Why I Dress Up for Love

"You will never be alone... You have your own." - Koko

Finishing this drama was a breeze and I can't believe I am finally saying this but... I DON'T HATE OR DISLIKE ANYONE FROM THIS DRAMA. All characters are lovable and they all ended up filling my heart to the brim. Yes, they made mistakes. Yes, they had so many misunderstandings. Yes, they are all struggling and are tired with their lives. Yes, they have secrets and all of that. BUT... they would face everything, every situation, every emotion, every conversation, head on!

The maturity that these characters have and some, went through, is TOP NOTCH. From heir background stories, to their current situations, to their relations with each other, everything is well played and well acted. The narration that the writer did for every situation that every individual character had was well executed.

I may say, not everything we want may go or turn out to be our way but by the end of the day, we must accept what we have as a result of our hard work and determine and sleep with our hearts full of satisfactions and no regrets. This is exactly what I think this drama is all about and the way they showed it through this drama is quite refreshing for me especially I have watched a lot of dramas where the characters tend to spiral down to the worse situations between each other just because of a simple misunderstanding or what not. This show really gave me a glimpse of how people with an accepting mindset react, think, feel, and face what is needed to be faced.

You. You make a difference no matter how small you see yourself to be and what really matters are the people who will accept you for who you are and know exactly how to love you without having yourself be stressed and strained in proving your worth to them.

Overall, this drama is a GEM. I highly recommend this one for those who wants a simple and light hearted drama for the day.

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I don't know if I like it or not. It's just average for me. I don't think I really liked the male leads character. He is so red flag for me, from the get go. I can't seem to connect with his morals or ideals, so maybe that is why the drama seems a bit odd for me as a watcher. The female lead is fine with me, but I can't really see the chemistry between her and the male lead as well as the second lead, so I don't know. The other leads in the drama, like the second couple is much entertaining for me to watch other than the main, so that is a nice catch in the drama. Revolving around different relationships in the drama is also good, but I think the intensity of the drama is not for me, to bland for my liking.

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A JDrama you need to watch!

This had a simple storyline that was beautifully written and acted out.

It showed us of ordinary lives facing very common challenges everyday. I'm sure each one of us felt like one of the characters here at some point and that's what makes this drama great for me. It was able to capture the vulnerability of all characters and the actors were able to convincingly show their struggle as they make the decisions they can live with.

I love that no one here was toxic, everyone just wanting to do good for themselves and for others. They are aware of their shortcomings yet they bravely forged on and continued their respective journeys.

The leads look amazing together! I loved the pace of how they grew as a couple whilst growing as strong individuals on one side. They saw their place in this world with clear eyes and that was beautiful!

Tbh, I wouldn't even be bothered if the girl went with the second guy. That's how lovely I saw them! Kuoko was such an amazing lady and how she kept everything together, watching over her 'kids' without suffocating them --- a person we'd like to meet in our lifetime!

Imma rewatch this soon!

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cute, heartwarming, homey

Honestly, this was such a great show.

I love and appreciate how all the characters in the series (mainly the housemates) got to each grow independently and yet still with the support of each other. They all have different issues and it was great to see them tackle it…

I love that the romance here isn’t clouded by jealousy or messy headache inducing love triangles. It’s actually quite mature. It’s human nature to have miscommunications from time to time, but I appreciate how they are also able to resolve it without drama.

My only caveat as to why I can’t give this full stars is because the story actually started moving better and more interestingly around episode 8. 8 out of 10 episodes before the main leads actually became main leads with interesting stories…

The chemistry of the main leads are top notched. But like all relationships in this series, it felt both too slow and too fast how their story progressed. Too slow in a way that their moments together while cute still lacked some depth to have conflicts resolved too fast. I hope that made sense. But yeah, basically I wish they main couple had more moments to solidify their relationship. It honestly felt like the Orca understood them both better than themselves…

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I love and hate this drama

Excuse my limited vocabulary

I liked the first 5 episodes. UNTIL the "President" came over to somehow live with them temporarily. I know it is because of work and all, and I was trying to understand that, but it still bothered me a lot as I expected the female lead to put more distance the moment it became an issue.

I also hated the part where the "President" did not put more effort into creating a distance, knowing the girl already had a boyfriend.

The last 5 episodes generally circulate within the "President" coming into their lives, disturbing their first phase as lovers, getting jealous of each other crush/ex, and going down different paths. The worst thing about it is that I can't feel the boyfriend-girlfriend relationship between them apart from when they are deciding what to do next or their short moments.

Meanwhile, I hate the male lead for not trying to communicate with her (I mean, he sometimes did, but only sometimes!). The female lead is "almost" always the one taking the first step. I also hated him for that part when the girl was also getting jealous over his ex, and he was like, "I have no time for this," like, wtf. I expected more from a couple that has "good communication." However, it is already a miracle that nothing big issue happens frequently since they are polar opposites.

But really, at some point, I just want both of them to break up. That's just me. I might be the only one uncomfortable with the setup because of my different views on relationships.

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Giving Oneself a Chance!

I bumped into this while just going through Netflix, not sure what to watch. Also, it kept on getting recommended to me, by Netflix. One of those 'we think you will like this' and okay Netflix😂😜

I am so glad I clicked on it. I enjoyed the themes of adult, mature relationships, belonging, following your dreams and second chances in life. Also, also, please allow me to say the actor who plays the character of Shun is drop dead gorgeous. He gives the kind of gaze that would have you drop to your knees or I should say, I would. 🤞😁

It was warm, it was wholesome and held my attention from beginning to end. Even though the end was a smidge meh, but it's still very watchable.

I loved it.😍 A strong recommend.

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no frills, straight forward romance that actually shows happy marriage ending

This was showing up in my recommends for some time and decided to give it a go in 2025 :D . (I have turned on spoilers flag just in case)

Overall I found the entire serial enjoyable. The four leads were all easy on the eye and could act reasonably well. Producer, director, writer and composer were all female. You can see the influences in various facets of the final product. The lead actress seems very popular, going by her prolific catalogue of work.

The story itself isn't earth shattering. Part slice of life, part existential angst (all too common in story telling in last few decades). The tropes surrounding the leads are relatable too: For the FL, a put together life for "best social media appearances". The ML has been burnt out by "quick success followed by crash and burn" so now he's covering it up playing "edgy cool". Antisocial female artist and metrosexual man bring up the rear.

What I liked
First and foremost, unlike majority kdramas, they resolved the arc by showing the hero and heroine had married soon after and having a cute 4-5 year old daughter in the end. It was a literal breath of fresh air. Much appreciated! The side leads resolving the side FL's tantrums and marrying in thr end!

1. Pacing was great. kdramas could learn this some more from jdramas. Story ends in 10 episodes!
2. Most loose ends were resolved fairly quickly.
3. For all the "trauma" they've gone through, the leads are shown as fairly emotionally grounded.
4. The dialogues were fairly mature - not too many cliches.
5. Lovely use of the dog as a plot device and eye candy. It was beautiful.
6. Good use of slow-motion and hero's athleticism in scenes where he chases after the heroine. Overall the framing of the shots, the camera following were done well.
7. Outdoors filming was also tastefully done.
8. Featuring some actual artwork for the second heroine. They looked nice. The finished cherry blossom, the art gallery, the finished painting of the model, etc.
9. The cooking scenes were well filmed too. I liked that aspect of the presentation.
10. Fan service showing the ML putting all the effort for the FL
11. All the leads taking an active interest in at least resolving the misunderstanding in the relationships and putting their love lives on track. All 4 of them were equally shown doing it as well as the landlady character's husband.
12. Heroine shown as not averse to the idea of following the hero in his career. This is so uncommon nowadays that it was a very pleasant surprise. Going by the hero's immediate reaction to her, it was clear the writer was likely pandering to some "audience demography survey" and not present reality for what it is.
13. I hated the way the president opportunistically inserts himself into shun's place in the french restaurant scene. Shun not calling Kurumi from the restaurant to announce his delay was also idiotic. However hero redeemed himself like a champ the next day (smooth moves pro maxxed) and the girl didn't seem stuck up on it which was a relief. So, I liked the ending while I still dislike the beginning. The more I think about the scene it was just unnecessarily added drama at multiple levels.
14. Haru-chan's character portrayal as a counselor and as a human was super well fleshed out.


Disliked
1. The "president" character didn't click for me at all. He took the girl for granted (almost treated like doormat, a few compliments notwithstanding). He could see she was in awe of him harboured a crush) and as using her mostly to prop his own ego. In office settings it is common to see someone in a powerful aura due to being in their presence for 8+ hours but when that setting is taken away, the aura dies too. At least that much was shown. It was scummy move of him to proclaim his own love for her to her after she gets with the main guy and gives him her farewell speech (and confesses her feelings which was also odd for me too, everything else she said was fine). Specially since he was already bailing out like he did in the beginning. The whole usurping shun's place in the french restaurant date by him also puts him in a very negative light. If he hadn't shun would have joined late.
2. The landlady (including the whole "angry with ex-husband") arc really put me off. It felt like a self-insert by the writer whether it was playing cupid, sometimes totally wrong way, or playing "saviour" to the tenants. All the scenes featuring ex-husband in person or being referenced was 100% self insert. The more the ex-husband was emasculated and made to grovel, the more you realise someone was playing out their on fantasy of how they wanted it to be. The resolution towards the end "more then friends, less than family" was total nonsense. Anyway, I didn't like her nor her arc with the husband etc.
3. Not a fan of "stealing another man's girlfriend" arc implied in the case of Mashiba's subordinates. they could have avoided that nonsense. Sullied an otherwise nice story.
4. the "healing and moving on" resolution. Her opening a small shop in the end and "pursuing her dreams" was nice and all, but could have easily been done in hokkaido. Him wanting to be a "japan travelling food cart savant" was stupid in every sense. That the two of them went along with each other's proclamation with a lame "I will support you" was so out of character to how level headed they had been portrayed totally took me off the immersion. This resolution was playing to someone's fantasy clearly and was idiotic and unrealistic in every sense of the word.
5. Showing important scenes in a post title epilogue. If I hadn't read one reviewer pointing this out, I might have missed important scenes. Bad move.
6. Kurumi's mother was altogether too air-headed for my liking and suddenly being all mature when it suited the writer's whim
7. The "eat play love" cliche reflected in both drama genres "eat well, be happy" said too often by too many people
8. The sea shell lamp arc procurement resolution was ridiculously done.

Final thoughts:
1. Straightforward girl meets boy, sparks fly, then girl falls for boy, boy transforms a lot for the girl (the timeless girl tames the boy trope). Just what majority look for in entertainment.
2. Relatable leads for the most part. Realistic portrayal of people's situations.
3. ex-husband putting in some effort to get back and be given another chance (and should have been given one imo, as he was very sincere)
4. No unnecessary drama to drag out two extra episodes! Western entertainment - take note!

Thanks for reading. Appreciate it.

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