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Jack o' Frost japanese drama review
Completed
Jack o' Frost
3 people found this review helpful
by 07222023
Oct 22, 2023
6 of 6 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 8.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 10.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
This review may contain spoilers

Jack O'Frost froze at an 8.5

Aside from incorporating its title into the series in several good and fun ways, the show did not explore and gave its characters too much yet not enough to work with; resulting in them being either flat, unrelatable, or both.

Most of the characters, particularly our mains, possess contradicting traits/personalities and lack depth.
- Fumiya is introduced as serious and someone who has difficulty putting his thoughts into words; however, this only seems to be the case with Ritsu. Around supporting characters, he’s an open book and comes across as a social butterfly. Particularly in flashbacks. Besides working as a salesman with a lot of time on his hands, being a good cook, kind, and possibly popular we know nothing about his background or upbringing. Nor his ex.
- Ritsu is timid, lethargic, and daring/stubborn(?) Eventually, we learn that Ritsu has parents and a younger brother but aside from his brother, we don’t know if he keeps in contact with his parents. Though we know that he’s a great artist/illustrator and a successful one given that his work was published in a magazine. Honda Kyoya, handsome as he is, did his part but Ritsu as a character was not all that appealing to watch.
- Shuji is said to be overprotective of Ritsu but we see that he’s more overprotective of Fumiya. Except for the cafe scene, his scenes with Ritsu were somehow painful. Rarely did they come across as close brothers and instead, Shuji feels closer to Fumiya. They know each other’s ‘tomorrow’ schedules, share a secret, and Shuji is more comfortable talking to Fumiya about Fumiya and Ritsu’s relationship.
- Miyasaka Tomoko added some substance to the series but then she quickly became the side character that exists only to get the mains back together. I don’t understand why she kept her run-in with Ritsu from Fumiya until the final episode, especially when she has been advising Fumiya on their relationship throughout the show. We also never found out what happened to her and her boyfriend.
- Keigo is the ex of Ritsu who was set up to mislead us into thinking is the villain but isn’t(?). He gives Fumiya advice and encouragement but also blithely brings up his bad past with Ritsu. His purpose is to add tension and depth to Ritsu’s sexual orientation which Ritsu thought Fumiya was in the dark about. I admit that part was done well but it’s strange for Ritsu to jump the gun when he has no memories of anything he’s ever told Fumiya. If Fumiya is strictly a roommate then his coming out as gay isn’t unlikely.

My biggest problem with the show was that there was no clear timeline. I can’t gauge how long they’ve been dating and living together. Except that they were the same age again when they celebrated Ritsu’s birthday. It seems they fell in love and moved in together after graduation and while working, and that's all we can go off of. Before moving in together, Fumiya did reveal that Ritsu had a steady income/career and we saw Ritsu working so he had to have been in his early to mid-20s. But are they in their late 20s or early 30s at the beginning of the series? I wish amnesiac Ritsu had at least asked how long they've been living together so we know. Although I took issue with the blurry timeline, it is a plus for the show. Since we don’t know how long they've been together or living together, we can’t fault their relationship in relation to time. If their communication sucks but it's only been a year then 'meh, it happens' but if it's been five years then it'll definitely raise eyebrows.

In short:
Good plot. Dry characters. Dryer script.
The acting was fine overall.
Fun coats. Loved Ritsu’s scarves.
Kind of wished there was snow...? It's Winter, after all.
Enjoyed the music.
Some camera work was uncreative.
The not-so-high budget was a tad bit obvious.
Easy to watch. Not great but not terrible. Heartwarming but also unmemorable.
May never rewatch unless I need some slow background noise.
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