Jojo

The whole drama struggled with an identity crisis just as much as both the lead characters did. I was confused from the very beginning about whether it wanted to be a revenge love story or settle for a soft slice of life romance. What we got was a confused mix of half-baked angst and very shallow storytelling with the strangest attempt at romantic justice.

The premise is shaky. The whole "change your hairstyle, you are a whole new person" was asking a bit too much of our suspension of disbelief. And worse than that, both the leads are dating without Natsuo asking for as basic as the real/government name. What century are we in?

The romance felt like a chore. The infamous "he likes me, so he pulls my pigtails" trope didn't help either. There was a constant seesaw of self-esteem struggles of both the leads, some awkward glances here and there and monologues that seemed a little insincere. The chemistry and passion felt very mechanical... You blink and you will miss it.

Natsuo appears very full of life and spontaneous character and has this unwavering interest/love towards Hiro and I fail to understand why. The plot didn't give me enough reasons or scenes to convince me of the idea that “love at first sight” could be this intense, especially when he is unaware of Hiro’s true identity.
On the other hand, Hiro was completely opposite. To put it mildly, very plain Jane and a wallpaper personality. On paper, he was meant to be this intense, witty love interest harbouring revenge when he first meets Natsuo, but in truth, he seemed frustratingly boring. There was a significant contrast between how he thinks and how he acts.

The last episode was definitely better than the rest but the story left too many loose ends to tie for the finale. Their intimate sequence was nicely choregraphed and I could finally see the chemistry but it was little too late.

Hiro's workplace arc was another point which brought the drama down. It was both overdeveloped and underdeveloped at the same time. The focus should have been on the leads and their love story instead of wasting a little too time on competitions, which barely added anything significant to the story.

They really tried hard to convince this wasn't superficial with selling gardening and hair dressing as some big metaphor for life and love, but to me it felt like filler. A few of the garden scenes felt very abrupt and out of place. Why are we searching for who is plucking flowers in a garden rather than sitting and talking about each other, that too on a date ??!!

Acting-wise, it just felt fine. Not cringeworthy but nothing to run home about. I wasn't attached to both characters, so overall it felt very superficial. I do think the script also didn't give them enough to work with.

Overall, this was a miss for me. What could have been a simple and emotional story felt bland, and the pacing dragged in all the wrong places. It's definitely not unwatchable but it also never gave me any reason to care. The drama's whole focus was on aesthetic fluff rather than a meaningful romance.
Will I recommend it? Honestly, no or maybe. It didn't work for me, maybe it will for you. So if you are curious, the short runtime makes it an easy gamble.