Tsuiraku JK to Haijin Kyoshi (2023)

Grooming has never been more romantic.

Do not take the title of the review seriously - taking it at face value would be as misleading as the premise of the show, that sounds so wrong, but the drama itself feels so right. I truly hope people won’t get discouraged by the student/teacher relationship and give it a chance, because this is so much more than just romance. It’s a weirdly heartwarming story of two people healing, learning about each other, but also exploring their own thoughts, feelings and ideas they hold.

What truly makes it work is how self-aware the writing is. For every flirting attempt and stalker behavior, we get a witted call out. All presented in the best dry humor I have seen in dramas for ages. Many scenes that would give you butterflies in your stomach end on a joke and it works so well. I’ve got a sense of: we know it’s wrong, we trust the audience knows it's wrong, but just watch and enjoy how cute they are. And I’m totally fine with it.

As I said though, this drama is more than just a romance. Every scene is drenched in hard hitting topic - suicide. Personally, I think the writing around this issue was done masterfully. Heavy issue presented in such a light manner. Quirky humor that made it more approachable, but never felt disrespectful. For someone who at some point in their life struggled with suicidal thoughts, many of the jokes felt just right. Not once have I thought they are not taking the subject seriously or just using it to make the romance more “angsty” (as many other rom-coms do). The story kept the heart and sincere tone, while also giving me some laughs . It felt refreshing.

The performances were what built the drama though. Hashimoto Ryo perfectly captured the idea of those who smile the brightest are the saddest - no matter how happy-go-lucky Haiba Jin might have felt, you could always sense the hesitation, unsureness and not yet completely healed pain. Takaishi Akari was able to somehow mix innocence with a strong personality and it created a cohesive persona that was Ochiai Mikoto. Both extremely loveable characters portrayed in a perfect manner.

Overall, surprising on so many levels. Completely flipped my expectations of what I’m about to watch and made me fall in love with the characters. Not only the drama is worth a watch, but also a rewatch once in a while.

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two people being each others light

ill start by saying this drama handled the subject of su*c*de very well for being such a short drama. shows that just a simple encounter can change your mindset and your outlook on life. our ML was there for our FL every time it mattered most.. Haiba was just the light in Mokotos life that she needed and must i say that she was what he needed as well. they were adorable and the chemistry was on point. their little moments were everything.

even if you're not a fan of student x teacher relationships i would till give it a try. it doesn't have those creepy vibes that some dramas have with those tags. this was so well done. just wish it was longer, that's why im hoping for S2! :')

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Sakata Gintoki In Love?

This drama was really cute and fun and much better than I expected. The characters are likeable and not the type you usually come across in school romance. For only 9 episodes they felt pretty fleshed out and real and I think the development didn’t stray at any point. The male lead in particular really reminded me of Sakata Gintoki and the dark humor/deadpan comedy of the show was reminiscent of Gintama, so I would recommend this if you are a fan of the anime! This was my first time seeing any of the actors but it was very well acted throughout, also side note that the female lead is so pretty and has the most mesmerizing eyes.
Bonus point: there is an adorable cat 🐈‍⬛

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Love on a Suspension Bridge

What is the suspension bridge effect? According to Urban Dictionary, “the suspension bridge effect happens when a person crosses a suspension bridge and he sees someone of the opposite sex. His fear of falling down causes his heart to pound. He then mistakes that for the heart-pounding feeling felt when falling in love with the opposite sex.”

Is the love Ochiai Mikoto (FL) feels for Haiba Jin/Haijin (ML) a result of the suspension bridge effect? Will these feelings go away once she’s not standing on the edge of the building? Well, you will have to watch the drama to find out.

“Tsuiraku JK to Haijin Kyoshi” aka “Falling High School Girl and Irresponsible Teacher” is a dark comedy addressing the serious issues of suicide and loneliness. The drama does not take the issues lightly, but offers an alternate, witty and sarcastic way in handling them. You will fall in love with the leads and their personalities. Both of them are caring, considerate, ‘unique’ and ‘wacky’. But the best part of the drama is their interactions. You never know what’s going to come out of Haijin’s mouth, and what comebacks Mikoto will have. They are just so fun together.

The drama is really short - 9 episodes and about 20 minutes each. It doesn’t tell the full story but only gives us the initial encounter and relationship building. I wanted more of them and wished the episodes were longer. I want to know more about how Haijin fell in love with Mikoto. That one flashback is not enough for me.

If you are unsure of the taboo relationship of a teacher and a student, I can say there’s nothing overtly out-of-the-line physically. But there’s heavy flirting and you know emotionally they are ‘together’. There were only two instances where they performed an act to ‘save someone’s life’. Of course, that’s their way of justifying the act. But they did it in such a comical way that it didn’t feel dirty at all.

This drama reminded me of the C-drama “Definitely Not Today”. Both tried to tackle the issue of suicide with dark comedy but approaches this topic very differently. This drama has a lot more comedy and flirting.

If the themes of suicide and teacher/student relationships don’t bother you, I recommend this unique drama to you.


Completed: 9/18/2023 - Review #355

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Heartwarming Japanese Drama.

I gave it a lower rating, but the show will stay in my heart forever. Its been days since I finishing it, yet, I cannot get it out of my head! Literally I'll be eating, and just start laughing whenever I remember a scene...

The story follows a highschool girl who just got rejected, doesn't have any friends, and started losing her desire to live. That is until her teacher interrupts her during an attempt and asks her to date him before she dies. From then on, anytime she starts feeling down or starts thinking of suicide, he shows up. Slowly, she starts getting a grip and finding a reason to live on.

The teacher/student relationship might be a turn-off at first, but it never felt creepy. Anytime it seems like the ML is being pushy or "pervy," there is usually a ulterior motive that in turn helps the FL.

The ML will go down as one of my most favorite's ever, he also made me smile and the made the story extra entertaining. At first, I didn't like the beginning episode, nonetheless I kept going and I have no regrets! The story is unique, unpredictable, and hilarious/sad when it should be. If you need something to cheer you up, this is the perfect drama for you. I could rewatch this a million times and never get tired of it, especially the ML.

I teared up when it ended, and I beg to anybody who was involved, for a second season. Even if you don't like the whole "teacher/student relationship," just give it a try and you WILL NOT REGRET IT.

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I'm not sure why the rating is this high

This is my first ever review because I am genuinely very confused, this drama was made for someone like me, I enjoy student teacher romances when fictional, and i was really excited to see a new series exploring that dynamic. But I have to be honest, for a lot of it i was bored, it felt like there wasnt much of a story at all and what story there was, was extremely simplistic. Not only that, I felt there wasnt much of a reason for the two to like each other, they liked each other since episode one and we were just supposed to accept that a student and teacher would somehow have crushes on each other without much interaction outside of the classroom before the attempted suicide in episode one, students have crushes on teachers all the time, but what good reason does the teacher have to have a crush on a student other than she was obedient in class and he found her attractive? Not really a good base for a healthy romance to me. But okay, once they do get to know each other outside of the classroom and their feelings are cemented as real, the whole relationship comes across as predatory and down right creepy, and thats coming from someone that likes this trope! I say this because their big connection is feeling like they dont belong, and being suicidal and lonely, which can be things that bond people, but it makes a relationship that is already inappropriate seem even moreso when you have a young and impressionable girl, struggling with her mental health, and a teacher who is using that as an excuse to spend time with her, and get closer to her, all the while being pretty jealous of those she gets close to, and being overall very immature and irresponsible. I understand that this is all a part of his character, and he uses humor/flirting to make her feel better, and at times it actually was effective and sweet, but i do think with this kind of topic the teacher does need to retain some level of responsibility and seriousness because it is a serious situation, and i dont find recklessly flirting at school, charming, even if it is meant to be a comedy, its also meant to be a romance, and i dont think its romantic to put someone you love at risk of being expelled, and throwing away your career. So i guess a lot of my problems came down to his character specifically, i didnt like that he constantly called her highschool girl, as it made it seem like a fetish and that any girl fitting her profile would have sufficed, and i didnt like the whole back story with his highschool teacher, it threw off the whole story. The assumption I made was that they are paralleling his romantic relationship with his HS teacher with his relationship with this highschool girl, as they were literally doing the same scenes as he did in the past, but no, they throw a curveball and say that his teacher was like family to him. What?? You do realize when you parallel scene by scene with this new relationship with Mikoto, it comes across that he views her as family as well, right? I just think it was a waste of a storyline and a failed attempt to make Mikoto and Jin's relationship seem like it had more depth than it did, just because she finally knew one thing about him now.
I think part of my disappointment is that there actually was some stuff I liked about the drama, i did think some scenes were genuinely funny, and I think the acting was pretty good, and they looked good together and there were a few sweet scenes, but i almost think the drama didnt know what it wanted to be. I believe that if there was no romance, and instead Haiba was more of a goofy, fun loving big brother figure, the constant "Highschool girl" and the confusing parallel to his own teacher being family, would make a lot more sense narratively, but i think they knew there's less people interested in a story like that, so they made it a romance, even when it didnt fit the characters personalities, and general vibe. Because here's the thing, a teacher helping a struggling student find friends, happiness and providing guidance sounds like an amazing plot! But when you add in the fact that he has romantic feelings for her, rather than professional or familial, it makes his intentions a lot less pure and kind of ruins that storyline altogether for me, its kind of like you have to pick and choose, and they didnt do that here, it was just a weird mash up of stuff that never felt satisfying. But clearly, based on the rating, im in the minority on this one!

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Falling off a roof vs. Falling (being groomed by) ones teacher?

This is is a slightly confusing drama that tries to ask some pretty bizarre questions and puts things in to all kinds of interesting contexts, playing with perspectives and the viewers minds,

Are they playing with or trying to blur the lines between what we see as right and and wrong ? Or are they actually trying to say something about society? Is this a drama about keeping- braking rules? Or is it trying to teach us how the best ways to die or maybe how to save a person from jumping? Are they trying to make the viewers uncomfortable? Or am I reading to much in to this as they are just trying to make us laugh while we look at pretty faces and banter?

Honestly I do not know... What I do know is that the dynamics between the leads is phenomenal. The characters are complex (slightly confusing) but extreamly enjoyable to watch. I love the leads, I truly do both characters hot n cold types. ANd even though the female lead is supposed to be this week low self asteam typical I just want x to be happy... soldering the worlds problams... she does not come of as pathetic at all she is even the mature one of the two and kind of bad ass cold. Both have a whole lot of amazing lines and oh such self aware dialog with dark humour for as far as the eyes can see... This was a pleasure to watch and indeed very highly entertaining.

I am however bothered by the last episode as it feels unfinished, left me with a bunch of theories in my mind and made me desparetly want a season 2, and I hate it when they split things up in to multiple seasons.

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If you have any concerns about this drama, read this review.

First of all, the message in this drama was phenomenal. As someone who’s suffering depression, I like how the ml approach the fl. Of course trust me it’ll look weird as heck when u first watch their first meet cause he said some weird things but i promise you, he’s more than just that. At first i thought this was one of those really weird student/teacher drama but honestly im glad I watched this. The leads are not only funny as hell and great at delivery their lines, they also teach us to see depression and loneliness in a different point of view. The best part of this drama was the leads. They are HILARIOUS but also so sweet. I’m telling u their humour are top tier and considering that this drama revolves around suic*de makes this drama 100x better. I feel like this drama can cure depression lmao. But on a serious not, I understand if ur concern about the plot and the genre but im telling you, this short drama might just be one of the best out there. Whoever casted these two leads are just geniuses and the script are all just so brilliant. For the hopeless romantics, there ARE sweet giggles scenes. The ml is so cute im telling you he ate his role up. If you want to know any negative thing about this drama is that IT NEEDS A SEASON 2 or at least them getting married or something. This should be an hour long episode with like 10 eps but oh well. That’s all for the review, this will be in my rewatch list definitely.

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Its my first time watching a japanese drama and it didn’t dissapoint me

Obviously I thought It's a little bit weird that a teacher and student in a love affair .....🙄
But after watching it.I really liked it.... Or should I say I just love it.And mostly they are so pretty and cute or should I say they are super pretty and super cute that I can't help myself but fall in love with this drama..And most impotantly the teacher..How on earth a teacher can be so cute....🖤🖤🖤
But most important thing is that the drama gives us inspiration for living...... It's really effective for those who felt the same as those students as wanted to attempted suicide.... So I can say that it's an inspiration one for all... So if you have time then watch it.... 🖤🖤🖤
I also want to shear that this is my first time watching a japanese drama.... And it didn't disappoint me.... I really liked it a lot.... ♥️♥️♥️

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Though the relationship between teacher and student serves as its backdrop, it is not the taboo aspect that should stand out, nor does this drama romanticize grooming as some may be inclined to believe. They handled the triggering subject of suicide with care and caution, with the insistence that there is so much to live for, despite what one might think as a life-ending suffering. Mikoto felt that there was no more future for her after she was rejected by her first love when she encounters her teacher on the rooftop. Haibi Jin distracts Mikoto with absurd requests or plies Mikoto with off-hand comments to distract her from her goal.

We learn that Haiba Jin was also once in what he deemed as dire strait, when his mentor tried to dissuade him from ending his own life. And it was because of this life-changing moment that Haibi Jin paid it forward and gave Mikoto a purpose. When Mikoto learns nothing is worth dying for, she develops genuine feelings for Jin.

There are many things in this drama that some people may find problematic, but the show is cognizant of these situations, for example, when Haibi Jin can be considered as stalking Mikoto around town, all he was really doing is ensuring she does not make another attempt at her own life. The show also mocks itself by injecting dry humor and reminds us not to take this drama at its face value.

At its core, this drama highlights the importance of the will to live for oneself, as much as for others, without trivializing the hardships that one may encounter as no more than experiences that one must go through in life in order to be stronger.

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