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Switched japanese drama review
Completed
Switched
2 people found this review helpful
by equanimity
Sep 30, 2022
6 of 6 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 8.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 8.0

A rather different and innovative way of portraying body-switching

To put it simply, this was about a pretty girl whose soul was switched with a not-so-pretty girl.

The switch was only possible under 3 conditions, red moon, jumping off a tall building and at the point of jumping off, facing the one whom he/she wanted to switch with.

And the conditions were there when Umine Zenko (Tomita Miu), the ‘ugly’ girl, decided to jump off a building, with the intention of switching with Kohinata Ayumi (Kiyohara Kaya), the ‘pretty’ girl.

I had low expectations from this drama when I started watching, but eventually binge-watched the whole drama. Usually if I were to binge-watch any drama, it meant this drama was interesting and could hold my attention all the way and yes indeed, the acting was convincing, the idea was refreshing – changing your soul with someone just by jumping off a building under a red moon and only 6 episodes. It was not draggy and everything happened fast, there was really no dull or boring moment throughout the drama.

Basically, the drama centered on 4 main characters, Ayumi, Zenko and their classmates cum Ayumi’s best friends, Kaga and Koshiro. After Ayumi and Zenko switched souls, it was interesting to see how Ayumi dealt with being ‘an ugly girl’ in school as she had always been the pretty and popular one and as the drama moved along, we could see that no matter how the physical appearance might change, what ultimately mattered was the innate character of the person.

This drama also touched on bullying in Japanese schools. Zenko was short, fat and ugly. As a result, she had low self-confidence, became anti-social and eventually was an ostracized outcast in school, but we saw from Ayumi, when she was ‘inside’ Zenko’s body, that being ugly should not hinder a person from being kind or socializing with friends. I thought this did teach us something about outward appearances versus the true personality and character of a person.

Naturally, one of the reasons for the binge-watch was that I wanted to know whether the two girls would return to their original bodies eventually. Not giving any spoilers, I would say that the ending or rather the plan to switch back was rather well-thought out and a brilliant idea, but also quite a nerve-wrecking one as there were many risks involved.

Finally, I have to mention the two guys, Kaga and Koshiro. I thought their acting was exceptional and their characters were not flat nor one-level given their relatively young age, not to mention that they were also quite good-looking.

All in all, I enjoyed this drama, but I would not say to the extent of very much because it was kind of too short, maybe 10 episodes would be ideal. I would recommend to anyone who likes to watch body-switching dramas because this drama had a rather different and innovative way of portraying it from the usual ones.
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