Reviews

with in-laws like these, who needs enemies?

This quietly brutal film depicts a violence of memory/remembering - a violence of erasure, of withholding, of rewriting history and truth - enacted against queer people by their family members once those queer people are silenced by factors beyond their control. It unflinchingly shows how family members betray the two lesbian women in their lives after the death of the one who is their biological relative. They do this by ignoring her wishes, by betraying her grieving widow (their in-law), by insulting the widow's dignity, by undermining the widow's belonging in the family, and by betraying any sense of proper relations among kin - all in order to take the wealth left behind by their deceased relative. The film helps us to understand the motivations for each character's choices against a history of class differences and the oppressive backdrop of Hong Kong's material scarcity for basic needs. We are shown how a lack of institutional and societal recognition of queer relationships creates the opportunity for shameful behavior between family: in a deeply unequal society organized around capitalism (alluded to throughout the film, but most explicitly in the mention of how the deceased woman had managed to rise from being a factory worker to a factory owner; and also looming in the background of the housing crisis hanging over everyone in the film), these extended family members see no way to pursue a decent life other than by turning against their queer kin.

The disgracefulness of this so-called "family" is shown in how they apologetically disrespect the two queer women who had previously helped them financially (at least to some limited extent), specifically by kicking the surviving partner out of the apartment she had shared with her deceased partner. They justify this choice as a way to give her nephew his own exclusive place to raise a new baby. Heterofuturity (here as a privileging of the heterosexual continuity of future generations against queer people still alive in the present) manifests in the way that the extended family assumes that the only reasonable way they can benefit from their deceased kin's estate is by asserting their exclusive control over her apartment; they aren't even able to imagine or propose any compromises in which they might share the apartment with their lesbian in-law by living in the apartment together and taking care of each other. In this way, they foreclose any possibility of keeping this queer family member in their lives, much less any possibility of growing closer to her after the loss of this person who had been such an important presence in all of their lives. If (to quote a remark made by the queer couple when they shared a particularly expensive whiskey with their extended family in the film's prologue) "sharing with family isn't wasting", then the extended family lays waste to their kinship relations with their lesbian in-law, by taking the apartment from her and then refusing to share it with her.

Ultimately the film ends with a bitter sense of exasperated acceptance, and perhaps of resignation: with no options available under the legal system for staying in her apartment, the widow has capitulated to the demands of her deceased partner's extended family. She makes this decision after getting written confirmation of the truth of her partner's intentions (which had been to leave everything to her) after even that was questioned by one of her in-laws. The widow's lesbian friends (which is her and her former partner's found family in multiple ways) step in as replacements in order to carry out the familial rites and responsibilities to her deceased partner, responsibilities which had been so coldly abandoned by her deceased partner's biological kin: I am especially talking about the burial-at-sea of flower petals as a symbolic way of fulfilling the deceased's wishes which had been overruled by the extended family. We end with a scene remembering how much meaning the deceased woman had found in her queer family as an adult, after a childhood of hollow and sometimes even violent biological kinship. This scene bookends all the ways the film has shown us the biological/extended family using their traditional values to rationalize their understandable - yet utterly shameful - behavior, underscoring the film's critique of heterosexist ways of doing "family".

This film evoked a complicated mix of emotions in me. Through much of the film I felt anger at the unjust way the family treated their grieving lesbian in-law. And in the ending scene it transformed into a heavy sadness, in my recognition of an aspect of my own difficult experiences with family with the ending scene's reflection on finding meaning in the concept of "family".

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Perfect Story, Perfect Premise but Messy Ending

This drama had a really good pace from start until the 15th episode, where the mysterious person who had killed those who were trying to uncover the mystery of a killing that took place 18 years beforehand, was found and it felt too quick for his reveal with 5 episodes remaining. That caused a lot of problems with the pacing afterwards, as it got boring quick with Shaun Tam losing his sanity after murdering the killer to save his own reputation. The chemistry between Shaun and Mandy Wong's character felt lackluster and did not feel natural at all, which should not have exist as not all dramas need to have love interests in them unless necessary.

OST is good for the most part, as Fred Cheng sung most of the songs for dramas in 2020 which was nice since I like his voice.

Overall, it had a good backdrop for the story, just executed poorly at the end. It was still an enjoyable drama nonetheless when trying to unravel the mystery.

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So Toxic, So Good: tl;dr don’t watch without a healthy understanding of abuse

Ahhh, where do I start? Well, I really won't mince words here; the relationships in Jazz For Two are abusive.

They're written with the sort of hope that keeps people in abusive relationships; the hope that deep down we understand each other and can make it out on the other side. There's something astonishing , and honestly, magical to me about the way this is so perfectly captured while maintaining this strong aura of soulmates.

Seheon gets hurt physically and emotionally regularly by Tae-I, who only apologizes once. Doyoon is also later found out to be enduring regular abuse from Juha. The act of enduring pain and abuse is treated like a type of pure or higher love. Both Seheon and Doyoon let these things happen to them because they have some sort of understanding that this person they love must also be battling something deep inside them. Their true selves, they naively believe, are hidden somewhere inside of this person who repeatedly does them harm and one day they will see their earnestness and open up to them.

This kind of hope for change in someone’s actions and willingness to “wait out” abusive behavior keeps people in abusive relationships. Guys, this shit is really serious. If someone reveals this kind of behavior to you, understand and believe that this IS their true self. The extreme highs you might feel with them will always be accompanied with extreme lows. If someone hurts you, that’s your sign to go. If you’re not sure, talk to someone you trust about it. Most importantly to remember: if someone really loved you like you deserve, they wouldn’t ever think it was okay to hurt you.

Anyway, it’s still a really good show.

Keeping these toxic themes in mind and understanding that relationships in this show shouldn’t be mimicked in real life, I can honestly say this show is a really enjoyable watch. Leaning into some of our worst impulses and rewarding them with the love story we wish could be; it’s like junk food. It’s good to have something fucked up like this to enjoy every once in a while. Don’t get into the ingredients too much tho.

The story is kinda meh. The whole thing with Tae-I and his brother is kind of done like a second thought and leaves you kind of wanting more. Obviously though, it becomes apparent as you watch this show that the story isn’t actually the important part so I’m not too hung up over it.

The direction is fucking beautiful, every scene is stunning. The acting is really good too, and you get all the subtleties of their emotions in all of the important parts and then all of the humor in all of the funny parts. The show is incredibly re-watchable. I actually am doing this review now because I’ve just re-watched it lol :)

I think my biggest complaint (besides the blatant toxicity of the relationships) is the fact they didn’t have enough jazz! The songs were jazz, sure, but it wasn’t really jazzy. The show is literally called Jazz for Two, can’t we get some of that punchy, spunky vibe from jazz? There wasn’t a lot of that fun energy we like to associate with jazz, incredibly disappointing. And then there were some crucial scenes that didn’t even utilize jazz in the background at all that really set me off.

Or at the very least juxtaposing jazz with classical music. With how much this show was putting jazz on a pedestal and putting down classical music I really thought we’d actually get to explore these mediums. Instead, we did get to see a small glimpse into what it’s like to be a musician, but it did leave much to be desired. Again… not the point of the show though, ultimately I understand.

Jazz be damned, the music was still very good.

Summary: The relationships were toxic as shit. Be mindful and watch with caution. The jazz wasn’t jazzy enough for my taste. Everything else was really beautiful though, and it was very enjoyable.

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Icarus meets Mozart

This review will sound a bit arse backwards because it is a back-to-front type of drama for me. 

If I had to sum up the plot in a few words then it would be Icarus meets Mozart. This is a blessing and a curse.

Cooking is about as real as it can be from my perspective. You combine real ingredients into something that is totally tangible. Sure, there may be some smokes and mirrors when it comes to some high concept dishes but fundamentally taste doesn't lie. If a dish taste good then it is meant to be.

This series mystify the cooking process to the point that it is akin to magic. We are shown mostly typical preparations yet the results are S tier and to die for. I know you can play tricks with the flavours and textures but time and again, this is done by our untrained "amateur" ML. Even the show calls this out when one of the chef stated that a staff in his father's restaurant practiced filleting fish for 3 years before he is trusted with that task. Yet our young ML went from high school graduate to a Michelin star chef within a year (and still without any formal training). I get that he can see ingredients and recipes from a different angle (cue special effects) but things just don't add up. We have to just accept it. This pulls me out of immersion repeatedly as I try to see what is so special about the dish and how come he can create it and I can't (for obvious reasons). ;)

I'd have enjoyed the show more if his development is more relatable rather than just put down to him being the "chosen one". That is such an old trope. I would have similar problem wrapping my head around a plumber being promoted as the next genius physician in a hospital just because he knows how plumbing works.

The show did grow on me in the second half and that is largely because it moved more into character growth and their backstories. Honestly, the whole show finally makes sense in EP 9 and 10. All the ducklings line up and the motivations of many characters became transparent. It is still a bit of a stretch but at least I can accept the rationale within that paradigm. I also enjoyed the changes in the young ML as he decent into madness but it didn't last long and he was his old innocent self again. In one sense, the show became "normal" towards the end, if that makes sense.

I'll be the first to admit that this is not an unbiased review as I just finished Grande Maison Tokyo which is so good and well grounded that it makes this looks like a flight of fancy. However, if you like the male leads then you will swoon. If you like angsty dramas then you have hit paydirt. If you are looking for food porn then it can still work. The gorgeous dishes were created by a Michelin star chef IRL. I have to score this show based on my own POV and that's a reviewer's lot. Peace.

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Drama Queens: A Cosplay

I asked two friends of mine, both old-school drag queens, and both with excellent make-up skills, to watch Cosmetic Playlover. Here is an excerpt of their conversation, edited for clarity.

MANI: Is this for real? This show?
PEDI: What do you mean?
MANI: Did we really just watch a Japanese BL about two gays behind a Sephora counter?
PEDI: Who knew? Who knew they had such dramatic lives?
MANI: What dramatic life? Apart from whatever’s going on with Natsume’s hair?

PEDI: That *is* a disaster, isn’t it? He stares at a mirror all day long... Did it not occur to him, at least once, to think, "hang on, my wig looks like it was sheared by a British dentist"?
MANI (laughing): The tall one, Toma, is it? His ain’t much better. But he’s so gorgeous that he can get away with it. He can get away with anything.
PEDI: He does.
MANI: By the way, in what world does a former supermodel work behind a makeup counter? Can you imagine Naomi Campbell working for Chanel at Macy's or Harrod's?

PEDI: Or Romy Féerique... Fun fact. Féerique is French for fairy. 

MANI: Now why would you know that?
PEDI: Because I’m a fairy, Mary.
MANI: Well, I'll tell you one thing, I'm not sure these two fairies deserve their own show. They are not funny, they are not sassy, they don't gossip... I'm sorry, but these are not interesting people. Beautiful, but not interesting. They take themselves way too seriously. And the show takes itself way too seriously.
PEDI: I mean, could the stakes be any lower? Let's face it. They're not doing neurosurgery here. Do you think the Gucci girl behind the counter has the time to take clinical notes on each woman who comes to her for free make-up? Also, silent callers? Hate mail? What is this, 2006? All because Mr Dimple Cheeks “poached” a “make-up client”. Who is this client? Sultan of Brunei?
MANI: If he did poach him, he’d be doing us all a favor. By the way, I don’t remember us taking an exam to become a “make-up expert”. Do you?
PEDI: Ummm, yes we did. Remember when we first went out in drag 20 years ago, and no one punched us in the face? That was the exam.
MANI (laughing): I mean, do people in Japan really take make-up this seriously?
PEDI: The straight women who wrote this thing do. I’m absolutely certain... certain... that whoever wrote the manga wrote the first draft by imagining herself as the female lead, and then replaced herself with Natsume.
MANI: Which, I think, is how most BLs are written.
PEDI: I don’t think we, as drag queens, are in any position to judge that.
MANI (laughing): No, I will say though, I was surprised by the heat levels in this show. The kisses were quite hot.
PEDI: Yes. But the villains were not.
MANI: Except for the one skinny guy who now makes a regular appearance in JBLs. He’s in Smells Like Green Spirit, and that teacher-student BL. Whatchamacallit?
PEDI: I know who you mean. He’s good. He served some real camp goodness. He's very good. And hot.
MANI: Toma’s brother?
PEDI: Not.
MANI: Remind me again, why does he come between the leads?
PEDI: I don’t know. I don’t remember. Something about their parents being in New York, and wanting him to run the family business... Listen, mama, there’s more drama between my fake eyelashes than the entirety of this show. Here’s the thing. If I was a hot Japanese ex-supermodel, and my family lived in New York, I’m taking Mr Dimple Cheeks with me, getting gay married at the Plaza, and buying an apartment in Chelsea.
MANI: Are you kidding? You’ll be catnip for the polyamorous gays. Sniffies will crash.
PEDI (laughing): Exactly. These two though, they wanna play husband and wife in Tokyo. This show was serving some very old-school JBL vibes...
MANI: Ah, the monologues, the monologues... Because, you know, characters in JBL don’t believe in talking to each other, but they’ll happily talk to us, invisible people.
PEDI: Yes! Then there’s the pushing against the wall, cartoon villains, the shy maiden trope...
MANI: Again, because if there’s one thing we know about same-sex sex in BL world, it is that bottoms don’t want tops to top them…
PEDI: See, I don’t get that. I can't think of a single bottom in my life who won't jump on a hot top when he sees one. Hell, even a mediocre top! I don’t get that whole patriarchal “you belong to me” crap either.
MANI: I thought that went out with All About Eve.
PEDI: This is All About Steve.
MANI (laughing): But I don’t mind the old-school vibe. It’s fun. Loved that kiss against the background of fireworks... Ham-fisted symbolism? So sexy. Also, I kept imagining myself as Sponge Bob Hair Cut, and wanting to be pulled and hugged by him and have my lips smashed. If that tall slice of meat were to come up to me and say, “you belong to me”, I’ll throw myself at him.
PEDI: Except you’ll cause an accident with those fake boobs...
MANI: What if it turns him on? 

PEDI: That means you've died and gone to heaven.
MANI (laughing): This show is absolutely ridiculous.
PEDI: And hot.
MANI: And ridiculous.
PEDI: And stupid.
MANI: And ridiculous.
PEDI: And surprisingly watchable.
MANI: Do you think Netflix will pay us to watch BLs like they do Trixie and Katya?

PEDI: Only if it’s a podcast.

Reader's Digest:
DO SAY: Maybe she's born with it.
DON'T SAY: Maybe it's Maybelline.

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A celebration, eulogy, and reliving of youth

‒Overview‒

Wind Direction is an exceptional youth drama that begins in the carefree wonderland of youth and ends in the bittersweet nostalgia of adulthood. The show draws you in with the youthful hijinks of its endearing young characters and takes you through the world of their parents and their own journey towards adulthood. Along the way, you will be laughing, fuming, crying, and learning with the characters.

While this show may have flown under the radar, don't hesitate to give it a try and let it grab you along for the ride. It could very well become a top youth drama that will stay with you for a long time.

‒Review‒

Like the typical youth drama, Wind Direction delivers plenty of laughs, cuteness, innocence, and friendship. But the show also goes far beyond that to deliver the profound, sometimes painful, but inevitable lessons that one can't avoid in life. The show is written with all the love of a letter to a younger self, with the fondness for the innocent days and the tough-love advice from lessons learned along the way. The Chinese title of the show is 迎风的青春, which has an extra layer of significance. It refers to the days of youth that's facing the wind, a nod to the characters embracing the world, and also to the opportunities and surprises that will be blown toward them.

The show starts out deceptively simple and innocent, and may not seem all that remarkable compared to the typical youth drama. Unlike Go Ahead, which is another favorite, we are not treated to immediate tension and conflict for the quartet of friends. But the show moves along methodically, almost sneakily, to weave together an ever richer tapestry of parents, classmates, teachers, and events that accentuate the theme of each episode. Tensions and mysteries that are introduced fade in and out of view like sections of a symphony. And the director always finds the perfect time to queue up the next big revelation in an unpredictable, yet fitting manner. Pretty soon, you find yourself cheering on a superb ensemble of characters,
crescendoing toward a dramatic finish.

There were so many superbly written and acted characters in the show in addition to the childhood friend group. There's the affable and understanding dad, played by Tian Yu, or more famously Wang Qinian from Joy of Life. He's married to Jia Daiyu (Liu Lin, LLTG and other shows), the firecracker Mom that's ready to give anyone an earful. There's Li Dahai, played by the always fierce-looking but funny Jia Bing. He's the short-tempered Dad ready to give his son Li Si an instant beating. There's Jia Baoshan, the man-child uncle that's always getting into trouble. And last but not least, there's Xiao Fang, the principal portrayed by the effervescent Jackie Li who steals scenes left and right.

The show culminates in a dramatic last six episodes that will tug at your heartstrings. For some, these episodes may be a surly wake-up call from the delicious revelry of youth, an abduction into adulthood, and the death of innocence. That's a completely understandable and natural reaction. But I encourage you to take a deep breath and embrace the pain, tragedy, and bittersweet moments. Because these episodes are the highlight of the show. These are the indispensable reminders that the show unyieldingly imparts, to those who has already traveled the road, and those who have yet to travel it, but eventually will, one way or another. And on the other side, you could recover the new you‒with a newfound appreciation for the innocence of youth, safeguarded and cherished in the memorial of your heart, powering you through the storms and scars suffered along the way.

And that's the spirit of Cheng Yaya, Yuan Shanqing, Qiang Xiaowa, Cheng Miaomiao, and Li Si. To bravely sail across the ocean and into the wind, even as they are soaked, battered, and blown off course. They are waiting for you on the other side, will you come along for the journey?

‒Component Ratings‒

> Overall [8.5 ‒> MDL 9.0] - One of my favorite watch of the year, last 6 episodes bumped it to 8.5 for me, same score as Go Ahead.
> Plot [8] - Logical and engaging, excellent pacing with no fillers
> Theme / Concept / Impact - [8.5] - A moving commemoration of youth with profound lessons along the way
> Acting [8.5] - solid acting from the younger actors that were further elevated in final episodes, veteran cast also excellent
> Visuals [8.5] - production, shots, camera language, aesthetics, editing were all pleasing and cohesive
> Audio [8] - live recording not dubbed, appropriate and moving music and sound effects, though few memorable tracks
> Rewatch [8.5] - excellent rewatch option for the comedy, comfort, and heartfelt moments; episodes can be watched independently though you may find it difficult to stop
> Accessibility [8] - the youthful friendship will have easy universal resonance. Though to fully appreciate the story of the parents and parent-child relationships may require understanding of cultural context.
> Subtitle quality [8.5] - The few episodes I saw with subs were excellent and surpassed my expectations in representing the vibe and colloquial speech.

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It is about family and making hard choices in life

In the drama you see two young boys going through challenges in their life. One lost his mother and the other one always running away. But they found each other. I love the bond that they have and I love that it took time for them to really trust each other and that is life. It is not going to be as simple as looking at each other and falling in love. They grow and see how important they are to one another. The acting was phenomenal. And even though the ending made you wanting more, I think that was the point to make the International fans fight for a season 2. Which I am all for it and if you liked the drama enough you can wait for a second season. I just felt so happy, sad and angry watching this drama, which means it was amazing!. I fell in love with the actors and characters that they played and I hope that people enjoyed watching it as much as I did.

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Not likable FL

I don't understand why a person of 28/29 years old who regrets her life decisions would keep acting as a 19 years old teenager when she is given another chance of redoing her choices. In fact, it's pretty easy to understand why she failed first time by just watching the two first episodes. And I don't know the reason why a paralegal with many years of experience working for a competent lawyer and big firm would act as a completely amateur. I think the scriptwriter forgot she has come back from 10 years in the future and she's not a teenager anymore. Because if she was going to act reckless and without a serious self reflection, this drama already failed for me. If the scriptwriter is waiting for give us that later, so the timing is wrong. I saw 5 episodes and she seems to be satisfied with using what she knows from the future or using the ML to get a better place in this life, and it makes she to be totally unlikable for me, because she didn't want a chance, she wanted to all be given to her. And the ML gives it all to her, but she can't tell it. So I could not continue to watch more. I feel sorry for the actor who plays the ML, because we can see that he did the best he could... But the actress over infantilized her character who was already immature... But I don't think the result would be different because the script miss the main point. It's not about a teenager growing up into an adult. It's an adult in a teenager body trying to make the right choices that her teenager version couldn't do. She should have "character development", but with the right starting point. The ML also seems to be the same during those 10 years too... he's the type of a mature guy with cold facade and warm heart. But nothing sounds good enough to keep me watching it.

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Best Adaption Movie Ever

I first encountered this movie and later I watched the original western one.

Both movies are obviously the same but they have a slight different ending and each movie portrays its own uniqueness.

I love both versions of the movie but the chinese version won my heart. The chinese version is more funnier, the plot, and the castings are everything that made me very emotional.

For me, the main theme of this movie was friendship. It portrays raw true emotions. This movie made me know how beautiful a true friendship is. Despite their little revenge games, they still care about each other in the end.

Angelababy and Nini did a very good job at this movie and I'm so greatly touched. I really recommend this movie to be seen by everyone.

- Review by sukimatchagirl

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Another Bad Adaptation

If you've read the novel that this drama is based off of, you should know that there are slight differences. While the scriptwriter has remained mostly faithful to the novel, the slight changes resulted in big changes in the nuance of the drama. Originally, the novel was about a strong female engineer/budding entrepreneur who succeeds with the guidance of a CEO. Alas, the CEO (who later becomes her boyfriend) messes up which causes them to break up. It sounds exactly like the script right?

While it may seem generally the same, there are major differences. The ML in the novel always viewed FL as someone could potentially be his equal with the right guidance. However, his big ego and hiding things from her eventually becomes the breaking point. Here, while they try to portray the same dynamic, the drama FL comes off as a naive girl. How can someone that is the supposed brain of a whole AI medical robot be foolish? While the drama FL can be inexperienced in the entrepreneur part of a start up, they completely rob her of her intelligence and contribute a lot of her success to ML. Another review said it perfectly when they wrote that the scriptwriters messed up when they portrayed FL as a poor decision maker and that they minimized the tension between the leads by making ML fall in love with FL in college.

My biggest peeve about the drama though was the big conflict. The novel's author foreshadowed that there would eventually be a problem because ML being slightly (if not too) overpowering/controlling while FL is fiercely independent. Similar to the drama, it was over the fact that ML was basically going to rob FL of the company she built. In the novel however, FL does give ML his just desserts and ML is eventually forced to apologize/grovel a bit. Here, there is basically none of that. ML realizes he messed up and does the whole woe is me act, but there is very little apologizing going on. Eventually the issue went from ML stole her company so that it would benefit his (a one sided betrayal) to the issue being it's an us issue because our personalities don't match. Drama FL leaving the company was fine, but then takes ML back the moment they reunite. They show her accepting ML's decision being the best for the greater good. This in particular rubs me the wrong way because it minimizes FL's acheivements and emotions. It implies that she is still emotionally charged and that her decision to walk away was a poor one - ie. zero change from the beginning of the drama. This doesn't sit right because if I were in her shoes and my company that I struggled to build from day one were stolen from me by the person I trusted the most, I would be upset too. I wouldn't be thinking about the 'greater good' but more about how the person who is supposed to love me the most just betrayed me. The fact that FL accepted this injustice is incongruent with how she reacted when she was sexually harrassed at the beginning.

A small note on the acting. I don't think I like Xu Kai as an actor very much. He tends to play 'cold' ML roles but it just feels like I'm staring at cardboard or stone. He keeps a blank stare most of the time but there's nothing charismatic about him. I just kind of expect something more than just a flat face. Seven did an okay job. There were some moments that were better than others and felt more natural. However, she tends to have this one wide-eyed expression that she applies to multiple different scenarios (ie. when she's dumbfounded, shocked, betrayed, etc.). One of her characteristic is her big eyes which gets her a lot of younger, more naive/pure roles, but here it's an obstacle. Like Xu Kai, she doesn't have a dynamic range of expressions when acting. Every time she pulled out this expression, I was reminded of Shin Se Kyung and the strained face she tends to use when she's run out of facial expressions. I can tell both are trying to broaden their range, but this was a flop.

TLDR: The novel was better. The drama reeks of fake feminism (a term coined by someone on NovelUpdates). While the drama seemingly talks about a strong female lead, her actions do not match up to the expectations. Furthermore, her acheivements are lowkey attributed to the ML and there was very little she actually did. Basically, a Cinderella/Knight in Shining Armor story. Definitely wouldn't watch again.

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Beautiful & Courageous Journey to achieve your Dream with lovable characters

Subjective Gut Rating: 8.25 (rounding up to boost Jdrama average rating LOL)

“My Second Aoharu (Youth)” is the perfect title for this drama. The drama never loses its focus on the courageous journey of Sayako (FL) to achieve her dream to be an architect. Though this dream was 12 years later than anticipated, the drama gives us an uplifting journey of perseverance, hard work and guts. And this is what I like the drama the most. Misfortunes happened to Sayako, but she never drowns herself in self-pity. Instead, she takes the plunge to go back to college and achieve her dream.

The drama has a lot of lovely characters. Sayako was a little too much to handle in the beginning, as I am not a fan of super loud and over-the-top acting (anime-style). But she grows on me and never veers towards the super annoying side. It’s impossible not to be influenced by her positivity and as viewers, I am rooting for her 100%. The house she lives in is also full of friendly and lovable housemates. It would be a dream if you have housemates like that. It’s all fun and games, and helping each other night There’s no animosity or chaos.

The romance is a mixed bag for me, and it’s not because it’s a noona (aka older woman/younger guy) romance, which is not my jam. I actually quite like how the leads meet, develop into good friends before lovers. The chemistry of the leads loses its spark when they first get together (about the ⅔ of the drama). There aren’t enough cute or romantic scenes between the two. Skinship is limited to a couple OK kisses. They also feel more like best friends or siblings, instead of lovers. However, I really like how Taku (ML) understands Sayako. He admires and appreciates her charms (good and bad) and is the only one who keeps on reminding Sayako of her initial goal. Whenever Sayoko is confused and lost regarding her studies or future, Taku is the one to shed some light and clear the fog in front of her. Taku is portrayed as such a mature young adult that the age gap is not as prominent. Sayako often acts very young with her crazy antics as well. Towards the last ⅓ of the drama, decisions need to be made between career/love. Those were the episodes that tug my heartstrings the most. The plot is predictable and some might not like how the drama tackles that, but these episodes are much better than those in the middle of the drama.

Sayako’s family members have very little screen time, but they are fun. I love that they’re so positive despite growing up poor. Sayako’s best friend provides additional comic relief. She has just enough screen time to add some more fun to the drama without getting annoying. The step-parent/child relationship is also interesting and beautiful to see.

I was unclear on a few storylines (or plot holes) and I wasn’t sure if I just missed them. With the rules of the house, how did everyone end up living together again? I thought Kanta had a girlfriend. What happened to her? Did I miss something between Kanta and Sumika? Also, I thought Kanta is a year or two older and should not have graduated with the rest of the guys, am I wrong?

Despite these plot holes (?) and mixed feelings about the main romance, I had a very enjoyable time watching this. I’m glad Sayako’s journey has always been front and center, despite the romance, family, and housemate storylines.


Completed: 9/28/2024 - Review #492

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