Romantics Anonymous

8 episodes of pure perfection!!!! Japan truly NEVER disappoints me.

I loved how the protagonists' mental disorders were portrayed so realistically and super well-acted by the actors. You could feel how difficult it is to live with the illness and the constant attempt to get better even when something is trying to stop you at all costs and you can't control it...

The way Sozuke and Hana find in each other a kind of escape valve for all the confusion that is their minds, having each other as anchors, was truly touching. Seeing their relationship grow gradually, without haste, with care and affection, going from strangers to friends, then to lovers... was just so beautiful.

The plot is really well developed, the drama was just right. Obviously, there were one or two things that were lost, but overall it was a well-constructed script, especially since I believe the focus was on the difficulties faced by people with mental disorders living their lives like anyone else, with dramas, struggles, romance, and everything else, and that's exactly what they conveyed. The other subjects weren't poorly developed, they were only developed in the basics, without depth, but it was okay... and the cinematography was impeccable, and the OST too!!

Now, what really made me think, "Hmm, what's this vibe all about?" was the guest actors (Sakaguchi Kentaro and Song Joong Ki) at the very end of episode 8... I mean, was I the only one who felt a colorful vibe coming from that 20-second exchange of glances?! Because I did, haha! Okay... I'm definitely being delulu but I felt it lol

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Rainbow Pallete

Romantics Anonymous follows an anonymous chocolatier and the new director of a chocolate shop who somehow get connected and help each other overcome their anxiety.

It's a really light yet calm romcom. There are no hard feelings, no long misunderstandings, and the characters behave like an adult, no childish attitude at all. The chocolate topic is also really fun to watch, each episode focuses on a chocolate from the "rainbow palette" package, and we follow the story behind it.

The cinematography is really great. The chemistry is on point, and the acting is good. Han Hyo-joo delivered a really great performance, and her Japanese skills are excellent. However, the script felt quite lacking for me. Because it's only an 8-episode series, some plots are left unexplored and don't get proper explanations, like the male lead's anxiety and his relationship with his family. They did explain it, but I think it would have been better if they explored it more. Some parts in the first half were also quite boring for me.

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A rom‑com that knows its lane and revels in it.

This is the kind of drama where I found myself smiling the entire time, fully aware of how predictable it was — and I’m not even bothered. It’s comfort food, plain and simple. The show knows exactly what it is, and instead of pretending to be deep or groundbreaking, it leans into the warmth. It’s meant to soothe, not challenge.

But let’s be honest: the chocolate shop’s hiring standards are… generous. They basically hire the first person who walks in, and somehow keep Hana on staff despite her breaking equipment, panicking at customers, and being physically incapable of eye contact. I fully buy her condition — the show treats her anxiety with sincerity — but I don’t buy her being thrust into a front‑facing role when she’s actively avoiding human contact. Background work? Absolutely. Serving customers? That’s a stretch even for a rom‑com.

The coincidences pile up so aggressively they stop being coincidences, and the drama is self‑aware enough to poke fun at itself. Of course the FL’s crush is best buddies with the ML. Of course the one person who triggers her panic is the same person she can suddenly tolerate. And yes, the romance flips on a misunderstanding that turns their feelings on like a switch — she redirects affection with suspicious efficiency almost towards the end of the show. But the show shrugs and says, “Yes, this is happening,” and somehow that confidence makes it entertaining.

The chocolate shop remains my favorite brand of chaos. They mobilize like a crisis response team to recreate a nostalgic treat for a regular customer — not a VIP, not royalty, just a random person who really likes chocolates. They drag a retired pastry chef out of hiding, call suppliers in the middle of the night, and treat sugar like contraband. And the customer doesn’t even like it. Peak comedy.

Now, the supporting cast… does not add charm, except for their pretty visuals. And it's no fault of the actors, but how their characters were written. Their dynamic is borderline toxic — one chases, the other retreats, and the psychologist is somehow the least emotionally mature person in the building. She’s incapable of loving, yet she’s a therapist. It’s not funny; it’s frustrating.

But the main couple? They carry the entire show. Oguri Shun as Fujiwara Sosuke is effortlessly adorable, and Han Hyo Joo is so convincing in her role I genuinely thought she was Japanese pretending to be Korean. Their chemistry is soft, awkward, and incredibly endearing.

What grounds the whole thing is the ending. No magical cure, no unrealistic transformation — just two awkward people trying their best to be “normal,” while accepting they’re their own brand of “crazy.” Predictable, yes. But heartwarming, sincere, and exactly the kind of sweetness it promises.

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We all need chocolate

A very cute healing romance set in the world of chocolate.

PLOT: The FL, an anonymous chocolatier, has completely isolated herself, unable to meet anyone's gaze except that of the ML, the chocolate factory's director, who, in turn, cannot touch anyone except the FL. These two wounded souls will heal and learn to love each other.

+++Excellent cast: I wasn't familiar with the two leads, but they are talented, subtle, and perfect for their roles.
+++ Beautifully direction, well-paced, and with gorgeous chocolate visuals.

### Personally, I wasn't interested in the second romance. The therapist, who herself needs therapy, is neither professional nor competent. Hiro's character isn't developed (I'm not questioning the actor's talent, but the storyline).

=> Very sweet series.
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Très cute healing romance ds le milieu chocolatier.

PLOT: La FL, anonymous Chocolatier, s'est complètement isolée, ne pouvant croiser de regard, sauf celui du ML, directeur de la chocolaterie, qui lui, ne peut toucher personne sauf la FL. Ces 2 âmes blessées vont se guérir et apprendre à s'aimer.

+++Excellent cast : je ne connaissais pas les 2 leads, mais ils sont talentueux, subtiles, parfaits pour ces rôles.
+++ Belle réalis°, rythmée, et avec de magnifiques images de chocolat.

### Personnellement, la romance 2 ne m'a pas intéressée. La psy qui a elle-même besoin d'1 thérapie, n'est ni professionnelle, ni compétente. Le personnage de Hiro n'est pas approfondi (je ne mets pas en cause le talent de l'acteur, mais la storyline).

=> Série très sweet.

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A simple and calm story yet gives me butterflies

A story of two broken people miraculously comforting each other in a subtle way.

Two of my favorite actors collaborating for a warm and heartfelt story of healing. Oguri Shun and Han Hyo Joo never disappoint. I love how they interact. Very mature. Very trusting.

I wanted this series to be long, at least 12 episodes, but nevertheless there are no loose ends in the story.

The soundtrack is also very calming and just hits the mood.

I want them to be partnered again. Or maybe Takeru Sato :)

Just a wonderful drama. Will watch this again.

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Sweet like chocolate! ^_^

Overall 9.5/10
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Just finished this and couldn't wait to post a review!!

Such a sweet ending, goes so well with the theme of chocolate happiness. The cameos at the end were a pleasant surprise making the last episode all the more fun. Loved the chemistry between the characters and just everyone portrayed the smallest details with care. I loved this! Han Hye-Joo did an amazing job as Lee Hana - I was fully immersed in the drama. I haven't watched many Japanese dramas but the more I watch the more I appreciate their style of storytelling. The pacing felt perfectly smooth. Highly recommend!! Why a 9.5 out of 10 you may ask...well I loved it so so much but it's not able to top some of my 10/10s!
A truly sweet treat!🥰🍫

(Also the child actor that played young Sosuke is SO CUTE and expressive!!!)

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Very Good

Netflix may have destroyed K-Dramas, but they've really helped J-Dramas. Romatics Anonymous was surprisingly good even though some of it reminded me of Tastefully Yours (not a bad thing, I actually liked TY). It was well plotted out - each episode focusing on one of the handmade candies offered in boxed set. It seemed natural how FL/ML grew to respect and then love each other - although there was certainly a supernatural element since she, who couldn't look anyone in the eye, and he, who couldn't touch anyone, managed to look and touch each other without any problem. ML fell first since FL had the mistaken impression that SML was the man who saved her and thus, wasted most of the drama trying to work up the courage to confess to her crush. It was heart-warming to see FL become accepted by the other workers at the chocolate store. It was just a really good drama considering what Japan normally produces. I'm not sure why it's called Romantics Anonymous when the only anonymous person was FL who anonymously provided one of the candies in the boxed set. But most of these Asian dramas have odd names so whatever. I didn't quite understand SML's fascination with FL/ML's therapy doctor or their relationship. Maybe I missed something but I didn't understand what her issue was with being with SML. They apparently slept together and then she keeps running away from having a relationship with him. That couple was just...off. SML, although sexy, displayed little emotion so I found it hard to believe he was in love with the doctor. As for the doctor, she was just confusing and not very likeable. It felt as though the writer was 'forcing' a relationshp between these two because the plot needed another couple for some reason. Trust me, it would have been fine without their relationship.

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How much is just westernization and tropes, how much is real? still there is genuinely Japanese

This drama reminded me of Bon Appetit Your Majesty, with all the food preparation videos... I was watching the last several episodes after dinner and I almost wanted to throw up seeing all that food.

That aside... The story yes is pretty much the tropes and a mix/repeat of Tastefully Yours and Bon Appettit. I was thinking - ah, the Western audience on Netflix, just interested in sex and food and some killing... just like 2006 american movie Idiocracy predicted... yeah the usa does live that way...

And then the Asian tropes - the loser FL, anxious, incompetent, unable to live unless some guy protects her, etc etc etc All the scenes where FL agonizes bc her mind is fogged up and her anxiety took over - those are TYPICAL SEXIST SCENES that are the staple plot of most asian dramas... that is suuuuuuuuuuuper disgusting... Just like typical scenes of lewd sexuality of FLs in western shows.... The same disgusting sexist put down, just two different extremes.. In both cases, showing women as brainless, incompetent PAWNS.

Watching this FL for the ENTIRE drama being a clutz, not being able to operate in the world, not able to communicate, and always anxious - SOOOOOO MANY FL IN KDRAMAS AND CDRAMAS LIKE THAT - IT IS DISGUSTING, QUIT IT FINALLY !!!!!!!! IT IS LIKE WATCHING A PATIENT FROM THE PSYHCH WARD!!!!! GET OVER YOUR SOCIETAL SEXISM!!! A woman like that is not cute, she is DUMB. and that is precisely why dramas are like that. They promote dumb women. So that men can rule over them. It is super extra **** disgusting *****

So I started watching this drama with a rather flippant attitude.
I wanted to see what Japanese copied from Koreans, too. Because all Japanese dramas I watched - were not good, except "Only for the married" bc of the main actress, who is PHENOMENAL.

So this j-drama felt a lot like k-drama because acting and plot were stronger and there was warmth, it was totally like a kdrama but in Japanese, with Japanese customs. But still.... it was different than a kdrama.

First, I noticed that the pace was slower and the plot was a lot more simple. Not so much backstabbing and games, more honesty and team work. No rushing around. The conversation was deeper.

The slow plot made it possible to LOOK while you are watching. The deep and rather short, to-the-point conversation forced me to focus.

Male actor was acting like an american actor, which also captured interest because he was showing A LOT of emotion and he also was a lot more thoughtful, expressive and soft than I ever have seen in a Japanese male, young or old. I was perplexed bc I have never seen a Japanese person behave like that. So I was watching wondering WTH is going on. WHAT THE EMOTION??? FYI that is the new slang after the kdrama about working out, based on the main character, a crazy personal trainer. SO instead of WTF or WTH you way WT_____ whatever you are commenting on. In this case - what the emotion?? on a Japanese male???

So then I first noticed that ML had pitch black hair and slightly brownish skin. He also has big eyes and I wasnt sure if that was plastic surgery, like Koreans do, .... but his shiney ***beautiful*** hair was certainly not k-drama trope. Koreans are racist or shall I say, white-$$$$-kissers, and try to put white powder on their face and try to bleach their hair brown, and do plastic surgery, to look as white as possible. Thick lips, big eyes, small noses, ... I am not sure if there is any natural face in kdramas anymore... ? And the good guys in kdramas have brown hair and bad guys have black hair. I cannot stand to see that.

THIS ML WAS NOT TRYING TO LOOK WHITE. His beautuful hair was pitch black and shiney, and just beautiful. Did they put some shine into it? It was SHINY BLACK. ANd his skin and face with some wrinkles was real. This is one really good looking *real* guy.

I LOOKED AT HIS HAIR WITH ADMIRATION, TO ME HIS PITCH BLACK HAIR IS A SIGN OF REBELLION. OF RESISTANCE TO WESTERNIZATION, A SIGN OF STICKING TO JAPANESE, not kissing up to white people.

I am not sure if ML actor is trained in the West though, bc his facial expressions were quite.. ahem.. american, I think. He looks like he is acting in an american drama... I dont think a Japanese person is THAT expressive...

It doesnt matter. His pitch black shiney hair was definitely like carrying a Japanese flag on him, and I totally totally totally ADMIRE that courage to be themselves.

Down with trying to look white. Africans, Arabs, some Indians, and kdramas and c-dramas try to look white, and that is just disgusting.

This ML was a totally beautiful representative of Japan :) He is very handsome. And unusually buff. Other Japanese actors really lack muscle and look like urban people who never exercise. So it was nice to see a male from Japan who is athletic.

Also, the women in this drama were normal looking. Korean actresses can be SO SKINNY that you just want to put them on a feeding tube and send them hunger relief charity packets.... They look like starving kids in Africa, but dressed in nice clothes and put on a pedestal and worshipped as "fashionable." In reality they are just super unhealthy, I was so pleased to see some legs and arms and butts in this drama. Real women. Not skeletons.

But I digress.

So anyways, I kept watching, CURIOUS as to what will happen.

It was very slow for what I am used to and I was in a hurry to get to work, and it was quite tropey, and the female lead with her anxious behavior was the TYPICAL asian drama trope, FL who is just mentally ill and incapable of living her life properly and MUST HAVE A GUY TO BABYSIT HER,
luckily he too had handicaps so he wasnt the typical he-man for incapable chick, and also she was very competent professionally and taking steps to deal with her mental illness, and he was very kind and expressive, so overall... it was not too sexist and disgusting as is many kdramas....
Still it was quite tropey ... Luckily some tropes were skipped, like ... asian families owning their kids, ML did not dominate or order FL around too much, etc.

but there was something that was different than k-dramas.
This drama was simpler and easier to understand... as I have seen in Japanese dramas before - they are too simple, like the audience is little kids, the plot is too obvious...
But ... although some parts were too rosey childish, there was dialogue that was waaaaay too much deeper than a kdrama ...
and the pace that was so slow and everyone TAKING THE TIME to pay attention to each other and CONVERSE IN A MEANINGFUL WAY...
It had the feel of a Zen encounter kinda :)
and also... it was more healing. The conversations were a lot deeper than in a kdrama.
Also, it was real life and some details were not rosey - he offered an umbrella, then took it back LOL she cussed back at him LOL He learned Korean to learn what she was cussing LOL

Where I really started paying attention is when the therapist entered, and very compassionately offered some insights. The gentleness and SANITY o what she was saying, and a helping hand with gentle warm insight, made me really pay attention.

IT WAS CLEAR THAT THE TIMING AND COMMUNICATION PATTERN IN THIS DRAMA WAS ON ANOTHER LEVEL, ON A DEEPER LEVEL THAN I HAVE EVER SEEN IN A KDRAMA.

That's when it hit me that I was watching something slow and hypnotical that sucked me in, bc it was DEEP. It is like looking at a lake, doing nothing, and then falling into very deep "water" into a different gear of your brain.

It was more .... sophisticated and gentle and deeper than a kdrama. I guess we got the best of the Japanese style.

I am not even going to mention cdramas, which imo are very crude and rough and feel like a military drill most of the time, and are super high on "drama" and hype to the point I cannot stand, and also have no humor, no lightness, no real joy, and often look like super cheap fake obvious imitations of the west. Cdramas are just .... like life in China LOL

But this Korean-Japanese mix was something classy... Although this is a raging rom com trash, with all the tropes and product placements, ... stil... it was elegant and wise.

THE CONVERSATION WAS CRISP AND HONEST AND TO THE POINT. I really appreciated that.

Somehow the whole show was elegant. And very warm adn WISE.

As a student of shiatsu, as a lover of coans, haiku, onsens, nature bathing, Zen and Japanese fashion and art, etc etc etc I felt like I finally experienced it in a tv drama.
It was gentle and deep and very considerate.

I still wonder if this is how people really ARE In Japan, and how much of what I have seen is just "asian hollywood" aka fabricated scenes that do NOT match the reality of daily life AT ALL. American movies and tv series are totally totally not like everyday life, Everything in there is made up fantasty to make you "feel good".

In kdramas, I have no idea what people really look like, since everyone got plastic surgery. I have no idea how ppl live, since so much of the drama is written for product placements.

So I still have my doubts about this jk drama too.... How much is real and how much is just a show that esp caters to grabbing $$$$ of the western audience.... The chocolate, the bricks restaurant, the wedding dress, the Catholic church wedding, etc etc etc So much westernization.

That is one more reason why I loved the pitch black hair of ML. At least his hair was somewhat real :) He had black hair and it was not hidden.

Even though ML was acting americanized and I wondered WOULD a real japanese male act like him?
I suspect he is someone trained in Holywood or by Holywood or spent some time in the USA but is really Japanese -
Why do I think that? bc he cannot smile LOL it is clear smiling is not something he does often LOL Also, he has not straightened or whitened his teeth That is very Asian too. Also, drinking tea or big city water stains teeth. That is very Asian too.

So I do not know how much of this drama is just a japanese version of a western fantasy ...

But the little snippets that got put in the drama have Something that is definitely a Japanese contribution and definitely a gift for all of us.

A little bit of WISDOM, in a very quiet deep way

I really appreciate that thoughtful, considerate, warm, meditative, deep feeling of Japan, that certain elegance and "Zen" feeling

That ability to be super deep in a very simple and elegant way
No drama
Just efficient warm handling of things in a considerate and honest way

very Japanese at its best

I love it

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Short and Sweet

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Expectations met

You know when you see a trailer for a new show and you have high expectations for it because of the story, characters, actors whatever, and then you watch it, and it exceed your expectations!!

I've been watching Japanese/Korean dramas for so long that I started to kinda know what exactly they are going to offer, and tbh Netflix shows have the same pattern in term of everything.

I was so excited for this drama that I kept pushing watching it till I get in a slump and have nothing to watch, and I enjoyed every minute of it, it was exactly what I expected and more.

First let's state what I liked:
I've been a huge fan of Shun since Hanakimi, I don't care about what he does in his life, I just like his acting, and HyoJoo is one of my favourite Korean actresses so this combo is a win, no matter what, like it has to be the worst story ever existed to ruin this for me, also the rest of the cast were great, Jin, Yuri and Ryu, everyone is just a magnet for me to like it.
Story: a unique one, it's not original but I still find it interesting and fun, I love that they didn't magically cure them by the end.
Acting: as I said, everyone is an indication that you will enjoy the acting here even if you don't like the story.

Now is it the perfect drama?? Not at all, not in the slightest, it has many flaws, but the only thing that made me love it so much is it was as I expected it to be, it didn't disappoint me because I knew exactly how this is going to be like, all the cliché and expected twists I saw them coming, and everything fits my taste and preference.

Now what I don't like the most is the editing, specially in some episodes endings and the begining of the next, also not something I don't like but I still don't know the reason behind the 2 cameos at the end, like the last 30 seconds of JoongKi? And a minute of Kentaro didn't add anything to the series? But I don't hate that, it's just odd.
The storyline and the way everything has to be solved in the last 30 mins and the cliché moments like how the FL was actually saved by the ML not his friend, the way that the ML sometimes forget his phobia and touch stuff and knock on doors without disinfectants as in the whole 7th episode and the way they didn't explore more of the ML brother death and the reason for his phobia all were questionable moments, but can easily ignored IMO~

That been said, I'd definitely rewatch it and recommend it, because it is exactly my taste I really loved every second of it ❣️

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