Second Love (2015)

I just re-watched this series and after a second viewing I can say Second Love is my number one 'adult drama guilty pleasure'!
If you're in the mood for drama and romance then that's great because that's all you get! There's no mystery, or action, or anything like that. It's just two people quickly falling in love and then finding it hard to stick together due to outsiders and their own different ideals.

Now for the long explanation!
It's got a bit of a trashy-romance-novel vibe about it but in a totally good way. It's storyline is not very realistic so it plays out like a fantasy of a 30+ year old woman rather than a serious take on relationships. I think this is part of the reason why it's got so much re-watch value. It's short, very easy to plough through for a second time and to just not pay attention to the so-so story but then look up when Kame is taking his shirt off (I’m sorry/not-sorry). Even though I say that you'll still have a knot in your throat at moments.


I was surprised to see comments saying the sex scenes were bad! I don't think they are bad at all. They're certainly more... modest than your western dramas (no bare butts, no *cough* thrusting) just passionate kissing, semi-naked cuddling, and post sex spooning - which I guess must be risqué for a show aimed at Japanese women! The acting is very well done and, though Kame is a little too short and muscular to be a dancer, and Fukada is far too beautiful and alluring to be that innocent, I think they fit their characters well and look really good together.

To be honest it was quite fun to see Kame acting in a role where he isn't so sweet, perfect, and adorable. This role felt pretty different to other characters he plays. Even though he is playing a good-looking and hard-working boyfriend which pretty standard when it comes to Kame, however, Kei is not nearly as sweet, caring, and innocent as his pervious characters. Kei is single minded, has a much more natural appearance (as aposed to Kame's idol look), and less traditional with relationships - not interested in marriage or children. Kame's dancing is amazing (I have a dancing background) and for those saying he has a stunt double doing all his difficult moves should remember that he is a Johnny's idol and started his career as a backing dancer. He is perfectly capable of doing flips, one handed cartwheels, and things like that.


The music was a bit of a low point for me. None of the music itself was bad but I felt that it often was misplaced. As a KAT-TUN fan it hurts me to say this but KISS KISS KISS does not fit this drama at all. The song is far too bombastic and is used in scenes which really needed something much more subdued. It really took me out of some scenes and ruined really good moments. However the rest of the music in Second Love is great and fits the drama perfectly.


Overall I gave this drama a 8 which for some might seem a little high. However I truly enjoyed this drama. Yes the plot is pretty unbelievable and some side characters (though well acted) I found distracting and annoying, but it was fun, sexy, and I could 100% re-watch this again. I would defiantly recommend it but don't go in with high expectations - go in to have a bit of fun!

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I wasn’t going to write a review about this drama because of all the poor comments on it, however after fully watching it I thought I would say something.
I gave this a 7; and that is a reach- it is closer to a 6.7 and I will explain. The good points are seeing a grown up Kame-kun and watching his acting improve, seeing some shots from Germany, remembering why I don’t teach (those kids were bad!), and I really liked the music.
The negative qualities are a God-awful story line, Kame-kun’s bad German, Kyoko Fukada’s acting.
I appreciated this drama once I got to the end and found that the writers ended up telling a grow-up fairy tale about love. Of course none of the actions in this drama are even plausible for normal people, but that is why we love fairy tales because things magically occur.
As for the pink elephant in this review: the “sex “ scenes make no logical sense to the plot and to be honest they weren’t hot, loving or even comical. The sex scenes seem to be there for controversy… and to show that Kame-kun has lost weight but still has a fat face.
I recommend this drama for anyone who loves a good dose unrealistic fantasy in their dramas, who is a sucker for an against all odds love story and who has appreciation for the art of dance. (Kame-kun’s stunt double was putting in some work because everyone knows Kame is not the best dancer. And his dance scenes had plenty of face only and back shots lol.)
I believe that had the characters had a better story line, more episodes to develop the story and really bring out the issues of ageism and sexuality it would have been much better. A bad story line paired with a weak premise is something that apparently even Kame-kun cant sell.

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