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Love Shuffle japanese drama review
Completed
Love Shuffle
7 people found this review helpful
by SeRose
Dec 3, 2012
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 7.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
After reading endless praise-worthy reviews, and reading the synopsis, Love Shuffle seemed to be offering up something unique in the way of its plot with not 2 but 4 couples, and the fascinating concept of the 'love shuffle.' It’s a true OTP-guessing drama, fun and sexy, with a healthy dose of quirky characters and plot twists. All that, and I still couldn’t love it. Maybe I’m hung up on the idea that there is, or should be, something wrong fundamentally with casually switching partners every week. Or maybe this is too much fiction for me to be able to accept that a psychiatrist would really put his suicide-prone patient into the mix. Not that these are even serious flaws for a TV drama, but something from the get-go was telling me, “I don’t like it.” I nearly dropped the show at only two episodes. A week later, and after some serious consideration, I picked it up again. I’m happy I did so, because there are good themes to this drama. For one, it doesn’t hurt to analyze what’s at the heart of a basic human relationship. These are not your typical marriage-obsessed characters. Indeed, some of them are quite the reverse, and some don’t seem to care one way or the other. In Kdramaland, everything seems to scream of that one fated lover. Miss your OTP, and you might as well resign yourself to a lonely, sad existence. Here is where Love Shuffle breaks a few boundaries. These are human beings yearning for one other, yes, but not necessarily or exclusively via typical romantic outlets. If I loved anything about this drama, it’s in the friendships that were forged and honed throughout. The foursome that live on the same floor, drinking wine each evening in the hall in their PJs. The women who come together, alternately snarky and supportive. The men who bond both in jealousy and in commonality. The couples who are not destined, but can still inspire. Love Shuffle is commendable in its uniqueness, and multiple-plot driven storylines. It's even at times hilarious, though be sure to watch with decent subtitle translations, as oftentimes the jokes are Japanese-specific. I’m not sure why, but every now and then I find myself walking around thinking, “Yay, panda...” Sadly, that’s about as much enthusiasm I had overall, though that is not meant to be a discouragement. I thoroughly recommend Love Shuffle, as I don't doubt that I am one of the few people out here too picky for my own good. So what do you think?
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