I strongly recommend this Japanese Drama. It is excellent 10/10 from me (5 stars out of 5 stars)
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This drama looked SO promising but in the end it didn't fulfill my expectations at all and I have to admit that I was bored most of the time - and that's saying something considering that the series has only 10 episodes.
STORY 4/10
What story? From 5 to 9 is many things, but plot-driven is not one of them. First couple of episodes is spent on Hoshikawa being a total creep and when you think you're finally getting to something interesting, all you get is one pathetic grandmother who is being a bully and a younger brother with an "evil" smile and childhood complexes that are never explored in a satisfactory way (btw it's also never explained how he could think he could do what he wanted with the temple since he had no money and no rights over it...).
Both the temple and the school could provide an unlimited number of great side stories, but the writers never even try to do anything interesting with the settings.
CAST AND CHARACTERS 7.5/10
Both Ishihara Satomi and Yamashita Tomohisa probably do their best but their options are limited due to the bad, unimaginative writing. Hoshikawa-san is creepy and cold for most of his screentime and Junko lacks agency - she doesn't really move the plot forward and I felt really sorry for her most of the time (I was like "Show some backbone and tell them to go f*ck themselves!" most of the time). Furukawa Yuki's character, Mishima, is kind of ambiguous, especially at the beginning, it was like the writers didn't really know what to do with him. My favorite characters were probably Arthur, Momoe and Masako (she was cute). I was very sorry that potentionally interesting characters like Kaori and Amane ended up being very two dimensional.
Kaga Mariko probably enjoyed playing the evil grandmother character but again, unlike a similar character she famously portrayed in Hana Yori Dango, her character here lacked depth.
MUSIC 6.5/10
Catchy main tune and main song! Otherwise from that, it was only okay.
REWATCH VALUE 3/10
For me personally, extremely low, since this drama bored me to tears and I couldn't connect with the main characters.
REDEEMING FACTORS
There were some funny moments! Not many of them but they were there! I liked the scenes with Hoshikawa that took place in the classroom and his rivalry with Mishima during the English lessons were truly hilarious. Aside from that, I liked ArthurXMomoe scenes.
OVERALL 5.5/10 (and I am being generous here)
All in all, in spite of the high rating here, this drama has many issues concerning romanticised stalking and abuse, several sexual assaults (I am speaking about Junko and Kaori both here), misrepresented LGBT character etc. - all of these together with the lack of plot and character depth make From 5 to 9 barely watchable.
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The premise is alright, unexpected couple, the guy is obssesed with her and she slowly falls in love with him. Maybe in the manga version is developed better since it has more time/chapters, but here in the drama to me felt quite rushed. I don't know if I missed something (they often spoke very fast I couldn't even read the subtitles) but I didn't know how or when did Hoshikawa fell for Junko, I wish we could have seen more of that. The way they wrote it, I found it a little difficult to relate to them or to feel their love story (? it just felt rushed to me.
Acting wise, it was good, nothing horrible, maybe a couple of the supporting cast weren't as strong but in general I thought it was good. Although I have to admit that I had a little trouble understanding their English when they're supposed to be really good at it. I think just Hayami Mokomichi and Furukawa Yuki had a good pronunciation. Ishihara Satomi wasn't that bad but she still needs a little practice to sound more natural. It's not that important, just a little pet-peeve of mine.
In general I don't think it's a horrible drama, but it's nothing amazing. It's a light romantic comedy story that it's enjoyable. And I have to name myself a Ishihara Satomi fan, I just really enjoy watching her dramas.
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Has its funny moments
I decided to watch this drama because it seems at first like a light-hearted and funny romantic comedy. I'm a fan of Ishihara Satomi, so I thought that I would definitely give this one a try. At the time I had not read the manga, but I did check afterward to see how well it would compare to the drama adaptation. From the parts I read, it seems actually even worse, depicting physical emotional abuse against women.Being a Josei manga adaptation it starts with your typical Josei romantic plot. A man meets a woman and gets so infatuated, he decides to pursue her. The twist is that the man also happens to be a monk. He is someone with a somewhat old-fashioned personality and keeps trying to get a woman that is not at all the person that would be interested in a monk.
From this point on, this is where it all goes downhill for me. It was almost like they were trying to send the message that being a career woman who has goals that pertain to your professional path is not what a woman should be doing. The romantic aspect of the story is just so appalling to me. How are kidnapping, stalking, and all sorts of abuse meant to be seen as romantic? Overall the female lead even though seemingly energetic, lacks any say so in the story. She gets pushed around by everyone and just ends up accepting everything like it's normal. Overall the characters barely have any development and I didn't feel any spark between the main leads and it pretty much lacked substance all around.
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You say it's cheesy?
Well guess what- this is some of that White Stilton Gold cheese
I'm not crazy about romance dramas but this one... this was was right up my alley.
It had one of the best love profession scenes (gotta wait til the end) I've ever seen in a drama.
The comedy also made this really enjoyable. The mains always being interrupted before they kiss, Momoe and her obsession of boy love (I need a bff like her in my life) manga, and lets not forget the dad and his Olympic hemorrhoids X-D
Yea, the story is cliched but its so cute and fun that it's hard to not just sit back and enjoy it.
I laughed, I cried, I fangirled like a mother at Yamapi shirtless standing under a waterfall O_O
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Great watch
This was really good, at first i I wasn't sure regarding the first 2 episodes, but as it progressed i just loved the romance and kindness of the MC, the supporting casts was also really good as well.I love this plot and story, it was really nice and the humor was great, it was such a beautiful heartfelt ending, the build up was perfect!!
If you're hesitant, don't be... it's a really nice short romance, with comedy and a great cast selection. The monk character you'll grow to adore him... so sweet and the FL is just soo beautiful
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This review may contain spoilers
Don’t waste your time
The driving plot lines of him stalking her "out of live" were over the top. Her suddenly falling for him, felt cheap after all that he had tried to do (good and bad) to get her attention. The grandma's strong disapproval felt hollow. The chemistry wasn’t even that great to save the drama. The fact that EVERY kiss was stopped by random bells and ppl was ridiculous. Then just the last ep had a kiss but I was so over the show.I didn’t feel FL fully move on from side she like before starting to like ML so it felt like rebound. There was nothing showing why he was so stuck to the temple when his grandma was so against the FL - he could have just left and with his qualifications, he would have gotten into a different temple. Grandma’s deep disdain for FL just because her DIL was like her and got into an accident (along with ML’s father) because she went out of the temple is completely irrational. She was so vile for something with such a loose correlation. The one thing it had was when they were going to work through it together but ended up breaking up the next ep. Then they got back together without anything really changing. Just a silly letter moved grandma?
The side relationships were messy and felt superficial.
Also, the climax and major inciting incident was dont haphazardly. It made absolutely no sense how younger bro could just try to sell the temple. Even if he were to become chief priest, doesn’t mean land would immediately transfer to him.
What a joke of a drama. I wish I was better about dropping dramas.
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The drama is all over the place
I really regret having spent all these hours watching this silly, badly made drama.The way the relationship between the two leads start is infuriating. He's pushing, stalking and more, the well-meaning but insufferably meddlesome family is also pushing, she is resisting very weakly, you want to slap her into reason.
There is no rhyme or reason on why people communicate or not communicate, and the miscommunication is achieved by people not saying what they want right away, only to lose the chance to speak because someone or something interrupts them. Such a cheap trick, which gets stale very quickly. The editing is choppy and scene changes very abrupt, the music is completely unsuitable for the mood. The male lead is robotic and expressionless, a very bad actor. The female lead, one of the prettiest and sweetest Japanese actresses I've seen, is not bad, but over-compensates by doing too much.
The side characters are quirky and some of them a bit unusual, which is good, but their storylines don't get you really invested.
As for the finale, it is incomprehensible. What will these people do, how will they reconcile their different dreams and lifestyles? It remains unsolved - maybe the writers couldn't find a solution, so they just left it hanging. And it can't even be called an "open ending" where you, the viewer, can choose whichever outcome or solution you want, because there's really no solution to reconcile these two life plans, they are just opposite.
Waste of time, not recommended.
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This review may contain spoilers
This was one of my first jdramas and I'm not going to lie, it took me a while to finish it (three years to be exact). I had this on hold for so long and finally forced myself to finish it. At first, I found the premise interesting; it was my first time seeing a monk as the male lead! But it eventually became repetitive and overly melodramatic. For such a short drama, there was a lot of back and forth in their relationship, which was unnecessary. I did not like the male lead's character and found him annoyingly obsessive and stalkerish towards the female lead. I did grow fond of Satomi in this drama, though, and she has since become a favorite actress of mine. Here, her character was hardworking and had ambitions but was forced to choose between her future aspirations and a man she spent most of the drama avoiding, so I was not too keen on their romantic development. Sure, there were some cute moments but I mostly finished watching this for Satomi, regardless. It also had tropes I was not a huge fan of, like love at first sight and love triangles. So, if you're like me and don't like those, then this might not be for you. I'd suggest this to anyone who really enjoys both the lead actors and someone who's looking for a light-hearted rom-com to pass the time.(Completed: 2016)
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Not a favourite
Did not really enjoy this one. It might be because it's now 2021 and this was made in 2015. Although it had a happy ending (of sorts), it was very difficult watching the male centric / female subserviant-sacrificer plot line. It's possible that the cultural trends are outdated now as opposed to more modern trends, and it just might be that I am not well enough versed in Japanese culture and trends. While this was listed as a Romance, I felt that it leaned a little more toward Romantic Comedy at best. If you're into modern romance, I do not recommend this series.Was this review helpful to you?
touching love story as realistic as it is crazy
Definitely a must watch, though it's Cinderella story again - but so nicely executed that it feels totally new. The ML and FL were so much into the character, and the supporting cast was also exceptional! A lot of handsome faces too... The interiors and fashion and buildings - everything looked seductive. They even overdid it sometimes!Of course - there are tropes and cheesy moments. The ML saves the helpless FL in the rain, he kneels down to propose with the diamond ring and all etc. But dont let these bother you, the entire drama is charming and i enjoyed its slow pace almost all the time.
Little short of being genius - if u ask me.
The immersion into the japanese culture and cinematography is a bonus.
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This review may contain spoilers
I saw that there are people think that the male lead is somehow a stalker type but not actually that very severe.I find the male lead do this because he has been an emotionless person before she met the female lead who is very very beautiful.
This review will be very short and here's what I can share to everyone.
Pros:
- No chaebol/CEO guy.
- Male lead is a monk (which makes it unique)
- Female lead is not a damsel in distress type of woman.
- Female lead is sooooo beautiful! ?
- Male lead chases the female lead.
- Funny, simple and heartwarming story.
Cons:
- Uber delayed kiss ?
- Other Supporting male lead did not develop throughout the series.
- Male lead is not that handsome (for me) so don't expect.
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