It’s something fresh. You don’t see drama’s everyday about a insecure guy wearing a paper bag on his head. About halfway into the drama I still liked it, until I got to around ep 9.
That’s when this drama went downhill and started to drag unnecessarily. Especially since this drama is only 12 episodes long and 24 minutes each.
The part that was even more unnecessary was the best friends love plot! What was the point of seeing her like the leads brother? And not just that but obviously Matsubara’s best friend liked Aki, but didn’t pursue her once!! He just told her he liked her hair then they’re love plot kinda ended!
The biggest thing I hated about this entire drama though was that they didn’t show us what Matsubara looked like!!! The only reason I wanted to finish this drama Was so I could see his face and see how everyone in the school would react to him not wearing the paper bag anymore!!
I get that it’s sweet and all that Yuiko liked him for his heart and personality instead of his face but still! She got to see his face be no one else could???
Anyway, I don’t recommend this drama. It’s just generic and cliche! Especially when the childhood friend came from America! Like that’s the most cliché thing i’ve EVER heard. Not to mention Yuiko and Matsubara both didn’t confess until the end!! I’m so unsatisfied!! Not watching this ever again!
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This review may contain spoilers
[WARNING: the rating and review I give have the possibility to be subjective due to my preference for the genres, scenes or casts]Why they didn't shoot Matsubara's face??? Whyyy??? (〃＞＿＜;〃)
Hahaha that's my reaction when I finished this dorama XD But seriously, why until the end of the movie? Maybe they want to teach us for "don't judge the book by its cover"? (^_^;)
Well, this is such a sweet and funny drama. The love here is very pure. But I really hate a girl like Kaori (-__-“) Why there's always a kind of girl like her? Oh! And I really curious about the further relationship between Yuu-chan and Aki-chan (^_^)
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