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Kingyo Tsuma japanese drama review
Completed
Kingyo Tsuma
2 people found this review helpful
by Paige
Feb 25, 2022
8 of 8 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 9.0
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 8.5
This review may contain spoilers

What's Right, What's Wrong? Or perhaps we are all searching for happiness in our own ways?

It's one of the drama I've been anticipating since I found out Shinohara Ryoko and Iwata Takanori are the main leads in it. I've always enjoys the roles Ryoko and Takanori played in the past and this one too, did not disappoint.

The plot leans towards mature theme, there's a lot of nudity and sex scenes within that makes this NSFW and not children-friendly. If you're under 18 years old reading this review, or still having any fantasies towards marriage etc, I'd highly recommend you to turn away from this drama now.

Onto the review:
STORY 8.5/10
The story is pretty solid in this one. I am not sure how the comic went, since I am not a big comic person, so I can't the the judge on how closely this matches the plot in the comic itself. But as a drama, the plot here is pretty well-done. The story centering around Sakura (Shinohara Ryoko), starting with the image-perfect life she has - she has a loving husband, is rich, seems to lead a happy life, etc. On the other hand, it is also showing that her husband, Takuya (Ando Masanobu) is having an affair in their apartment the day Sakura is having her birthday party (which is happening just 2 floor below their apartment, sincerely, like why is some men shitty like this?)

In the first 10 minutes, they've introduced most of the characters involved in this drama. Each of them would have 1 - 2 episodes dedicated to their relationships with their husbands later - apart from that Feng Shui teacher. What's up with that Feng Shui teaching and her insistence of Twin Ray anyway? The explanation she gave is not even the true explanation of the term. -_-

Anyway, there are hints throughout the first episodes on how unhappy and oppressed Sakura was feeling living with her husband. He would verbally (and later shown to be physically) abuse her to keep her under his control. After a particular rough fight about the goldfish, Sakura started bonding with Haruto (Iwata Takanori), who shelter her when she felt unsafe to return home to her husband.

I find the romance between Sakura and Haruto are pretty pure (age gap and their identity aside), in the sense that Haruto makes Sakura feels safe because he is all charming, sweet, protective, and warm. And Haruto, he has been admiring Sakura for years now (there's a big reveal on when they first met later), you can't blame him for running to her rescue after sensing her distress, right? I sincerely ship this couple, and I really hope to have an extra episode or drama-special for us to see further development between this two.

I also really love the characters' development we get to see inside. Not just for Sakura and Haruto (Haruto has a big, awesome speech he told his father that had me applauding throughout the whole scene), but also for the other couples living in the building itself. I have to say, good for Noriko who left that weird ass husband. Like excuse me, I was SINCERELY disturbed by how her husband wants to watch her and his junior having intimate contact so he can get turned on. Like, if you have issue, please go and seek professional help, man! Saya and Souta are sweet and I love that they eventually willing to match each other's pace again.

Yes, this is pretty solid a story-plot. I'd however, hope that they would extend this drama to one or two more episodes to not rush the romance and to also give us a better rounded ending. Overall though, 8.5/ 10, it is pretty solid.

CASTS 10/10
You all probably know that from my rating that I don't have anything to pick on the casts, love them! One thing though, Hisako's headache is pretty dramatic and I found that a little over-the-top (which, when I think it through it kind of matches her personality). Other than that, I'd say, solid casts. I am still a huge fan of Ryoko-san (has so much respects for her) and Takanori-san (he always looks so sweets in roles like this). Also, kudos to all the relatively realistic sex scenes, those must be pretty awkward/ tough to film.

MUSIC 8.5/10
The theme OST, Crazy For You by sino R fine is already on my favorite song list. There's another instrumental track that leave an impression as well.

REWATCH VALUE 8.5/10
Even though I am rating this at 8.5/ 10, once again the story is pretty solid although it might be a little heavy for regular rewatch. Also the NSFW scenes making this drama, erm... not suitable to play in public, you know? But I am sure I will revisit the drama sometimes.

OVERALL 9.0/10
Overall a solid 9 out of 10. I really like how realistic this drama is and how many issues it is touching on. Loveless marriage and infidelity is sincerely a big social issues in Japan (and maybe many parts of the world) nowadays.

There are values within that one can takeaway, like what is happiness to you? What is success to you? What makes a marriage happy? Also, I am a big advocate for screwing societal standards like marriage and infidelity, age-appropriate coupling (aka having the male be older than female), etc, so this whole drama is right up my alley. If you're not willing/ able to see beyond the societal standards, you might find this drama hard to stomach; but if you do, please watch and enjoy the many thoughts-provoking topics this drama will bring up for you. ;-)
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