This review may contain spoilers
Good potential but mixed execution
To sum up, this drama felt like someone had a pretty good idea but didn't completely know how to execute it.
Surprisingly, I actually really disliked the first episode. It was full of cliches that made me think "oh the whole drama's gonna be like this," and it was hard to read the actors' emotions. At certain points it felt like Taiga hated her lmao! But the 2nd episode immediately picked it back up, it was great. Every episode after that was considerably interesting until the last one.
The last one the drama treats her returning to Korea as if she's moving across the world. Korea is quite literally a 2 hour flight from Japan AND in the same time zone. The distance was completely manageable in my opinion. There are domestic US flights that take twice, three times as long, and are much more annoying to deal with. Traveling to and from airports in Japan are definitely not as intense as traveling to US ones. But for obvious reasons, they really punched this up. Very tearful goodbyes, almost depressing moments between the characters, as if Rin was never gonna be seen again. To be fair, LDRs are not for everyone, and them transitioning from being able to see each other so often to suddenly being unable to is a significant change. But this distance was completely doable imo.
What I did like was some of the external plot writing, more specifically things that happened to the characters, not necessarily because of the characters' actions. They both strive very hard to soul search and find their paths. This was amazing. These characters aren't 18, they were full-on adults in their 20's, Taiga was even 27 (I believe). As someone of similar age, I'm touched that many people my age are still lost like me. Even if you don't relate to that, seeing the characters feeling so lost and trying very hard to find what they want to do, is very endearing. These characters' successes and happy endings don't get handed to them; Rin fails to find a job in Japan (in order to stay longer) and doesn't even get hired at an animation studio, but gets hired at a korean advertising company. Taiga was much luckier in his endeavors, he applies to a culinary program, gets in, and eventually gets his dietician license, and is working at a company he wants to work at.
I did find it strange he still wanted to do something related to athletes considering his trauma. It feels akin to cooking for your ab*ser or something LOL. But maybe they tried to mean it in a way like "he still gets to fulfil his love for sports" or something, but I didn't sense that. Why don't you just make him a regular cook? He quite literally showed no other signs of caring about nutrition or diet the entire series. A regular cook is commendable. He should have ended up opening his own restaurant or taking over Tanomi (which they hinted at, destroyed the chance, then revived it). Although that's predictable, I feel it still would have been satisfying to see as an audience member. Seeing him go from being so hurt and unsure of himself, to running his own place where many people enjoy his food would be amazing. Another thing I wish happened was that at least one person thought his food was bad, every character loved his food. I think he would have improved as a chef and as a person if he actually met people that didn't think his food would good; it would push him to study food properly and learn how to directly improve it. It would also teach him how to deal with adversity; which was a major theme in his backstory to begin with. Almost everyone around him told him he wasn't gonna make it anywhere; but every person loved his food. He never had an initial passion for food, it felt like he settled for it. But now, it's his career. Mixed messages lmao.
As for Rin, I am a little saddened seeing her fail at her goal. The thing is, I actually was going through the same thing she was going through. I graduated from an animation college, and felt very lost on what path I should choose, and I am technically still in that stage. Seeing Rin try and try and try only to not really end up where she wants to be is a bit saddening. While Taiga succeeded, it teaches us that Rin was doomed to never succeed. It's really bad news after bad news, then she gets a mediocre job offer that she's not particularly passionate about but goes for anyway. For Rin, it just feels a little too...tragic. Is the message artists don't succeed? Rin doesn't even look happy in Korea ðŸ˜. I didn't want her to succeed just because I related to her, but because I saw her trying so damn hard and getting so depressed at failing. She deserved at least one glimmer of success, it would have showed us that "you'll get somewhere if you try hard enough." But instead, it taught us "some people just aren't meant to succeed." She had a successful classmate, but that sub plot didn't go anywhere. It really felt like the writers didn't want to be typical, but the alternate route they chose was worse anyway LMAO.
I LOVE the sub plot with Noa and her worthless boyfriend. I was waiting for the fallout every episode. Then we got it, and it wasn't really...satisfying. Noa pulls the plug (which is awesome) but it wasn't a build up, it was more like "this is the straw that broke the camel's back," its not the years of her bf using her for money and gambling, not caring about her, etc etc. She clearly wasn't happy, but she stayed with him. Why wasn't the fallout more emotional? I wanted her to get angry and throw hands. He's a guy that's been asking for hundreds of dollars, maybe weekly, and kind of forgets about the relationship part. When he does get money, he does show some sweetness to her, but the truth gets revealed and it all crumbles. I love Noa as a character, she was awesome. Her career path felt a little shoehorned though. She didn't show much interest in traveling before (just one line of dialogue at episode 5 or something), and starts to change her life after 2 separate experiences. It just feels a little...forced.
AND THEN, THE ENDING.
I didn't think they would throw us a twist at the end, because this entire series was really about them working through their cultural differences, and there's a montage at the end of them dealing with being long distance, making trips to each other. It's actually very sweet, and doesn't feel sad at all. They almost needed this distance to be themselves and go on with their own lives. And then the twist. We find out they've broke up. No reason or context is given, but that they're both still happy and remain to have an appreciation for the food and culture they've shared between each other.
Oh...okay?!? Are we...supposed to feel sad? Happy? I'm confused! What's the point? Life moves on? People from different cultures can't be together? LMAO. You can't give us a drama where a couple gets over EVERY hurdle, forms a seemingly unbreakable strong bond (they're literally crying leaving each other at the airport, constantly thinking about each other during the breakup) only to permanently break them up and say theyre happy anyway?!
In the montage they showed their relationship looked strong. There was maybe ONE indication the distance wasn't working (Taiga not reading messages yet) but they kept showing them swapping pictures and stuff. She visits him, and I believe they were even together for 2 years?! At some point one of em's gonna run to the other and propose. But no. They weren't as special to each other after all. The montage shows no solid indication their relationship was going bad, and I'm assuming that's on purpose because then it'd hint at the ending.
The best theory I can assume is they were going for a "life goes on" type of ending. But that theme was never present in the rest of the story. The entire point of the show was to overcome cultural differences, and THEY DID, but don't end up together anyway. It really feels like they wanted to use the premise but really wanted to veer off being unpredictable, but to the point it kind of made it a worse story.
The conflicts the writers used was misunderstandings--maybe once did a character explain "in my culture this is bad." They made up by saying they'll try to understand each other, but where are those moments? Where are those moments they ask about each others' cultures related to dating. The misunderstandings also seem to originate with Rin; both times it was her that became upset with Taiga, and Taiga being kind of oblivious why until there's a fallout and she leaves. It paints her as overly emotional and thick-headed. Yes she's young, but she never tried to explain or try to understand Taiga. She just jumped to conclusions. While I actually genuinely appreciate her shutting the door/not being afraid to voice her thoughts to her partner, the writing made the conflicts a little one-dimensional, and Rin just kind of wearing the pants in the relationship. I like Rin as a character, it's refreshing to have an outspoken female character that's so herself, but why did they write her like she wasn't capable to considering Taiga's side?
TLDR
Anyway! This is an okay drama, great potential, but the writing dropped the ball. There are a handful of refreshing developments and characters (they actually do feel quite real like real Japanese and Korean adults), but the overall writing for the romance could have been improved. I wish they had more input from a Korean perspective, they are much more open about dating, while Japanese people aren't. I wanted to see Taiga dealing with the little things, not just the medium things (yes medium). I won't lie, there are times I cried, both tears of sadness and of joy. It wasn't horrible, but I wish this was better. Does feel more dynamic than most dramas just regarding the writing. There are so many I've seen I've stopped watching because they were cliche or unrealistic, but this one was very refreshing. It did feel different. The writers just needed a bit longer for the idea to ruminate. If anything, watch the first 3 episodes and decide how you feel.
Surprisingly, I actually really disliked the first episode. It was full of cliches that made me think "oh the whole drama's gonna be like this," and it was hard to read the actors' emotions. At certain points it felt like Taiga hated her lmao! But the 2nd episode immediately picked it back up, it was great. Every episode after that was considerably interesting until the last one.
The last one the drama treats her returning to Korea as if she's moving across the world. Korea is quite literally a 2 hour flight from Japan AND in the same time zone. The distance was completely manageable in my opinion. There are domestic US flights that take twice, three times as long, and are much more annoying to deal with. Traveling to and from airports in Japan are definitely not as intense as traveling to US ones. But for obvious reasons, they really punched this up. Very tearful goodbyes, almost depressing moments between the characters, as if Rin was never gonna be seen again. To be fair, LDRs are not for everyone, and them transitioning from being able to see each other so often to suddenly being unable to is a significant change. But this distance was completely doable imo.
What I did like was some of the external plot writing, more specifically things that happened to the characters, not necessarily because of the characters' actions. They both strive very hard to soul search and find their paths. This was amazing. These characters aren't 18, they were full-on adults in their 20's, Taiga was even 27 (I believe). As someone of similar age, I'm touched that many people my age are still lost like me. Even if you don't relate to that, seeing the characters feeling so lost and trying very hard to find what they want to do, is very endearing. These characters' successes and happy endings don't get handed to them; Rin fails to find a job in Japan (in order to stay longer) and doesn't even get hired at an animation studio, but gets hired at a korean advertising company. Taiga was much luckier in his endeavors, he applies to a culinary program, gets in, and eventually gets his dietician license, and is working at a company he wants to work at.
I did find it strange he still wanted to do something related to athletes considering his trauma. It feels akin to cooking for your ab*ser or something LOL. But maybe they tried to mean it in a way like "he still gets to fulfil his love for sports" or something, but I didn't sense that. Why don't you just make him a regular cook? He quite literally showed no other signs of caring about nutrition or diet the entire series. A regular cook is commendable. He should have ended up opening his own restaurant or taking over Tanomi (which they hinted at, destroyed the chance, then revived it). Although that's predictable, I feel it still would have been satisfying to see as an audience member. Seeing him go from being so hurt and unsure of himself, to running his own place where many people enjoy his food would be amazing. Another thing I wish happened was that at least one person thought his food was bad, every character loved his food. I think he would have improved as a chef and as a person if he actually met people that didn't think his food would good; it would push him to study food properly and learn how to directly improve it. It would also teach him how to deal with adversity; which was a major theme in his backstory to begin with. Almost everyone around him told him he wasn't gonna make it anywhere; but every person loved his food. He never had an initial passion for food, it felt like he settled for it. But now, it's his career. Mixed messages lmao.
As for Rin, I am a little saddened seeing her fail at her goal. The thing is, I actually was going through the same thing she was going through. I graduated from an animation college, and felt very lost on what path I should choose, and I am technically still in that stage. Seeing Rin try and try and try only to not really end up where she wants to be is a bit saddening. While Taiga succeeded, it teaches us that Rin was doomed to never succeed. It's really bad news after bad news, then she gets a mediocre job offer that she's not particularly passionate about but goes for anyway. For Rin, it just feels a little too...tragic. Is the message artists don't succeed? Rin doesn't even look happy in Korea ðŸ˜. I didn't want her to succeed just because I related to her, but because I saw her trying so damn hard and getting so depressed at failing. She deserved at least one glimmer of success, it would have showed us that "you'll get somewhere if you try hard enough." But instead, it taught us "some people just aren't meant to succeed." She had a successful classmate, but that sub plot didn't go anywhere. It really felt like the writers didn't want to be typical, but the alternate route they chose was worse anyway LMAO.
I LOVE the sub plot with Noa and her worthless boyfriend. I was waiting for the fallout every episode. Then we got it, and it wasn't really...satisfying. Noa pulls the plug (which is awesome) but it wasn't a build up, it was more like "this is the straw that broke the camel's back," its not the years of her bf using her for money and gambling, not caring about her, etc etc. She clearly wasn't happy, but she stayed with him. Why wasn't the fallout more emotional? I wanted her to get angry and throw hands. He's a guy that's been asking for hundreds of dollars, maybe weekly, and kind of forgets about the relationship part. When he does get money, he does show some sweetness to her, but the truth gets revealed and it all crumbles. I love Noa as a character, she was awesome. Her career path felt a little shoehorned though. She didn't show much interest in traveling before (just one line of dialogue at episode 5 or something), and starts to change her life after 2 separate experiences. It just feels a little...forced.
AND THEN, THE ENDING.
I didn't think they would throw us a twist at the end, because this entire series was really about them working through their cultural differences, and there's a montage at the end of them dealing with being long distance, making trips to each other. It's actually very sweet, and doesn't feel sad at all. They almost needed this distance to be themselves and go on with their own lives. And then the twist. We find out they've broke up. No reason or context is given, but that they're both still happy and remain to have an appreciation for the food and culture they've shared between each other.
Oh...okay?!? Are we...supposed to feel sad? Happy? I'm confused! What's the point? Life moves on? People from different cultures can't be together? LMAO. You can't give us a drama where a couple gets over EVERY hurdle, forms a seemingly unbreakable strong bond (they're literally crying leaving each other at the airport, constantly thinking about each other during the breakup) only to permanently break them up and say theyre happy anyway?!
In the montage they showed their relationship looked strong. There was maybe ONE indication the distance wasn't working (Taiga not reading messages yet) but they kept showing them swapping pictures and stuff. She visits him, and I believe they were even together for 2 years?! At some point one of em's gonna run to the other and propose. But no. They weren't as special to each other after all. The montage shows no solid indication their relationship was going bad, and I'm assuming that's on purpose because then it'd hint at the ending.
The best theory I can assume is they were going for a "life goes on" type of ending. But that theme was never present in the rest of the story. The entire point of the show was to overcome cultural differences, and THEY DID, but don't end up together anyway. It really feels like they wanted to use the premise but really wanted to veer off being unpredictable, but to the point it kind of made it a worse story.
The conflicts the writers used was misunderstandings--maybe once did a character explain "in my culture this is bad." They made up by saying they'll try to understand each other, but where are those moments? Where are those moments they ask about each others' cultures related to dating. The misunderstandings also seem to originate with Rin; both times it was her that became upset with Taiga, and Taiga being kind of oblivious why until there's a fallout and she leaves. It paints her as overly emotional and thick-headed. Yes she's young, but she never tried to explain or try to understand Taiga. She just jumped to conclusions. While I actually genuinely appreciate her shutting the door/not being afraid to voice her thoughts to her partner, the writing made the conflicts a little one-dimensional, and Rin just kind of wearing the pants in the relationship. I like Rin as a character, it's refreshing to have an outspoken female character that's so herself, but why did they write her like she wasn't capable to considering Taiga's side?
TLDR
Anyway! This is an okay drama, great potential, but the writing dropped the ball. There are a handful of refreshing developments and characters (they actually do feel quite real like real Japanese and Korean adults), but the overall writing for the romance could have been improved. I wish they had more input from a Korean perspective, they are much more open about dating, while Japanese people aren't. I wanted to see Taiga dealing with the little things, not just the medium things (yes medium). I won't lie, there are times I cried, both tears of sadness and of joy. It wasn't horrible, but I wish this was better. Does feel more dynamic than most dramas just regarding the writing. There are so many I've seen I've stopped watching because they were cliche or unrealistic, but this one was very refreshing. It did feel different. The writers just needed a bit longer for the idea to ruminate. If anything, watch the first 3 episodes and decide how you feel.
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