Arclei

TL;DR: A role reversal romantic sex comedy that's neither romantic, nor sexy, nor comedic, nor role reversal, nor femdom, and also tremendously shallow and lacking in depth.

Let me start this off by saying that I absolutely wanted to LOVE this drama. I love role reversal, I love femdom, and I love how Japan tends to tackle more out-there topics... So it's with a heavy heart that I say this drama delivered only disappointment. (This will be more rant-y than review-y)

The synopsis paints a picture of two role reversal individuals with clear romantic and sexual preferences that are trying to find their place in the world and accept themselves for who they are. This is what set my expectations where they were, expecting heartfelt and genuine representation of role reversal individuals with a particularly strong focus on the flipped dynamics in the bedroom. The drama does a relatively good job of exploring this topic in the first couple of episodes, even if I personally found it to be both shallow and uninspiring.

But the biggest issue lies in how it develops this scenario afterwards, which is... That the two leads end up conforming to the gender roles they so strongly resented, because being together made them realize that the status quo is fine as long as they're doing it with each other. What does this mean? Two role reversal individuals settling for a lightly egalitarian-leaning traditional dynamic where they sometimes switch dominance in the bedroom. I was actually baffled to see this trope in a drama that airs in 2026. Seriously??? After "He's Expecting" (2022) tackling male pregnancy, after "Colorful Love" (2021) and "Goukon ni Ittara Onna ga Inakatta Hanashi" (2022) tackling heterosexual gender non-conformity of the overt kind, and after "Love and Leashes" (2022) handling both role reversal AND femdom BDSM? Really? This is the kind of garbage takes I can expect from a femdom-leaning role reversal drama? I am exceptionally disappointed.

It's not that I fundamentally dislike what the drama did, but more so how it presented itself, what it initially promised, and the nasty underlying messaging of their 'resolution'. Had this drama leaned in more into their confusion and then let them develop into an adorable egalitarian couple who switch in the bedroom, I would have loved it despite it not being RR because that's a good story! But that's not what they did. They told us, repeatedly and very clearly, what the leads didn't like about the status quo and then.... proceed to let them settle into the status quo anyway! Because the right person™ will fix you of your deviant weirdness!!

All I see is two nonconforming people eventually compromising. And as someone that leans in this direction, I found it disgusting.

That's for the themes... now more into the characters. We have two leads, our FL who is a bubbly, meek, uwu girl who dislikes being led by men and prefers being the one to initiate, be assertive, and dominate. Then there's ML, a soft-spoken, shy, and easily flustered man who cannot seem to be able to perform the expected 'male role' in relationships and is pretty clear on his desire to be the one to bottom in the bedroom (that is... being inserted, if you catch my drift). The drama proceeds to remind us over and over again about how different and weird and unusual the leads are when they're... very regular conforming people, tbh. FL is still the cutesy uwu softgirl that's just... ever so slightly assertive? And ML is similar to her but a 10% less assertive. That's not even what I take issue with. You want a bubbly cute FL that's also assertive and dominant? ME TOO!! But that's not what they did here... she's constantly fumbling, mumbling, and looking up like a flustered maiden. She is meek. That's not a domme. ML was more role reversal from the start since he's lacking in the initial toxic masculinity and is rather soft and shy by nature, so his character feels more atypical than the FL's. I know Japan love their meek uwu girls, but I've watched so many dramas where the FL wasn't like this that I cannot in good faith blame it on the country and culture at large. This was just flat-out lazy and nonsensical.

Where they started to really lose me was when FL initially states that she dislikes men being the ones to lead, be chivalrous and be dominant in the relationship and how her heart flutters when she is the one to get to do that... and ML has a similar situation but in reverse. His heart flutters when women take the lead and he struggles to see the appeal of being the one to dominate. But halfway into the drama, the two start remarking more and more how they actually very much enjoy traditional gender roles being displayed by each other. ML starts competing with another man for FL's affection in a very traditional way, and FL doesn't remark on how much it disgusted her. She's fine or at the very least oblivious to it. ML starts remarking how he actually no longer cares to bottom and wants to top and dominate FL instead. And though FL doesn't love the idea, she's ultimately fine with it and the by the end? That's how they end up:

Traditional-leaning egalitarian with some switchy business in the bedroom.

I do have to give them credit where credit is due, and that is how they portrayed the topic of the man being the one to be... inserted. It was actually quite tasteful and shown to be a normal thing to desire and not this disgusting, perverted, villainous thing like I've seen time and time again in media. Do I think it was handled particularly well? Not personally, but as far as these portrayals were, at least it wasn't offensive.

So that all kinda leads to... What was the point of this? Was it supposed to feel like two teenagers figuring out the fact that they can deviate ever so slightly from the norm for the first time in their lives? They're not teenagers, mind you. It feels absurdly shallow in messaging, themes, and execution. It has some cute moments of understanding between the leads, but it's always at the cost of actually letting either of them display even a semblance of a personality past "submissive and shy uwu", which got absolutely infuriatingly grating after like the third time. I hate misunderstandings, but I think I would've actually preferred that to what we got. Maybe there would've actually been some character development.

The leads had no depth whatsoever, and whatever little exists is promptly tossed out. Every secondary character was unbearably insufferable or nonexistent. The plot is shallow even for very shallow romance-focused dramas. The overall production quality, however, was pretty nice, with the highlights being the leads' styling and the music. The acting was... passable for both leads and pretty bad for supporting characters.

As for the story? Haha! What story? The plot is just them trying to figure out how to find compatibility in the bedroom (aka... trying and failing over and over again to get each other off). Over. And over. And OVER again, while airing it out to everyone and their mom. It was almost uncomfortable how the topic only ever seemed to be about sex, while they simultaneously REFUSE to show you more than crumbs of the actual intimacy.

Which leads me to my next point.... The unbearable metaphors. Listen, it was cute once or twice. It was! But the way they absolutely castrated their story, tension, and intimacy to 'show us' what they were doing in the bedroom? Infuriating to put it lightly. And I don't want to hear about "they had limitations on what they could show"; JUST SHOW THE LEAD-UP AND LEAVE THE REST IMPLIED. Be for real right now, if China can do it, so can you! But I'm coming in salty af from several very graphic Japnaese BLs and just can't help the fact that I feel robbed again that I never get even a glimpse of the femdom equivalent of that.