misekeith

Well, this seemed like a faithful adaption of a brain-dead josei manga. Not my thing, but Akaso Eiji is so handsome here I feel like I was brainwashed a little myself - so if that was the effect they wanted, the experiment was successful lol

The manga is not finished and they could not wrap everything up in the last episode, so open-ended?

Best Arashi film, hands down. Also, great soundtrack (because it's Sakerock's rather than theirs probably)

You're right! Everything was so rushed I thought there was gonna be more, but it was a one episode special, apparently. I watched it on tv when it aired, but I am sure if you wait another couple of days it will appear on a streaming site or another. (Sorry I couldn't help!)

The first episode was a mess lol. I do appreciate what the show is trying to do (a lot), but the slapstick/romantic comedy really does not work with the social commentary. Hopefully they find a way to balance all these elements in the next few episodes.

I've watched ridiculous stuff with Yuriko in it - this could have been worse.
Probably the best (and most ridiculous) part of it is still Hamano Kenta though.

I would take the 'adapted from a novel' tag out - from what I can see from the trailer (and wikipedia japan confirms) the film is just titled as his most famous novel, but the plot is entirely biographical.

I also find Chihiro and her choices infuriating, and it made me pretty miserable watching her clinging to this man that cheated on her, sleeping with someone else to learn how to entice this other man, and then falling for her cheating partner - while everybody treated her like the ideal woman because she went out of her way to cater to the needs of all the men surrounding her, folded their shirts and poured sake for them.
At times I felt like just her presence in the show was an attempt to brainwash me (and the rest of the audience lol)

Sometimes I feel I come from a different planet compared to literally everybody else on this site, since I seem to enjoy all the characters everybody else hates lol

That said, I am halfway through this, but I find no problems with Misa except for the fact that she's intense. The real flaw of the show is Tanaka Kei's character, I think: he has zero personality, and there is literally no reason nor explanation about why he likes the protagonist. He just comes onto her super strongly out of nowhere, and that's that (hence the lack of chemistry, frankly speaking).

I have to admit, I am a little surprised to know that I am one of the few people that enjoyed the drama. It was a decent adaptation of the manga, even if the original source relies slightly more on introspection - as a result the protagonist feels much realer and way less cartoonish than Morikawa Aoi's character. My impression is that her lack of self esteem was overplayed here, and it became the general excuse for all of her choices (the manga seems to offer a more textured variation of emotions and motivations). So yes, no kudos for Aso Kumiko this time.
I was a little troubled with the depiction of their first time as teenagers: I know a lot of it was left ambiguous on purpose, but that was pretty unmistakably sexual assault. That did prevent me from appreciating a lot of Tomoya's mannerisms, but I do think Nakao Masaki was excellent in this - he kind of single-handedly brought up the level of the whole production.

Also - yup - that chemistry. I am not sure why these many people were that scandalized over the few, very discrete, mentions of erections (I have seen more skin and skinship in your average Kdrama?), I am just sorry that brought the rating down that much. It's definitely the best Japanese TV production I have watched in a while.

Surprisingly they still do (at least older people)! Sometimes you're lucky and there's a granny that offers to hold onto your bag for you. Bus drivers in Seoul are pretty reckless, so when the vehicle is crowded having to take care of a bag full of books hitting people in the face can be an issue of safety.