This review may contain spoilers
Not bad but typically Japanese unrealistic
I kinda enjoyed the show up to a point. It is so... Japanese !
The conclusion is that it's impossible for the girls to "find happiness" but not for they own faults, but because the script writer artificially complicates the story ad infinitum. As he is probably paid to do. The irony is that even Rinko is portrayed as a script writer for love dramas, and her boss at some point says "nobody will cry over your script - I don't like it". So they make sure WE WILL cry over this one!
For instance, Kaori: at first, all she wants from Ryo is to drop his girlfriend Rina so she can become his "main girlfriend". When this happens at last, and he says he only loves her, she STILL is not happy, because now she finds Ryo too "womanizer" for her taste. And she dumps him a second time a year later, for no clear reason, although he is shown to still love her. Clearly, she is portrayed as a girl who doesn't know what she wants. Either he is the love of her life, or he is not. Nobody knows.
Next, Rinko: her break-up with Hayasaka is also greatly exaggerated. In fact, he lets her go MUCH too easily, and she says nothing, she just picks up her stuff and goes away. But there is nothing in her actions to suggest to him that Key is "her big love" - letting him sleep at her home at the death anniversary (just sleep on the couch, no sex) when he was clearly broken is no big deal! And then, Hayasaka makes up his mind to dump her when he just sees them talking, without any physical contact, on the street. This is not at all serious. Neither Hayasaka nor Rinko seem to have the smallest will to fight for their love. Probably because there is no love. This is not how a relationship is built.
And 3 years later, in season 2 episode 1, Hayasaka has the nerve to tell Rinko that she is the one who dumped him, which is the a total lie (he was the one who refused to sign and who asked to return to their "business partner" status when she was signing the papers to move together in the same house , and then he saw all too well that KEY left the country and had nothing to do with Rinko) .
All 3 girls would easily end up married much quicker in a real setting based on the original show premises. Creating artificial barriers and obstacles was obviously the writer's intent, so that marriage becomes all but impossible. The show seriously lacks consistency between the first episode and the last.
As for KEY, he is an asshole. And it really makes no sense that they say to each other "I like you" reciprocally at some point, and then he is shown to revert to being an asshole to her, for no reason at all.
In fact, all girls seem to easily find relationships, even Koyuki finds men to sleep with. Only she knows why "the next morning she feels lonelier than before" (no real reason for somebody who initially said how cute, how kind the man was).
However, this seems to be the general style of most Japanese love dramas. Even the ones with happy ending take a long time to get to that ending. So basically I can say I LIKED the show. I saw many J-dramas so I know this is their recipe. Period. Just don't make the mistake of rooting for the characters too much. We the viewers are wishing more for a happy ending than they are wishing themselves!
The conclusion is that it's impossible for the girls to "find happiness" but not for they own faults, but because the script writer artificially complicates the story ad infinitum. As he is probably paid to do. The irony is that even Rinko is portrayed as a script writer for love dramas, and her boss at some point says "nobody will cry over your script - I don't like it". So they make sure WE WILL cry over this one!
For instance, Kaori: at first, all she wants from Ryo is to drop his girlfriend Rina so she can become his "main girlfriend". When this happens at last, and he says he only loves her, she STILL is not happy, because now she finds Ryo too "womanizer" for her taste. And she dumps him a second time a year later, for no clear reason, although he is shown to still love her. Clearly, she is portrayed as a girl who doesn't know what she wants. Either he is the love of her life, or he is not. Nobody knows.
Next, Rinko: her break-up with Hayasaka is also greatly exaggerated. In fact, he lets her go MUCH too easily, and she says nothing, she just picks up her stuff and goes away. But there is nothing in her actions to suggest to him that Key is "her big love" - letting him sleep at her home at the death anniversary (just sleep on the couch, no sex) when he was clearly broken is no big deal! And then, Hayasaka makes up his mind to dump her when he just sees them talking, without any physical contact, on the street. This is not at all serious. Neither Hayasaka nor Rinko seem to have the smallest will to fight for their love. Probably because there is no love. This is not how a relationship is built.
And 3 years later, in season 2 episode 1, Hayasaka has the nerve to tell Rinko that she is the one who dumped him, which is the a total lie (he was the one who refused to sign and who asked to return to their "business partner" status when she was signing the papers to move together in the same house , and then he saw all too well that KEY left the country and had nothing to do with Rinko) .
All 3 girls would easily end up married much quicker in a real setting based on the original show premises. Creating artificial barriers and obstacles was obviously the writer's intent, so that marriage becomes all but impossible. The show seriously lacks consistency between the first episode and the last.
As for KEY, he is an asshole. And it really makes no sense that they say to each other "I like you" reciprocally at some point, and then he is shown to revert to being an asshole to her, for no reason at all.
In fact, all girls seem to easily find relationships, even Koyuki finds men to sleep with. Only she knows why "the next morning she feels lonelier than before" (no real reason for somebody who initially said how cute, how kind the man was).
However, this seems to be the general style of most Japanese love dramas. Even the ones with happy ending take a long time to get to that ending. So basically I can say I LIKED the show. I saw many J-dramas so I know this is their recipe. Period. Just don't make the mistake of rooting for the characters too much. We the viewers are wishing more for a happy ending than they are wishing themselves!
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