Ladies on Top (2026)

Is that....a healthy relationship in my steamy drama???

I know not to expect much from MBS dramas, especially ones with sex at the core of their premise, so imagine my surprise when this wasn't just two hot people rolling around in a bed, but it instead explored healthy masculinity and attitudes towards sex with open communication between a secure, trusting, and adorable couple!!

What really made it all work was the chemistry between the two leads. Not only are they both extremely good-looking, but their interactions felt so natural and sweet, which made their intimate scenes easy to watch, and there was also effort put into showing their bond outside the bedroom, so it didn't feel like two horndogs just constantly going at each other lol. Shida Kohaku in particular was really great in her role; it couldn't have been easy given how young she is, but she was able to sell the playful seductiveness of Mitsuki so well, and she even nailed her emotional scene in the last episode. (Also, does she have an figure skating background because she could really move in those ice rink scenes!!)

It might not have been the most in-depth look, but I appreciated how they approached the topic of what it means to "be a man" from different angles. Even a clumsily written character like Saeki broke through heteronormative ideas in his brief arc (but also I probably could've done without him randomly inserting himself into the main couple's relationship lol).

And while there are important themes that can be extracted, above all, this drama is just /fun/. Sex is usually depicted in J-drama as a serious, passionate undertaking, but here we have a vibrator on an RC car attacking the ML, like come on lmao. Given that one of the actors is an idol who needs to preserve his image somewhat, I think it was a smart decision to use the silly ice rink metaphors for most of the sex scenes to avoid the awkwardness of trying to delicately capture it on screen while adding a quirky element that bolsters the playful nature of the drama rather than defaulting to a fade-to-black. It's definitely one of the most approachable dramas of this sort, and overall, a true breath of fresh air!

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Adorable but too fast-paced

I love this manga so when I found out they made an adaptation I was stoked! Overall, the drama is pretty good! The actors do a fantastic job and fit the characters so well! But I feel like unfortunately the pacing of the show does not do the story justice. Trying to fit six volumes into eight twenty-minute episodes just didn't work very well and to me things ended up feeling a little rushed and just too fast-paced. That being said I still think it was a great show and I did genuinely enjoy it, especially the way they decided to censor the explicit scenes, it was very clever and charming! <3

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