Saint Love Survivors (2026)

Failed to manage my expectations and paid dearly for it

I didn't realize this was a late-night drama going into it and that was a HUGE mistake. Usually, when a drama has a poster of the characters in scandalous poses or an obviously smutty vibe, I know to promptly turn my brain off and carry on enjoying watching attractive people get freaky, but in this case, nothing about the poster or the synopsis indicated to me that this was one of those dramas. So, I went in thinking this would be a sincere exploration of a couple navigating a sexless marriage and I was on board for the first couple of episodes. Then I kept waiting...and waiting...and suddenly I was 3/4 of the way through and realized this drama had absolutely no intention of seriously engaging with its themes, and, in fact, it wraps up all the plotlines in borderline offensive ways - like you're telling me Oji's ED was immediately fixed because he had one (1) dream about being cucked?? Huh?????

I think my expectations were also higher than average because the original work was created by a reputable mangaka who also did Saionji-san, which I quite liked the drama for, so I'm not sure if my problems with Saint Love Survivors existed in the manga or came about in the adaptation process.

Haru in particular was an UNBELIEVABLY unlikable character. It's never established that she is someone who has high libido or really values sex, so it makes no sense why she is SO insistent on doing the deed. It opens up the implication that she feels entitled to Oji's body just because they're in a relationship and that she only likes him because she wants to get into his pants which is gross. I'm all for female sexual fulfillment, but not like this!!! And Oji isn't much better - I can understand why his performance issues lead him to not want sex, but why was ALL physical contact off the table? Like, even holding her hand and hugging her was a big deal? It could've been a chance for some asexual representation, but since he was magically cured in the last episode, it just makes his behavior bizarre.

And, subverted expectations aside, this drama is just plain bad on its own. The narrative flow and pacing was all off, to the point that it felt like huge chunks of the drama were missing despite being 12 episodes long. There was more chemistry between the main couple in the little 40-sec end credits scenes than in the whole drama, and the rest of the cast had practically negative chemistry with each other. There was plenty of eye candy, but all the actors were phoning it in except during the kiss scenes, which were the only times the drama had any oomph. It's a shame because I know pretty much everyone here can do and has done better. Honestly, I'm half-convinced this drama is supposed to be satire from how they dressed Mashiko Atsuki alone - the early 2000s skinny jeans and feather statement necklace combo was DIABOLICAL !

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