Marry My Husband: Japan

3.5 ☆ ── almost satisfactory

i haven't watched the korean version and neither have i read the original materials so this review is based solely on the japanese series. what i liked most about the show is that misa focuses on being a self-sufficient person and doesn't depend on wataru bcz she realises that she did have the choice in her past life to stop depending on other people. she doesn't dump every bad thing on others and instead focuses on what she can do in a given situation. i also liked that she goes through moral dilemma even in the last episodes bcz there is def a grey area in setting up other people for your mishaps; given how good/naive she was, she'll obviously not turn a villain without a second thought. i really liked misa and the actress's portrayal was more than satisfactory. in the second half however, reina stood out to me and reminded me of the supporting actress of the drama '49 days'. the young actress and the older actress both played reina so well. they acted with their eyes, i felt so bad whenever she even so slightly let slip the hurt that motivated her to do what she did. at the end of the day, reina was just a kid who wanted some attention and love and with no role model to follow, she leeched onto misa. the casting for reina and tomoya was perfect, tomoya just looks like the irritating good-for-nothing momma's boy and reina is creepy and psychopathic. it's just sad that she never tries to be better than misa, she wants to have exactly what misa has. i liked wataru for being level-headed and solution-oriented although in the last episode they made him superhuman-like with the wound. however, the actor lacked expressions so it was difficult to gauge what he was feeling at times. overall, the writing is good and quite coherent.

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My first ever Japanese Drama! Now my expectations will be so high...

I've never watched a Japanese drama before, so I'm surprised I even started this. I know it's based off the Korean one, but sadly I couldn't watch that one because I didn't really like the cast. Also, unfortunately for me, I have to find the ML attractive before I start a drama 😅😅 I did know the general gist of the story so this one was pretty straightforward and was an easy 10-episode watch.
The actors in this were great, and really played their part well. From villains going through their evil monologues to the mains sharing sweet words to each other, I honestly really liked the characterization and casting of everyone.
For those of you who watch Chinese dramas, you'd know these types of time travel dramas now have terrible terrible endings because of the censorship rule, but I loved this ending. It was so sweet, though I do wish they showed a bit more of the romance other than words of affirmation lol
Very solid 8/10! Hope to find some more as good :D

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More nuance, great addition

Overall, a great addition and viewpoint of this revenge story where a woman goes back in time in order to re-write a fatal destiny with her boyfriend/husband and best friend from school.

Some thoughts on this version vs the Korean version.

Japanese version:
The emphasis is on the FL and so is more introspective, and the flow of the story is slower as it unwinds. This version focuses on the journey and does a better job showing a meek submissive girl growing into a confident (but not abrasive) woman. Her death here is far more dramatic and public vs the Korean version.

How the ML fits into the FL's story is also more mysterious until finally revealed. The ending is far more dramatic and the scenery spectacular. The ML seems more tortured here vs the K-drama where he just comes across as sad.

The parents being affair partners doesn't happen (which is something a bit too coincidental in the K-drama version). There is a lot more backstory given to the 2nd FL which shows how she really is psychologically damaged.

The best friend BF gives a "I'll wear your skin and take your life!" vibe. Just did a rewatch and the 2nd FL (antagonist) played by Shiraishi Sei gives a phenomenal performance. Wow. Her eyes are amazing as her personality shifts from duplicitous and cunning 'friend' to murderous fiend. There is one place where the skin under her eye starts trembling! She's mesmerizing in this role.

On the down side of the J-drama, most of the background sets were ho-hum. There is a lot of standing or sitting around talking without much action until the end. The K-drama was more dynamic in terms of staging the actors and the backgrounds were more vibrant (although the J-drama ending was better imo).

Korean version:
Most of the action happens in the office environment and the heroine comes across as confrontational very quickly. The romance happens faster and there is more of it. I also felt the financial manipulation that the FL did with the stocks was explained better and fitted into a returned to the past story. Who wouldn't want to take advantage of your prior knowledge?

The FL and ML plot together midway through and while I liked the beginning, the FL's ruthless attitude about making her former husband and friend suffer started to sour me on her. She didn't give them a chance to change. The FL and best friend relationship gave off a bit of girl love vibe as I definitely could see the BF thinking "I'll have her or no one will."

Overall, if this storyline intrigues you, watch them both! Together they act as bookends to a great storyline, providing different angles to the characters.

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Great drama adaptation from a webtoon

First thing first, I rarely watch a drama adapter from webtoon especially if I have read the webtoon. I’ve read and watched Business Proposal. While I love and reread the webtoon many times, I can’t say the same about the drama. This review might be lengthy and contains major spoiler so please bear with me 🙂

I’ve watched this drama purely out of the boredom. The first time I’ve tried to watch this, I just left within the first 5 minutes. But then, at one night i just need something to read/watch before bed so I decided to continue this drama. The initial plan of watching 1 episode ended up to watch 3 episodes as I’m HOOKED!! Now, I didn’t watch the Korean version as it didn’t interest me enough (business proposal trauma 🫣) so I can’t compare. But what I like the most is they keep the essentials from the webtoon while also adding a twist that feels original and coherent with the overall story.

I know that Jdorama have shorter episodes compare to Kdrama, so they really focusing the story on the 4 main leads (more on Misa and Wataru, less on Reina and Tomoya). So I felt I a bit bummed they didn’t really explore on Ms. Sumiyoshi’s story (the cheating, illness, and the child kidnappintg attempt) nor Miku and Yuto’s relationship as they did in the webtoon, but it’s understandable. It’s a nice touch to mention the Covid outbreak as it happens within the last 10 years.

Now, Reina’s character in the webtoon tends to be more annoying and childish while her character in this drama is just straight up devil and messed up. When we were showed little Reina’s circumstances, we might feel sympathy with her. But as story goes towards the end, she just wiped out all of the sympathy viewers had on her as she kept being unapologetically evil. I really enjoy Shiraisi’s acting as Reina because she can make you wish all the worst to her character. Tomoya’s character both in webtoon and Jdorama are equally annoying and trash. But her mom’s character is quite funny actually in the dorama.

Koshiba and Takeru’s chemistry is just *chef kiss* very great acting from both of them are delivered. I love the mature relationship they have in second life (though the act where Wataru saying harsh things to Misa to “keep her safe” is too Kdrama-ish lol). I also love that they did everything that Wataru have wished for by the end of episode. Too bad we didn’t get their wedding as a finale. I personally think they should make a 1.5 hour for the last episode because I really need more of their interactions 😌

Several things that are different between the webtoon and the dorama:
1. The pet changes from cat to turtle (I read that turtle has its own symbolic in Japan)
2. Wataru is not Misa’s direct supervisor while he is in the webtoon
3. The way the Misa and Wataru’s death in first timeline as well as Reina and Tomoya’s death in second timeline is different compare to webtoon (although I kinda forget whether Jihyuk dead or not in the webtoon)
4. Misa’s grandmother is an addition for the sake of plot. They don’t have this character in the webtoon

I think this is very nice drama adaptation out of webtoon. Korea production studio and writers should take notes from this writer to deliver the essence of the webtoon while making it quite original and not to add too much unnecessary filler (😷 😷 Business Proposal 😷 😷). If you have read the novel, I think you would not be disappointed by this version.

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good drama

I was obsessed with it up until episode eight — I honestly thought it might end up being the best Japanese drama I’ve ever watched. But the last two episodes felt weirdly rushed. Until episode eight, it was this psychological, romantic, slightly thriller-ish story that played a lot with the butterfly effect, but then the ending suddenly stopped making sense. Everyone started blaming the main character for their own problems, and that really bothered me. I wanted them to realize they were responsible for their own mess. The ending could’ve been way more dramatic and interesting.

I liked the female lead a lot… as long as she wasn’t crying. Her crying scenes didn’t really work for me. Takeru Satoh, though, was amazing as always.

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I've loved you for both lifetimes

This is a great romance drama - and it's been a while since I've watched a Japanese one in this genre that was so satisfying in terms of writing and chemistry. I have not yet watched the Korean original, but this one is an enjoyable watch from beginning to end, with a love story that has poignant moments and good old palpable romantic chemistry between the leads. The rebirth and psycho thriller elements involving the antagonists are well-incorporated into the story - just don't expect anything super extraordinary there in terms of writing. At least there is an attempt to make the villains more dimensional than most idol dramas. Definitely on the of the best for me this year in terms of Asian dramas.

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Live without regrets, without waiting for a chance that might never come.

I will be perfectly honest - if I have not seen the Korean version, did not know how the story goes and was able to experience it all for the first time watching the Japanese adaptation, I would rate it higher. Knowing all the twists and turns did take away from the excitement I could have felt.

With that, I would for sure recommend not even looking at the Korean version and just watching this one. It’s better in almost all areas.

Starting with the story - cutting the number of episodes to 10 was a wise choice. The pacing has to be tight to keep the tension up. At the same time, they managed not to bombard me with rage-inducing scenes one after another, giving me time to breathe and calm down with heartwarming moments between leads, but also truly adorable scenes of growing friendship between Misa, Yuriko and Miku. I don’t know how, but they were able to seemingly blend borderline telenovela and slice of life and all the scenes had perfect flow and smooth transitions.

I truly appreciate how, despite the crazy plot, the whole show felt weirdly grounded in reality. All thanks to the characters’ writing. Four main leads truly felt like real people rather than exaggerated caricatures of cliche tropes (as they did in the Korean version). Kanbe Misa was not as much of a pushover in her second life as I thought she would be. Suzuki Wataru, while still ridiculously perfect, had that goofy side to him that made it a bit more believable. And both Esaka Reina and Hirano Tomoya were not as psychotic (this is one of the aspects I actually liked in the Korean version more - Soo Min was just a different level of evil).

Most big plot moments were delivered in just the right time, with just the right amount of flare and drama. The execution was close to perfection in hitting these highlights. Wish it had more romance? I guess cutting episodes means removing some aspect, they did leave all the important bits in, and it's more about Kanbe Misa and her journey anyway, but damn I wished to see more romantic scenes, because Satoh Takeru is just that hot.

Acting wise, as much as I love Satoh Takeru and I truly believe he aced the role, the true star was undoubtedly Koshiba Fuka. I believed every tear, every smile, every smirk and every line. Be it happiness, sadness, anger, helplessness or hopefulness, frustration, excitement, surprise, confusion - she hit the right note for every emotion. She also looked freaking stunning!

As for visuals - beautiful. Aesthetic feast. The best aspect? Lighting. The way they just knew when to film to make the sceneries look better - no words to describe how grateful I am. Indoors, outdoors, morning, night - no matter when or where, they did their best to give us the most stunning views.

Random specific things I enjoyed a lot/liked better than Korean version:

First of all, the conclusion they gave for Kanbe Misa and Esaka Reina was extremely satisfying, had more depth and actual emotional impact than the original version.

Not name dropping BTS for cloud (or any other popular group). I am sorry, but that “favorite song” moment in the Korean version was so ridiculous and cringe worthy I borderline wanted to drop the drama because of it.

Suzuki Wataru not being a “barely emoting wall of perfection”. It was so good to see all these emotions clearly visible on Satoh Takeru’s face.

The views! Again, I am amazed with how beautiful this drama looked.

Overall, yes I am aware this review focuses a lot on comparing this show with the Korean version, but I honestly want to make it clear that if one has to pick one over the other - they should go with the Japanese version first. Even though the drama is literally about getting a second chance, at the end of the day it sends a clear message that one should not wait for a miracle to happen, and should start living the life they want to live now - no regrets, no hesitation, no doubt.

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I loved both KR and JP Versions in different ways

Let me start by saying - I _LOVED_ the KR Marry My Husband drama. Loved it. I wasn't even like a huge Park Min Young fan when I started it, but I understood her charm by the end of it. By the end of this drama, I was also COMPLETELY charmed by Fuka Koshiba. I already liked Takeru Sato from other projects he did - I first remember noticing him in Mei-chan's Butler (LOL A THROWBACK IF THERE EVER WAS ONE).

Anyway - I refuse to take part in the discussions about which version is better because it's all a matter of preference. I love them both. And for me, I look at both of them and I just see them as completely different forms of the same story.

The pacing of this drama was wonderful. It was very well-balanced and it's definitely the story from the source but told with very distinct cultural characteristics. I loved the choice of the candy as an indicator (IYKYK), I also liked the parts that they chose to keep in this adaptation of the story. I really like the way Fuka Koshiba played Misa, it made me want to check out her other work. And also THAT FACE. As for Takeru Sato - RAWR thank you Sir.

The second leads were extremely effective - which means that they were EXTREMELY ANNOYING - but I also recognize that that was the point. Sei Shirashi in particular has some scenes where she played her crazy slipping in and out so well that I would actually check out her next projects if I liked the premise enough. And our lovely friends for our leads are just as endearing and lovely as I hoped.

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Phenomenal revival of the classic revenge drama!

Wow wow wow, this was sooo much fun! I've not seen the korean version, so I was going into the show mostly blind but it was beautiful! The cinematography was stunning, the acting was brilliant and most importantly I thought the pacing was perfect. They didn't drag out any of the plot lines, and I was genuinely shocked at every plot twist! I think there's been a many more competent, strong-willed fls being written as of recent, and Misa is definitely one of them. I was immensely satisfied by her direction in the show and how much more confidence she gets. Satoh Takeru is as always a delight to watch and having just seen him in an incurable case of love, it was so lovely to see him being a more nerdy character and smiling a lot more! As much as I hated the character, Shiraishi Sei did a phenomenal job as the villian, and I rlly did believe the incompetence of Tomoya. I thought the ending was very well done and satisfying (essential for a revenge drama) and I loved the montage of all the events happening in the 10 years until 2025.

As a side note and slight tangent- OMG THANK GOD YURIKO DIVORCED HER HUSBAND, maybe I'm still traumatised from the ridiculousness that was Dr Cha, but I was so scared the drama anti-divorce agenda was going to appear again but thankfully it didn't. I genuinely cheered when she went "ofc i've handed in the divorce papers" That's my girl fr

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It was all about second chances and living life to the fullest

Let me start this off by saying that this adaptation is by far my favourite one ! I cried, laughed, raged, ranted and enjoyed every second of this.

I've read the manhwa and watched the kdrama before this. I don't want to compare too much to the other adaptations but I was slightly disappointed with the kdrama so I went into this skeptical of it's execution. However I was pleasantly suprised and might even consider this as one of the top dramas of the year.

Let's start with the many positives:
1. A well written adaptation- The writers cleverly understood the plot holes and the missing gaps in the original work and kdrama. The scenes ebbbed and flowed smoothly and there weren't any space for us to question anything. There were some changes to the story but the original essence and story direction stayed the same. The changes made sense and just elevated the story even more.
2. Great casting and acting- The cast and acting direction were perfect. The facial expressions to the dialogue delivery, everything was done realistically with no unnecessary exaggeration. The chemistry between the actors was also great and I was feeling the emotions with them.
3. Cinematography and dialogue- You could really feel what the producers wanted to convey through the cinematography. Even though the story has dark elements, the overall lighting and coloring stayed warm and bright. The dialogues were also written very well. They were believable and realistic so I stayed invested in the story.
4. The overall message- The manhwa adaptation had a more comedic and dramatic tone. The kdrama had a more dark, exaggerated and dramatic tone, almost similar to a soap opera. However, this adaptation had a more hopeful and uplifting message which I really liked and related to.
5. No unnecessary drama or characters- The biggest reason why I was disappointed with the kdrama was the unnecessary dramatic plot twists and new characters. There is already enough side characters and plot twists in the source work so adding too many things made it feel forced and heavy. But here, they took away some side characters, stuck to the original storyline and even made it better by filling in plot holes.

Now, there are some minor cons:
1. Scarcity of romantic scenes- The leads had so much chemistry and romantic tension that I was waiting for them to get together to see their passionate relationship. They did have one awesome kiss scene but right after that, they acted like an old married couple. I get that they are older and mature, but I wanted some goofy cuteness and passion.
2. Some dramatic scenes- Though the writing and dialogue was better, there were some scenes which were just too dramatic to be believable. Since most of the drama was done in a natural way, the dramatic scenes stood out too much in a bad way.

Other than that, I have no other complaints because this drama was genuinely that good. Everything was perfect and this is definitely going to rank higher in my charts.

The kdrama had some negatives like the unnecessary new characters, out of the blue plot twists which didn't make any sense and the lead actress' overpowering presence which kind of overshadowed the rest of the cast and plot. But this adaptation took notes and worked on filling the plot holes, made the cast perform in harmony and actually delivered a good message that can be comforting to a lot of people.

Overall, I hope everyone gives this drama a chance because this just proved that the curse of the exaggerated jdramas with bad acting can be broken.

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