Completed in 2026

January 1 2026

this sequel was a strange one. past characters were apart from each other for like the first few episodes and there were very few interactions between them. we saw no action until like ep 5. sure, the ending was an emotional one, but i dont think this was a good follow up to s1 at all. 

January 2 2026

love how they set this all up! you could tell something terribly wrong was about to happen because there is an uneasy feeling mood in all of the episodes, but the true plot didn't show itself until the latter half of the series. i did find the revelation to be a little underwhelming. this all could have worked better as a novel

January 2 2026 

what a let down. the first two episodes had me on the edge of my seat but it quickly regressed into a typical messy drama and by the end i was just so glad i was done with it. i have to say though, haruna kinda proved her haters wrong in this drama. her acting was awesome but the plot...

January 4 2026

applauding myself for keeping up with this rescue subgenre every drama season even though i hate it. the only reason i started this was saito ryu and he got no side plot/character development. lovely </3 instead we get an annoying love triangle and boring case/ring leader. oh and the fact that the writer was hinting at times how ai could help with crime investigations </3

January 4 2026

fujitv needs to figure it out FAST because they probably paid a fortune to gather these A-listers for a project as big as this but it turned out to be a huge flop </3 its sad that one of my favorite channels isn't doing well. sometimes you can dedicate so much to your art and the intention just wouldn't transfer onto the screen. this should have just stayed as a concept

January 5 2026

this and that one drama about wine have the same energy: pure propaganda to promote men and nothing else.

January 14 2025

im so sorry im very biased against vertical dramas because the production value and plot just will never be there </3 im glad i caught shunsuke in a BL nonetheless one thing he can always deliver is his smiiile :]

January 16 2026

im surprised and annoyed by how they stretched this plot to 18 eps because it was bland. gao feng for some reason came across as a one dimensional character; i did not sympathize with him or found any motivation in rooting for him (why?). fei fei was the more interesting character (to me) but too bad the writing didn't allow much growth for her. what a shame because i liked the leads' acting. this was just... too kdrama-y for me

January 18 2026

ok ignore the low score im only rating it low because it's an ultraman series with low budget but i have actually enjoyed tuning into this every week <3 sorato and kosei changed lives and wdym they get to be inseparable from now on <333 shori was genuinely such an animated ultraman!! haruto ok i see all your preparation for this huge role has finally paid off :x

January 19 2026

not my first christmas special rodeo so it did feel like they were just using the same stories over and over. the first story could have been soooo charming if it were its own special but too bad they clearly planned for the short with kaneshiro to be central </3 

January 25 2026

there was barely a plot, but i didn't expect much from a drama made solely for the purpose of promoting a local community.

January 30 2026

not bad of a conccept. im actually a fan of the "confess your sins or you'll die" kind of media but unfortunately the 25 min airing schedule didn't do this story any justice. felt like i barely knew any of the characters to truly sympathize or have an opinion on them. takuya i see u bagged a lot of roles in 2025 <3 what is going on. is it finally your time to shine :x

February 7 2026

LOVE LOVE LOVE this yorudora. its been such a  long time since i last found a drama i could laugh and cry with, although it was only 20 short (but chaotic) episodes. the only thing i was puzzled about was.... the final week. something went off rails there and it didn't match the progression in the previous episodes. not in a bad way, not in a good way, just.... very strange. but i kinda liked the idea of not having a clear conclusion for any character. id like to think they are all doing well on their own. :')

February 8 2026

my first taiga i started back in 2023 but only completed now. LOVE LOVE LOVE the idea of a soft-hearted ieyasu who didn't always have the answers to things and was constantly haunted by demons of a turbulent time. every episode was packed with so much emotion... that is... until THAT episode with sena :( im grateful for the change and an attempt to save dignity for her character however. i just couldnt help but felt like they speedrun through a lot of events in the second half of the series. too many new characters were introduced and i could not bring my heart to care for anyone anymore. esp when most of the ogs died at that point.

people say they were let down by the writing in this taiga. yeah i mean i was bored in the second half too, and i don't really have anything else to go off of considering this was my first taiga. however i still feel like it was worth watching. and do not go into this expecting to learn the history OR expecting it to be completely faithful. you could tell a lot of liberties were taken.

that carp story was such a genius way to encapsulate and wrapped up the story! it will probably live in my heart for a very long time. recommended!

February 8 2026

"if we had run away to a different place at that time, i probably would not have been able to protect you either"
"perhaps we would have been happier in mistery together"
"for the past 10 years, i have lived in regret that i abandoned you"

oh people who aren't destined to be lovers but made for each other </3 never have i rooted for cheaters so much i wanted them to be very MORE greedy but they always kept to themselves sigh. at one point i even started to root for mahiro with zhou ming because i knew the main ship was never going to become a thing. but guess what? that ship sank too </3

i think in terms of consistency, this drama was more stable than dou suru ieyasu. all good episodes all around! but a shame they never really took off. maybe this was one of the more... mellow taiga?

February 8 2026

lazy uncreative boring. have seen too many works with this plot before, especially when there was Subete no Koi ga Owaru to Shite mo just last year (which was also a flop)

February 10 2026

you know i hate wowow's investigation dramas, and this was no exception. the story wasn't too bad overall.; i just couldn't get into the case. well, at least i got yuto and daichi in the same drama being besties

February 11 2026

1 point for sentai numbah one. people say this series went downhill because of maya's incident but tbh it had been bad from the start. the worst red of all time, accompanied by the most nonsensical plot

February 11 2026

love the concept of this franchise and im really surprised it has gone on for so long! i think my favorite episode of the season was that one episode with the woman who couldn't help but steal everything around her

February 15 2026

one of my favorite series returns!! i really forgot just how inappropriate the characters in this universe were, and it feels like they even amped up the inappropriateness for this special??? how did kankuro keep coming up with these ridiculous plots???? but he does it so so well i almost died laughing and kept getting caught off guard by all the twists!!!! definitely dont look into this drama for any lessons about generational differences even though the show appears to be telling you there's one LOL

we need another special!!

February 16 2026

this was ok, almost taiga-adjacent so i had no problem going through it. i must admit i wasn't a big fan of fuka's acting in this drama; she looked confused and pained most of the time? sometimes that expression works very well for her in other shows but for some reason it just felt off for this specific project. soji was so annoying as a character im glad im finally rid of him. will be checking out season 2 and i hope we wont see him again

February 21 2026

took a break from kdramas and came back to such a gem! loved the last 3 episodes!!! thank you nads for recommending this to me it wasn't even on my radar :x <3 shin hyesun was a beast in acting i might have to tune into filing for love after this

March 1 2026

3.5 for the plot turning into something so ridiculous and boring! im so mad because the first two eps were so good. was waiting some good twist but it seemed the writers were just making shit up as they wrote more episodes

March 1 2026

this has THE BEST premise in all the asadoras i have watched! a family story about 3 generations of women spanning 100 years. i was so awed by the way they cleverly connected come come everybody, the english radio program, with each protagonist's life and it still made so much sense each time. had the biggest smile at the ending when hinata was finally able to say the very thing she wanted to say when she first learned english. it was such a full circle moment for her :') oh and i can talk for days about how perfectly the song "on the sunny side of the street" was interwoven into this drama. from minoru's and yasuko's first date, to the foreshadowing of rui's and hinata's names? and how it was an important piece for rui's and joe's relationship? literally had chills every time i heard it even though it was kinda overplayed in the drama hehe. this is why i don't care about mdl reviewers. everyone talks about how this was the worst asadora but TO ME it was a well written work from start to finish. like poetry almost.

people say they liked yasuko's story the most, and that the other 2 weren't as strong. but for me,rui's story was the best out of the 3. rui > yasuko > hinata (but only because the third arc had kanata who is an actor i don't really care for lmao). rui & joe sit comfortably among my favorite pairing of all time! i was so glad they still got a lot of screentime even in the third arc where they were no longer the protagonists! yasuko & minoru (this is one of hokuto's best roles mwuah) were a good pairing too. it's just that i didn't really like the writing for yasuko, who seemed to be suffering all the time :(

p/s: idk why that one reviewer acted like this asadora mocked oshin? if anything that episode was a love letter to it 

March 9 2026

they really should have adapted all 10 works by hoshi shinichi! it's a shame we only got to see one story. this was quite a witty and playful watch. i just wish the premise weren't set up in such a sexist way

March 14 2026

performative divorce... this drama was actually so cute at first but the side characters got increasingly annoying and i just lost interest </3 oh well at least this solidified my love for akihisa i guess i can call myself a fan now?

March 15 2026

thank god this was more comedy than bl because the romance between a tutor and a yankee would have been such a chop. i actually quite liked the humor and the exaggerated facial expressions/movements <3 they're going to make s2 after the special episode aren't they?

March 15 2026

isn't this basically fetishistic porn being distributed as a drama? lord help me

March 15 2026

this drama is lucky because im very bored today. normally i wouldn't touch blslop like this with a 10 foot pole but for some reason this made me giggle briefly so it gets a 2 <3

March 18 2026

this was a dreaded watch every week im so glad it's over. the leads have 0 chemistry and all the animal information integration was so forced. 

March 22 2026

in a piyapan choopetch fashion, this was gory and violent. if you love action flicks with a lot of supernatural elements this could be a decent watch. the plot doesnt have to make sense (in fact it didnt). it is unfortunately all about the vibes </3 hated how xenophobic it was against burmese and khmer people.

March 22 2026

same with s1, i didn't have any issues with the story in this drama; it's just not one i'd like to watch. i would say though fuka really eased into her role in this season. here's to s3 (even though i have no idea why they keep making such short seasons)

March 28 2026

[this thinkpiece was powered by a severe lack of sleep and complete bias. major spoilers below]

a much needed rebrand for the franchise that has gone on for almost 60 years. loved the different opening style (may i say best one in all of the asadora openings ive seen so far?) and the overall art direction seemed much more cinematic than usual. the writing was consistent from the start to finish; however, i lowkey mentally checked out after toki and heavin got married.

i could never get past the fact that their relationship was one between an uncle and a barely legal adult. i usually dont care much about morality in art. i believe the characters' choices are to serve the story, not to reflect my own righteousness, but their romance didn't feel convincing. the two never had that much in common; two people in very different stages in their lives with different hobbies and ambitions (aside from heavin's forced interest in kaidan he could barely understand).  their marriage being used as a means for toki's family to get out of debt was also very off putting (even though the characters themselves rejected that). akari (while being an amazing actress in her own right) was too young for this role. it became even more apparent when she later became a mother cause we see no change in her mannerisms. the side characters weren't utilized well either. the central theme in this asadora was basically their love story and the ending week's episodes confirmed that. ? id rather see a formulaic asadora protagonist who is a go-getter and gets to explore her hobbies. boxing toki as a wife married to a foreigner was such a disservice </3

March 28 2026

this, being the opposite of bakebake, was a true formulaic asadora ? it checks every single box that it sometimes came off as too... on the nose. female protagonist with huge ambitions going to the big city to prove herself? checked (and I love that Nobuko sticks to her passion for cooking til the very end. I have issues with asadoras that let their protagonists regress over time like Mai Agare!). weekly topics with a problem presented at the start of the week and the solution at the end? checked. people helping people as the heart of the drama? checked (I will forever remember that scene where everyone at the restaurant was chipping in coins so nobuko could extend her call with her mother <3 IM A BIG FAN OF THIS TROPE). this drama uses its entire cast so well. in fact in every week there's some little story designated for a side character. the problem is that the 3 men sucked (especially Nobuko's brother. I felt like strangling him every time he appeared on screen). the love lives of the sisters sucked too it's kind of amazing how none of them had chemistry with each other despite being all capable actors.

highly recommend this or Ochoyan for anyone getting into asadoras because I feel like they exemplify the franchise well, but you do have to turn your brain off at times. it is a light hearted drama

March 28 2026

congrats on being a new BL that I don't completely hate (I think it might be due to the visuals). neither actors could act but its fine I've seen worse. PLEASE DON'T RENEW FOR S2

March 28 2026

i love me a good autobiopic!!!! the fashion in this was immaculate and the special format was such a perfect length for this project!! yagi rikako your asadora protag role is due!!!

March 31 2026

i thought this was going to be a silly special but... the twist kinda made me pause for a moment. and i need the industry to lock in and bring shouma back to the drama world again. :(((( i have missed him so much

April 1 2026

whose genius idea was it to put daisuke in a short cat drama <3 this project fits him so much. the episodes themselves were nothing special, but i really liked the overall tranquil atmosphere :x

April 1 2026

went into this not realizing it was adapted from a chinese novel -_- tbf I should have known from the poster but I just went into it blind and it was my least favorite watch of the season. all that budget went into what... will not be watching the sequel </3

[spoilers]

April 4 2026

ngl i didnt really pay much attention to the early eps because their teenage days were a little boring, but this drama quickly redeemed itself after their reunion. i will always remember that train scene where taeso was checking for leftovers on the train and eun-a was just quietly watching him from the platform :') oh eps 4, 5, 6 how i miss your magic. everything fell apart after their second "breakup" however and i was so annoyed at that point i stopped caring about their goodbyes sorry..

April 8 2026

only watched this for mukai so you could tell i was SEVERELY disappointed that his character was only on screen for like 2 minutes in every episode. thank god this was a short drama so i didnt completely hate it (ignore my score)

April 10 2026

your typical feel-good kdrama: girl who thought she would never find love again met sunshine boy. little did they know they would change each other's life for the better. the story was kind of ehhh cringy lines here and there but i love lee sungkyung and chae jonghyeop so i liked all the scenes with them (even if their "beef" was not that serious sfjdfjdfkgJ). another couple i liked was the grandmother and the coffeeshop owner. the other two couples i mentally tuned out every time they were on screen im so sorry the acting was so bad ToT

also was the opening sequence made with ai? </3