This review may contain spoilers
Girl just go to THERAPY!!!!
Watched on the FOD Short app with English subtitles!
It might be a little unfair to compare this to the other time travel vertical drama I watched, Locker Across Time (Locker: Kimi ga Inai Mirai kara), because they are ultimately different stories, but I think this drama fixes a lot of the problems I had with that one, mainly the sus age dynamic and the romance being firmly intwined with the time travel. Back to the Stories has romance too, but it arguably existed separately from the time travel stuff rather than as a result of it, which made the story more believable. I also liked that Back to the Stories had more of a mystery element that kept me invested, even if the reveal of the killer was unsatisfying and their motive (especially for killing Rihito) kind of made no sense. The cast features more experienced actors and they worked together nicely, and I think this is written and directed by the same pair that did Koibitotachi no Furudokei, so no complaints in terms of the performances and production quality. Overall, I enjoyed myself and think it's certainly worth a watch!
However, where this drama loses the most points for me is with Mikoto's choices as a character. Maybe I'm just biased towards Honda Kyoya, but I felt SO bad for Natsuki - he was clearly the second choice, and he had to sit there and be accessory to his girlfriend's obsession with getting closure with her first love. I found it frustrating how Mikoto kept avoiding the question of what would happen to her relationship if Rihito survived to the present day and framed her desire to save him as just "I want everyone to be alive and happy," like be serious!!!!!! Honestly, the best character in this whole drama was the grandma. It really stuck with me when she tells Mikoto that she should focus on changing the future rather than the past, like yes, exactly!! Go back to your loving home with your boyfriend who looks like HONDA KYOYA and work on your unresolved feelings in therapy instead of playing god with time travel!!! Your greed knows no bounds!!!
It might be a little unfair to compare this to the other time travel vertical drama I watched, Locker Across Time (Locker: Kimi ga Inai Mirai kara), because they are ultimately different stories, but I think this drama fixes a lot of the problems I had with that one, mainly the sus age dynamic and the romance being firmly intwined with the time travel. Back to the Stories has romance too, but it arguably existed separately from the time travel stuff rather than as a result of it, which made the story more believable. I also liked that Back to the Stories had more of a mystery element that kept me invested, even if the reveal of the killer was unsatisfying and their motive (especially for killing Rihito) kind of made no sense. The cast features more experienced actors and they worked together nicely, and I think this is written and directed by the same pair that did Koibitotachi no Furudokei, so no complaints in terms of the performances and production quality. Overall, I enjoyed myself and think it's certainly worth a watch!
However, where this drama loses the most points for me is with Mikoto's choices as a character. Maybe I'm just biased towards Honda Kyoya, but I felt SO bad for Natsuki - he was clearly the second choice, and he had to sit there and be accessory to his girlfriend's obsession with getting closure with her first love. I found it frustrating how Mikoto kept avoiding the question of what would happen to her relationship if Rihito survived to the present day and framed her desire to save him as just "I want everyone to be alive and happy," like be serious!!!!!! Honestly, the best character in this whole drama was the grandma. It really stuck with me when she tells Mikoto that she should focus on changing the future rather than the past, like yes, exactly!! Go back to your loving home with your boyfriend who looks like HONDA KYOYA and work on your unresolved feelings in therapy instead of playing god with time travel!!! Your greed knows no bounds!!!
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