Esha

Okay let's start! First off, I'm new to JBL dramas (Japanese BLs). Cherry Magic was the second JBL i watched after I Can't Reach You. I watched the anime before that and i watched the drama for my BL undergrad thesis ;). And honestly, this makes the anime look underwhelming 😭

The lead actors are Akaso Eiji and Machida Keita, and this was their first (and only so far) drama I watched. The synopsis follows Adachi Kiyoshi (Akaso) who, as per the myth of attaining wizardry after turning 30 and still a virgin, develops the power of reading minds upon physical contact, since he has been a virgin till 30, and hence recieves these powers on his 30th birthday. Through this, he discovers that the most popular Mr. Perfect colleague of his, Kurosawa Yuichi (Machida) is in love with him, much to his disbelief.

Honestly, I'm so glad i watched the jdrama after someone basically gushed over it. Honestly even though i watched the anime first (I'm still yet to watch the Thai version), this drama is so much better by so many levels, and it also has less misogynistic undertones. I'll mostly compare the anime and the jdrama since these are the only cherry magics i watched 😭 and of course I'll gush over Kurodachi a loooot.

The most endearing thing about the drama IS THE MAIN LEADS. Literally i love their every scene! And yeah Kurosawa is a lot more family friendly here even in his "creepy" thoughts about Adachi. It was so healthy! It isn't for those who love toxic BLs lol (but ngl I'm not gonna accept if you call this pair bad I mean LOOK AT THEM but okay). Akaso and Machida share great chemistry together, and Kurosawa is a walking green flag and the scene when he first falls in love with Adachi almost got me in tears, and Machida shines in portraying Kurosawa as feeling pressurised to be a Mr. Perfect as he didn't just want to be known for his good looks and wanted to be more than just that, even though he is quite an overachiever. Machida's natural acting makes me drawn for the portrayal of Kurosawa. He raised my standards for men or my potential future partner because he ticks all the checkboxes on how to be a good partner. He cares so much for Adachi, cooks for him, doesn't miss a chance to (internally) complement him and is greatful for his existence. I also find it so cute that he constantly takes Adachi's pictures while teasing him, and even in his "creepy" thoughts he was very respectful of Adachi's boundaries throughout and never forced him, and continuously supported him in his choices and stood up for him, which the anime didn't fully show. Initially when Adachi's boss discredited him after guessing and learning that Kurosawa worked with him (honestly it was quite a workload), he stood up for him by saying that he does his work very well, which the anime or manga didn't show as far as I know. I love that! The flashback of him falling in love with Adachi had me in tears, and also when he thinks that he can't be with Adachi in a relationship, without knowing that Adachi always knew he liked him 😭

And Adachi!!! Man Akaso makes him so relatable!! Especially when he feels insecure about himself and thinks he is no match for the Mr. Perfect Kurosawa and that...EVERYTIME HE FLINCHES! OH MY GOD I COULD ACTUALLY RELATE AS SOMEONE WHO FLINCHES A LOT EVEN IN SMALL SOUNDS! He is so me on so many levels, especially him being single till 30 as I'm 21 and I saw people my age get into relationships earlier than me, though I don't want to lose my virginity at this age lol. Akaso's performance brought out the awkwardness in Adachi so well! He was very expressive and shined in the comedic and cute scenes but got me on the emotional scenes.

One complaint I had was that there are no kissing scenes between Adachi and Kurosawa. There were kissing scenes in the anime. That's okay as I understand that the actors may not have been comfortable with it and also the romantic chemistry and the feelings between them made up for it.

Apart from this, Asaka Kodai's Tsuge Masato stands out to me so much, from the scenes where he discovers that he has the same powers as Adachi as he turned 30 and still a virgin to going absolutely crazy for Minato, it felt like he was a completely different person from the anime Tsuge! Anime Tsuge was much calmer imo. Live-action Tsuge was so chaotic and I live for that! I liked Yutaro's portrayal of Minato, from having not so nice opinions on him to later coming to admire him. Tsuge and Minato have like i think a 10 year age gap with Tsuge being the older one, but their relationship didn't feel creepy at all, plus Minato is an adult.

Apart from these, my favorite side characters are Rokkaku and Fujisaki! I love Rokkaku's vibrant and comedic personality that charmes me a lot, and as much as I love how much of a fujoshi Fujisaki is in the anime, I love drama Fujisaki more. She isn't a fujoshi, but instead she's seen as an asexual an aromantic female character. I wish it was fleshed out more in the drama as it may be interesting as to how she navigates as an aroace and pretending to like a person or so but I think it may be too risky (that's another complaint i have). She still roots for Adachi and Kurosawa and is more mature than the anime and doesn't fetishise their relationship and only see it as a BL ship. That stereotype, imo, is a huge generalization and pretty harmful for fujoshis, generally it's misogynistic, tho yeah irl fujoshis can be like that. Sato Ryo's acting is very natural here. She didn't feel exaggerated as the character isn't written like that, and there was nothing off about her. She was neither portrayed as someone who gets in between Adachi and Kurosawa's relationship, neither does she actually become a BL fangirl for them. But roots for them.

I literally can't get over that the live action characters of Cherry Magic are more animated than the anime characters themselves. I watched the anime way before the drama but man this drama made me ship Kurodachi real hard! I felt the butterflies and the romance between them.

The OSTs: Ubugoe by Omoinotake and Good Love Your Love by Deep Squad became my absolute favorites. I'd listen to them while strolling and they never get old. Especially Ubugoe. I don't understand the words but man this song HITS!! I hope to do a cover of it asap.

As to how they deal with Adachi's powers, both the drama and the anime deal with it differently. It was a lot more dramatic in the drama than the anime, which was comparatively chill. Overall I'd recommend the drama over the anime anytime. The adaptation from the manga is a lot more mature imo.