Charbonnel

Oh and just noticing I’ve seen over half of these and been planning to watch Character for a hot minute - insane person I am I guess

Still no page for “Trapped in Osaka”, but I needed to comment this somewhere: Osaka being in the title and the one scene outdoors so far is in Kobe. Not being in Osaka is one thing, but they chose one of the most recognisable landmarks in the city to film near 🤣 Kobe is also well known so why not have that in the title, with rent prices and gangster characters it makes even more sense.

And yeah it’s undeniably very weird. That first episode is something…

I’m fascinated to hear that you struggle with this so often with Japanese film female leads. If I were to hazard a guess as to how I dodged it for so long, I’d suggest genre and release date have something to do with it (film-wise most I’ve seen are post-2020 and thriller/action/mystery). I’ve rarely come across this issue in Japanese media but that’s probably because of deliberately avoiding it. I couldn’t agree more on the ‘tantrums’ but have managed to dodge those in live-action Japanese media so far.

Mainland Chinese dramas on the other hand, I very much struggle with female leads exactly as you’ve described here ruining an otherwise interesting plot. Happens most times i stop to watch one too.

As to real people doing it? Absolutely, there are some who play up like that as a way to “appeal” to certain types, but I’ve not known any personally in my time living over there. While I’m not a fan of the concept, I’d equate it to a western “pick me” girl. But in JP if you act like that while your friends are around, not for satire, it won’t do you any favours.

Strangely I’m drawn to the weakness of the female lead. It may sound odd, but she has a weak personality and no particularly strong attributes, but equally, she herself knows, as is shown in the first episode. Strong writing for a weak female character so far.

I do not typically like a weak, damsel-in-distress type, but Mio has anxiety that cripples her in life and has clearly hated herself too.

I’m also fascinated to wonder if the male lead truly cares for her, or, perhaps, if his indiscretions are actually a strange way of protecting her from himself. Don’t knkw much about him yet but there’s a lot to untangle.

The chef absolutely gives me the creeps. Everything fibre of my conscious is yelling at Mio to get far, far away from him, knowing that she likely won’t because the idea of making a decision for herself is likely too much for her as it is.

Loving this as a no stress, eccentric, fun, and slightly insane watch. Being able to watch each week’s episode knowing what the vibe will be is great. They’re doing well on consistency. Also hey, everybody has flaws and that’s also part of the charm.

I apologise, I honestly cannot recall, as I only knew this from the QR code available with the movie ticket. From the depths of my memory it was something along the lines of how Keisuke murdered Ji Yong in the end, in a way that lead to the film and manga having distinctly different endings.

If I’m not mistaken, the end of the manga should be findable online, although I saw it in a limited time link for cinema audiences.

ワクワクドキドキ！！ I thought I felt something growing there and lo and behold~
Loving every second of this, it’s such a comfort show.

I literally never heard of this until now and I took a look and wow it feels gatekeep-y. Like I understand why the rules are the way they are but it still baffles me a bit. It’s the attitude coming out of the screen (particularly the active social media part seems questionable to me).

I have a few go-to fansubbers who usually only pick up dramas that aren’t getting released anywhere else, but no idea where to find this one.

Used their search and it appears this drama is on there.

This is pretty refreshing so far, the angle it takes initially is also completely plausible (too much commitment/responsibility). It doesn’t feel contrived at all either. I like that it’s taking a lean towards them all meeting different needs each of them have, although there may be a challenge to come by the looks of things.

Totally with you and the uterus talking part of the plot bothered me as not wanting children is a realistic and difficult territory for many, but that got tossed out of the window in favour of…this? Not asking for deep and serious, but even just maintaining that could have been something.

Love Jasper and Alice but this wasn’t it sadly. It had some moments and that was it.

First half is good. The underlying problem of men whose mothers coddle them is realistic, but broadly speaking the rest is not, and it’s very much a comedy. If you’re looking for deep and meaningful or serious, then this isn’t it. If you want a surface level laugh without major depth, go for it!

Also adore SOOD. Amazing drama.

First half was great, second half was not. I LOVED the choice about father-in-law and uncles, that was genius. Not sure the show committed enough to any one thing to feel meaningful but that’s okay. They chose to go for a sentiment that is debatable, but what makes it fall flat is that they didn’t give the appropriate development to make that satisfactory.

Did not like the translations at all, Netflix English subtitles felt wrong. Sure, English doesn’t have a nice word for senior, but brother/sister or just their names works fine, the Japanese words thrown in just left a bad taste in my mouth about translation choices. Maybe if it were just Senpai I could have overlooked it, but there were other words too.

No, English does not always have direct equivalents, but shouldn’t you work with what you have? Anyone not familiar with Japanese media in general at a surface level could have found that alienating. It’s lazy. I’m glad I am lucky enough to have some familiarity with Mandarin to look past the translations, but if I have a number one platform whose subtitles I disagree with, this would be it. They don’t translate what is being said in a way that allows international viewers the same context clues to understand for themselves, often removing ambiguity altogether from deliberately ambiguous word choices is a no-no. It feels like they try to use the subtitles to make dialogue culturally (in most cases with English) American, which is not why I watch Taiwanese, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, or Thai dramas. Don’t erase the cultural side of interaction with your subtitles.

Please excuse the subtitle rant. This was the single most irksome subtitles I’ve ever seen for a drama and it took me out of it a bit.

And I’m back here again after trying the Korean remake….again. It just doesn’t have the charming character I fell in love with from this show. Still adore the soundtrack, visuals (and grit to the 90s visuals), storytelling, suspense, detail, and mystery. I thought a remake would allow me to fall into the story again, but it just sent me here to rewatch this again. Everything about this drama I adore. Wish people watched this one before the other (seeing it run up a much higher viewer count).

I tried so hard, even without the comparative lens on, multiple times, but this is so lacking in depth as compared to the original. The OST especially doesn’t have that depth and charm in the same way. I’m not sure which visual choices it is, but I’ll put it down to colour grading and possibly set design, but I loved the roughness of the visuals in the original, this feels too modern and clean. I distinctly remember the house of Chen Run Yu and it’s gritty, but I see no grit here.

I’m saying this while I’m desperate to enjoy the show but find myself unable to. I’ll probably just rewatch the original.

No, opening credits, with the butterfly and flower symbolism and the architectural visuals, not ending credits. I’m already familiar with iri, but thank you for taking the time to reply.

Has anyone been able to find the opening credits music? I’ve tried everywhere, including audio searches, and no success.

Agree with the eyes. They’re expressive and an enjoyable watch in themselves lol

I find what happens with Na Baek Jin to be quite tragic honestly. The kid who got bullied, so after learning how to fight (Hu Min only aiming to make it so he defends himself), he went too far.

His fate at the end of the drama, however, was inevitable. Why? It was basically set from the moment he got taken in by that gangster (was very happy to see Jo Jung Suk here) - in that either he ruthlessly cut his way to the top or he’d be killed for his failings. But, as his desire to maintain a connection with Hu Min highlights, I think that was his only way of crying out for help. He couldn’t trust anyone else because he created a gang of all the worst types who only want money, but Hu Min never changed.

I wish we had got to know a bit more about his past and how his connections with these gangsters were formed, a bit of exposition there may have made a world of difference.

It was fun to see Jun in this kind of role for a change, too. I’m used to him being some sort of golden retriever most of the dramas I’ve seen him in, but he really made his character fun and plausible here.

I will make one comment - that the show does at times feel like it’s mostly a bunch of people in their mid-20s and up playing teenagers, which, largely is the case. Not a major complaint but just sort of drew attention away from the drama a bit when half of the major characters did not look remotely like high schoolers.

Watching it more as a a standalone, it works, although it lacks some of the season 1 spirit. Not a bad show by any means, but not as stand out as season 1 in my book. That was never going to be an easy bar to meet, if at all, so I never expected this to be better.

Edit: Geum Seong Je is the spotlight stealer here. Easily the most interesting and fun character.

Heavily agree on that second sentence, although personally I like the Japanese market not being oversaturated. Fewer shows, but I can just about watch them all and enjoy the vast majority.

Here’s to hoping for more GL and BL content from Japan in future!