Blkittykat

I found this because I very recently watched another adaptation of the same story, started it because of a recommendation, kept with it because of how interesting it got and finished it with a greater appreciation of just.. feeling appreciative.
Because despite being a story about second chances, it was always about taking chances on what you want.

The story is creative and crisp, the plot is solid and moves at a brisk pace, and doesn't feel too dramatic, even with the fantastical setting. The leads are characters you can root for, and they have great chemistry. It's a complete package and a good drama.

But I have watched this story before. The adaptation I watched was the K Drama, Marry My Husband and naturally, I couldn't help but compare the two. There were some things I preferred about the K Drama, and some aspects that were better executed here, in the J Drama. Both solid in their own right, but asking me, this is the one I would recommend before the K Drama.

Firstly, because the story is much more consice and palatable. One thing I really didn't like about Marry My Husband was the amount of filler scenes they had, and cutting out a lot of the stuff from the latter half in this version really helped with the story.

Second, the characters. I think with the exception of Tomoya (Min Hwan in the K Drama), I preferred how the characters were written in the J Drama. At points, I would say I preferred the character writing here completely to that of the K Drama. Misa was much more feisty and pro active, Wataru felt less like a caricature of "perfect human being", Reina was much more devious and cunning, and Tomoya was so incredibly pathetic as a character.
The way all of them interacted with each other was also so much more believable than in the K Drama, all of that felt highly dramatized and here it was quite representative of how human beings behave at times. The actors themselves did so well, like I said, for the most part, the character writing was much better here, and every actor took the brief and ran with it. The performances were incredible.

Third, the CHEMISTRY. Sorry but, Park Min Young and Na In Woo had zero chemistry, but luckily, Koshiba Fuka and Satoh Takeru brought it! Overall, the J Drama would be the version I prefer and would recommend.

You win some and lose some though, and there were tiny things like Lee Yi Kyung's portrayal of Min Hwan or Lee Gi Kwang as Eun Ho and his impact on the plot that I missed here. Plus, a couple of aspects I think they could have bettered upon - particularly the last few episodes. There were some moments that felt completely out of character for so many characters and though it can be likened to impulsiveness and emotion, I just didn't understand those actions. And one that really, really disappointed me? The ending! Not the actual ending but the ending our antagonists got. Without spoiling anything, it just didn't make sense to me and I wish it had been executed just a bit different.

There is however one thing that disappointed me in both versions.. the romance. Why you ask? I just didn't buy it. I had a hard time believing either of the couples in either version were really that into each other that they would sacrifice themselves for each other's sake (like the dramas were clearly trying to tell us), but I never felt that soulmates level connection anywhere.

That was a long drawn out comparison to say that you can watch any version you'd like but my recommendation is this one here. The overall impression this made was a lot better and even without comparison, it has a great story and message.