And Yet, You Are So Sweet (2023)

A Hopefully Eye-Opening Review of the Movie

As the title entails, this was absolutely OOZING with sweetness. I am currently in my japanese romance youth phase again and I came upon this movie. This was SO MUCH fluff that it had me kicking my feet and smiling like an idiot in the middle of the night. It's a good romance movie if you just want your heart to flutter or if you're a sucker for fluff romance, you'll absolutely love this. HOWEVER...if I was about 13 years old right now, I would've said this was the best romance movie I've seen but I have half outgrown that and I wanted to review some things.

First off, the story. Again, cute moments but I just wanted to commend the producers, the writers for having to expound the concept of unrequited love. In my 21 years, it's the first time I got to hear someone say, even if it is from a fictional movie, that unrequited love is "fun". At first I was thinking how utterly ridiculous that was, but then I realized the actual feeling of having a crush. It is fun. To love someone, to like someone, to have a crush on someone. The rush of feeling these emotions are quite thrilling. And also, these days, there's a thing called happy crush. Where you just find someone that makes your day, that inspires you, and for you to look forward to stuff because you get to see them everyday. It's so similar to that. This movie made me realize, it's not uncommon.

Next, the "unrequited love game". This isn't my first japanese drama/movie, I am a veteran to japanese dramas and movies already, and I am still baffled by the concepts that they often think about. Rental boyfriends/girlfriends, being someone's pet, or even "buying" a real human on the net (don't ask about that jdrama lol) This is just one of them, except this is kind of a little more tame? BUT Realistically, the "unrequited love game" WOULD NOT be ideal, you can already guess why *points the word "stalking" in bold letters* I was honestly so confused when they said that because, huh, what's the point? You want the girl to come after you, and look like a total loser and creepy stalker? And also, woah, is this what unrequited love girlies and guys do? However, I tried to be more open about it. As much as I found it weird, some of it is kinda true. When we like someone, when we have a crush on someone, we often do the stalking...that is, usually on the internet lol. Or we would come out of our way just to see them because they make our day, we love watching them from afar and knowing what they like and want to like what they like. It just shows how crazy love is because we end up doing crazy stuff.

And with that, I also want to say how interesting it is that they kind of broke the "pretend relationship" genre. Usually it's like this, girl has broken heart, meets the popular cold guy in school, and pretends dating guy who might want his fans to back off and girl wants to forget about her past love and then in the end they for real fall for each other. BUT THIS, this was a different approach, and I LIKED that. And it all made sense when the ending came, where it was revealed that Chigira had feelings for Maya from the start. It made me think how Chigira wanted to let Maya move on, but also he courted her without her even realizing it. He wanted Maya to come to him, he wanted Maya to like him, letting her realize that HE'S THERE. And the more I think about it, it's just so sweet T T

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The acting. I wouldn't change the cast if it were me, they were perfect. But Takahashi Kyohei's acting kind of does need work. I REALLY LIKE THE PARTS WHERE HE SMILES but the expressions in some scenes irked me--I am very meticulous when it comes to, ESPECIALLY when it comes to expressions and emotions in the eyes. There were some scenes where I was looking for worry, pondering, sad expressions on his face but usually his expressions were just blank. That one scene where he was thinking if he should text Maya or not, I did not see any expression on his face.

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All in all, I would personally watch it again if I want a good heart flutter or if I just want something light and fluffy. I would recommend it for those who are still hesitant to watch it because the story's good and kinda unique, also considering how I analyzed it. But would've loved to see this as a drama series though since it felt kind of rushed. But again, go ahead and watch it!

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