misaxpost
This review may contain spoilers
If they had just stuck closer to the original this could have been so much better...
I started watching this series as there were many positive reviews about it. Unfortunately, I found it VERY difficult to watch and really had to force myself to finish it... .
After watching the first 2 episodes and just couldn't bring myself to feel any empathy or interest for any of the characters, I wondered if the original story made the two main characters look just as bad as the drama and started reading what I could find of the manga. And to my surprise: While the general setting is the same, the characters are SO much better in the source material. I don't know why the writers decided to make both the mains so damn unlovable...
Hira is way more stalkery/kimoi in the drama while in the manga he is still uncomfortably obsessed but more in a awkward and desperate way. In the drama they cranked up the creepy-factor by a hundred and somehow still expected us to feel with him, which I couldn't bring myself to.
And I felt that they especially did Kiyoi dirty: In the drama he is a complete asshole and actively bullies and assaults Hira several times, while in the manga he is mainly onlooking during the bullying and comments on Hira's creepiness here and there, but we see him often de-escalate uncomfortable/bad situations for Hira and him showing hidden affection such as buying him food, etc.
In the orginal story their characters are a lot more nuanced and hence the change of their relationship makes more sense as you can pick up on some small but meaningful actions by Kiyoi towards Hira. The way the drama portays them, however, I felt very put off by both of them and couldn't find myself to root for either of them much less for them together . And in the drama (SPOILER AHEAD) the whole 'I loved him all along, just didn't know how to express it' as well as them getting together in the end was just very unbelievable to me as you literally see NO affection - hidden or otherwise - up until they change perspectives. And even then it seemed really unblievable/nonsensical to me.
So... while I will try to finish reading the manga, I definitely will not watch the other installments of this adaptation.
After watching the first 2 episodes and just couldn't bring myself to feel any empathy or interest for any of the characters, I wondered if the original story made the two main characters look just as bad as the drama and started reading what I could find of the manga. And to my surprise: While the general setting is the same, the characters are SO much better in the source material. I don't know why the writers decided to make both the mains so damn unlovable...
Hira is way more stalkery/kimoi in the drama while in the manga he is still uncomfortably obsessed but more in a awkward and desperate way. In the drama they cranked up the creepy-factor by a hundred and somehow still expected us to feel with him, which I couldn't bring myself to.
And I felt that they especially did Kiyoi dirty: In the drama he is a complete asshole and actively bullies and assaults Hira several times, while in the manga he is mainly onlooking during the bullying and comments on Hira's creepiness here and there, but we see him often de-escalate uncomfortable/bad situations for Hira and him showing hidden affection such as buying him food, etc.
In the orginal story their characters are a lot more nuanced and hence the change of their relationship makes more sense as you can pick up on some small but meaningful actions by Kiyoi towards Hira. The way the drama portays them, however, I felt very put off by both of them and couldn't find myself to root for either of them much less for them together . And in the drama (SPOILER AHEAD) the whole 'I loved him all along, just didn't know how to express it' as well as them getting together in the end was just very unbelievable to me as you literally see NO affection - hidden or otherwise - up until they change perspectives. And even then it seemed really unblievable/nonsensical to me.
So... while I will try to finish reading the manga, I definitely will not watch the other installments of this adaptation.
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