Otonari Complex

Love Beyond Complexes

This drama is such a cozy and feel-good watch with a nice sprinkle of comedy. It follows the friends to lovers trope, and the female lead honestly feels like she came straight out of a manga. The male lead in the beginning is super cute, sassy, and at the same time surprisingly manly, which gives his character a special charm.

The first half was so good, but in the second half I felt like the male lead became colder and more nonchalant toward the female lead. I couldn’t tell if that was how his character was written or if it was just the acting, but it did confuse me a little.

What I love most is the message. For people who share the same kind of complex as the characters, it shows that in the end you should only care about those who truly love you as you are, and worry less about everyone else. The ending was really sweet too and left me smiling 🥺

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With this drama, the most important aspect for me to note is that it had potential. Don't get me wrong - this drama appeared to be promising but it fell flat. Whenever I rate anything around 7.0, it's usually a tell-tell sign to me that it's not the best but it's also not the worst thing I've ever seen either. This drama falls right smack dab in the middle of those two extremes.

The premise drew me in and it seemed promising but the execution fell flat. I'm not exactly sure why, but I felt the writers didn't allow this drama to reach its fullest potential. You have a drama where the gender construct/binary can be deconstructed and you do absolutely nothing with it. This drama had all the makings for a very deep dive into this particular subject and it just ... didn't. Sure, I know some viewers will say this drama leaned into the 'after school special' shtick with deconstructing the idea of a gender binary closer towards the end of the drama. However, I disagree. With respect to different cultures, I have to critique the way it was handled. It seemed more surface level than anything. Meaning - it leaned into the explanation that would be easy for someone with a very cursory understanding of this notion, which isn't terrible but it does make it very shallow. It lacked depth! There were some truly thought-provoking places this drama could have gone with this subject and they didn't. Maybe they should have consulted with someone while writing this one?

Besides that, the acting wasn't bad. It was decent enough. I will say that I don't believe that I truly grew to like these characters though. I liked Makato a LOT more than Akira, strangely enough, and that rarely happens. I never seem to enjoy the male lead more than the female lead but that's what happened here. Go figure! Despite Makato using his appearance to hide the fact that he suffered from a lack of self-love and self-esteem, he seemed more ... sure of himself than Akira did. He had no issues with standing up for himself. Akira was incredibly passive and was more of a pushover. I hated the Fumi (SFL) character a LOT and it's all because I KNEW that she was going to run right over Akira and I found it irritating every time she came on-screen. Akira lacked a backbone and she was too trusting and it showed. Sidenote: the SML (whose name I don't know/don't remember) TERRIFIED me. He was so unsettling to me. From his eyes, to his glasses, to his hair, his creepy smile - he was terrifying to me. He made my skin crawl. He gave me weirdo vibes and I didn't like him either.

There weren't many romantic moments here. Did they have chemistry? I guess ... If you're watching this for the romance, you're going to be disappointed. Little to no kisses are seen in this drama. As this is the second J Drama I've watched recently, I find that most J Dramas aren't really 'romantic' in the way that most of us are probably used to. It's cute, it's adorable, but it's not really romantic in that way. At least this subcategory of J Drama romance, that is.

Would I recommend it? Ehh, sure. It's a quick binge watch. It can be used as a palate cleanser as it's not too heavy. Would I rewatch it? Probably not. I like my romance to be more overt than this. I need more romance, I need more kissing, I need more feeling! This drama didn't give me any of that, unfortunately. Not a bad drama at all, but I expected more.

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