This review may contain spoilers
Watch a nude portrait drying is more engaging and sexier
As you would expect, the first couple of episodes were quite cute and set up the contract marriage scenario. To say the two leads are introverts is an understatement. They have low emotional intelligence and barely adequate social skills.Contract marriage is a staple of j/k/c-dramas so it is a well worn path. There are certain expectations when we watch such a show. The journey of the OTP is never going to be easy, but it is their growing love for each other and their eventual coming together that give us the raison d’etre to watch. It is in this regard that the show left us wanting.
In terms of production and acting, they are both fine. It is up to the usual j-drama standard. The actors played their roles well enough and mostly by the book. The problem lies mostly with the script.
In essence, the writer-san want to show us a different style of marriage/relationship where the couple continue to lead independent lives and only meet up when the mood suits them. This is happening more and more with mature aged couples who have established home and a comfortable work/life routine. They don’t want to upend their lives completely just for the sake of a relationship. However, in this case, it goes beyond that, our leads just don’t know how to live with other people.
They are constantly confused about their feelings and in denial. They internalise everything and hide behind excuses even when their hearts are shouting for attention.
Misunderstanding is a given. The noble idiot card is being playing repeatedly. Almost every subplot is about failed relationship or difficult romances which undermine their house of cards. It was cute for a while, but it soon become draining and unproductive. They do get jealous when the SF/ML shows up but the effect is never consistent. Sometimes it is productive but other times they are self-destructive. Most cliché plot device that normally would bring the OTP closer together are foiled.
In the end, the lack of chemistry between the leads is the killer blow. They have the odd sweet moment but most of the time they are just awkward around each other and pushing each other away. Their relationship is just flat. The ML is a wet mop. You can’t get a rise out of him if you fill him with helium. Just about every romantic trope used is muted.
Every thread are closed with a pink bow in the last episode. Happy ending is a given. Sadly, the main love line remains anticlimactic unto the bitter end. The proposal is a damp squib and there wasn’t even a kiss to seal the deal. Of course, they live apart after they got married (sans wedding ceremony). Even when they meet up on their days off, they behave like acquaintances, polite acquaintances to be sure. There is no PDA and definitely no skinship. All the while the voiceover (FL) is telling us how much they are in love. Indeed! I’m not even going to ask if they have ever slept together. From the viewer’s point of view, there is scant reward after sitting through 10 episodes.
The Show is dull, tropey but watchable. The travelogue is nice and there are cute moments. Regrettably, the show is just not very rewarding from a viewer's perspective.
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Enjoy The Story
I love how these 2 character who do not socialize turn to each other for help. I enjoy the story how they decide to fake marriage and they start learning about each other. Both are trying to avoid going to a new office that there company has open up. The characters in this story are funny and the hole story is very cute. Each character tell their story of the reason why they do not want to be chosen to go to the new office. You cheer for the lead character nd hope they will stay together. The ending is great.Was this review helpful to you?
Alas, a missed opportunity
This "Kekkon Surutte, Hontou Desu ka?" had all the ingredients it needed to be a very good - if not outright a great - dorama...but failed miserably due to the main characters being written as a pair of robots. It's even more infuriating, considering that the leads, Aoi Wakana and Sato Kanta, can both act very well but weren't allowed to show their potential, compelled as they were to portray those two expressionless characters (such a waste of talent!). And adding insult to injury, it's not like the writers can't write either, as they also showed their potential here and there, when the situation allowed - alas, too briefly. The rest of the cast, the "packaging" and the music were all pretty good, so with differently written main characters this would've really been interesting!The way *I* would have written it (very "90s style", LOL - roles that could've been written for the 90s' Sorimachi and Takeuchi, if you know what I'm sayin'): I would have had the ML as a male chauvinist philanderer, and the FL as a staunch, borderline man-hating feminist. And then I would have had them change and grow bit by bit, due to many (often outrageous and funny) happenings, until their final realization that they both would be way better, stronger and happier together, in mutual love and respect.
Cheesy and unoriginal? Yep, you bet. But a gazillion times more entertaining and fun to watch than this yawnfest! ^___-
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This review may contain spoilers
Good Enough
Japanese Drama " Kekkon Surutte, Honto Desu Ka? " is a contract marriage drama.However, and even though the performances from the main leads were enjoyable and there were some cute moments, with an interesting main story, the drama got overcomplicated for no reason. It was silly for the main lead to keep refusing her partner, when she was the one who was hoping that he would ask her out for real and she was the first one who got jealous when they were nothing but partners in crime.
Anyway, other than that, and not considering the second female lead who overdo it by trying to be cute and friendly, the rest of the drama was smooth and enjoyable.
So, overall, six out of ten.
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↩↖⬆↗↪ Who Wrote The Map of Love? °very cute°
Go on a short trip with travel agents. They know how to get around.Aoi Wakana is Honjoji Rika - she's a bit of a cartophile. She doesn't mind being alone. Not one lil bit 〰 All she needs is a 🗺. Sato Kanta plays Ohara Takuya. Both leads are good, but he makes the show. He's so earnest, and it's adorable. Kamo is a cat that he rescued. Kamo had been abused and she's only recently started turning her back to show her tail to him; a sign of trust. So when their workplace announces that somebody #single would be selected to head up the new Anchorage branch (ALASKA!?), he couldn't bear the thought of taking his 🐱 there. He couldn't bear the thought of leaving her with someone else, either.
In the meantime, Rika looked up all the stats for Anchorage and studied it on the map. It's over 5000km from Japan... She ain't going there! When she runs into Takuya on their day off, she suggests they enter a fake engagement and start planning their wedding. That way, they will no longer be considered single, and as such, they won't be forced to move to The Wall, um, I mean Alaska.
Planning a wedding is much like planning a trip, anyway. Rika begins mapping it out. She doesn't just map out the wedding but the whole relationship, rather - dates, cover stories, places. Travel agents? She shoulda been CIA. These 2 are positively brilliant (mostly Rika). They are navigating flawlessly! ~/except for/ that one time at work when somebody overheard them discussing their dastardly plans~ Now they are anonymously being threatened with exposure. OH NO!!!
Forget that! Even WORSE - Their parents found out (half of) the truth. They think their kids are engaged!
Rika and Takuya are socially awkward and withdrawn (they each portrayed trees in school plays). Rika has true grit. She will hunker down and handle situations that arise. He's a big marshmallow. Together, they are just cute. This show is adorbs.
As they get deeper into their ruse, they are forced to get deeper into their ruse. “What!? You are going home and not taking Rika?“ The office is scandalized (if they only knew). Rika ends up going home to meet Takuya's family. They have to act like they are living together and invite the work friends over. Suspicions still aren't entirely diffused so they are forced to scurry for 10 episodes. They scurry so much they hardly realize what's happening to their hearts.
MFTW is a 2022 release that is rated 7.4 on MDL. It is 1 season consisting of 10 30-40-minute episodes. Kanome Keiko & Takaishi Akihiko are the screenwriters. It was adapted from the manga "Kekkon Surutte, Hontou Desu ka? - 365 Days to the Wedding" by Wakaki Tamiki, whose most popular work is: The World God Only Knows. The director is Miyawaki Ryo.
“When I was little I thought adults were good at everything… But the older I get, the more confused I am about how the world works.” As they spend time together, Takuya gradually opens up to Rika more. Always reserved on the outside, Takuya has no clue that his endearing authenticity is crumbling Rika from the inside out. She's one to chart things out and lay down parameters. With all the sincerity he can muster, earnestly trying to roll with Rika’s crazy ideas, watching Takuya is… Simple and cute… I feel like a hot cocoa, about now.
It gets more endearing as the episodes trek by. He's shy, but he can rise to the occasion. She's terrified of her feelings and simply being /touched/, but she's falling for him. She's quite a bit like Kamo.
MFTW is intended to be simple escapism. The pithy soundtrack augments the lite mood perfectly. It is relaxing and sweet. Some will find too simple, but sometimes that is exactly what we're looking for. It's a purrrfectly comfortable excursion.
There's final content after the credits roll in ep10.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣7.7 📝7.4 🎭7.6 💓6.5 🦋5 🌞6 🎨6 🎵/🔊6.8 😅3.7 😭1.5 😱2 😯3 🤔4 💤0 🔚7.8
Age 12+ Language: $uck; Marital troubles a kid looks for a missing dad, adult situations
It's all tame but probably not meant for elementary schoolers.
Re-📺? Toss up. It's relaxing and cute
In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:
Japanese lite romcoms: Maid Sama (10), Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo (7.8), Love, Chunibyo And Other Delusions (8.4), Toradora (8.5)
Korean Modern Day:
Mad For Each Other 7.8 ~silly fun;
My Secret Romance 7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks);
A Witch's Love 7.8;
Love to Hate You 8.9;
Her Private Life 8;
Touch your heart 8.2;
Romance is a bonus book 7.9;
Boys Over Flowers 8 ~ melodrama to the max;
Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10;
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9;
Love Struck in the City 7.3;
Hospital Playlist 9;
My Mister 9.5;
More Than Friends 8;
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9;
Something in the Rain 9
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