Fukushu Kareshi: Dekiai Shacho no Kao ni wa Ura ga Aru (2025)

Felt like an express train to a light-hearted romance with family turbulence shaking up the journey!

This drama comes in a small package, but it's filled to the brim with classic J-drama flavors like families, quiet vengeance, the self-discovery and the courage to push back. It doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, but it turns it with enough skill to keep things rolling.

The pace of the story was fast, maybe a bit too fast for my liking. Things moved along quickly that some plot points and emotional moments didn’t have time to really land. I kind of had to fill in some of the gaps myself as a viewer and move on. There is some character growth, but it’s not deep since the drama doesn’t have a lot of time to unpack everyone’s backstory. Still, it never felt boring.

While that keeps it moving, it also feels a little rushed in parts especially the ending. I am all here for tying all the knots neatly at the end but they pushed too much under the rug in a blink. The antagonists were forgiven a bit too quickly with little to no redemption arcs considering how their selfish decisions affected so many lives.

The romance is subtle, not one of those where the passion between the leads overwhelms everything, but rather one that lingers. I genuinely believed that they liked each other, despite the dramatic beginning of their relationship.
Communication is present, at least for the most part and misunderstandings don't drag on unnecessarily.

Acting across the board was decent. Suzuki Jin can act and I hope he gets better and more complex roles to explore in future. Konno Ayaka also did a good job but at times it felt a bit over the top but considering the nature of her character, it is understandable.

Overall, this was an enjoyable one-time watch. While it has its flaws, particularly with pacing and character depth, it still delivers as an entertaining love story. I would recommend it if you are in the mood for something short and light, rather than something deep or intense.

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Nothing out of the ordinary can still leave you satisfied

I got positively surprised. Don't expect the unexpected with this and you might be, too. It's a short drama going through quite a lot of clichéd plot in a rather short amount of time, ticking a lot of the standard J-drama boxes. But although it has nothing unique to it, it's still worth watching for several highlights, including the perspectives on family, revenge and standing up for yourself.

Let me start in reverse: The ending was wrapped up pretty nicely despite being a bit rushed and I didn't expect to feel the amount of satisfaction I do now that I finished watching. We get a few life lessons, nothing new, but definitely heartwarming. We also get to see character development, although due to lack of time it was a bit rushed. There's barely any angst, issues are resolved quickly and the drama is more on the calm side. Let me use the word rushed for the last time to say that the overall pace was steady, but fast, and didn't allow for everything to actually mend together. You will have to do that yourself.

Other than that, the FL is calm and chooses her words wisely, which makes it a bit harder to relate to her. But it also becomes pretty obvious that she's a genuinely good person, making you root for her happiness nonetheless. ML and especially his reasoning is a bit...over the top at times, I'll be blaming them having to cut things short. But his character development and self-reflection did show after all.
Chemistry-wise I personally didn't feel it, but in typical Japanese drama manner they had both of them act reserved with one another throughout the relationship which makes it hard to actually judge. I found their overall relationship believable enough without the chemistry.
Almost all characters felt rather one-dimensional and I would have loved a deeper insight into each person's reasoning behind their actions, but it is very rare of such short dramas to accomplish that so I'm not deducting points here.

The acting isn't overly great, but believable enough to follow along with the story. It's not a highly emotional plot anyways, although I bet many viewers wished it was.

All in all, this is not a grand love story but rather a quick breeze through drama clichés, topped with a couple nice words and wrapped up to leave you satisfied enough to not regret watching. Before watching the last two episodes, I would have rated this a 6.5, but I expected a lot more unneccessary drama resolved last-minute and got a nice wrap-up with some wise words instead, so 7.5 it is.

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