twiz aka unagibento

They really only changed literally the last 20 mins of the episode... like it's far enough into the episode (with all the trauma) that I ended up checking the original ending too to make sure they weren't the same. I kinda suspect they were told they could only have an alternate 20 mins or so, and just did the best with it that they could. Because it reaaaallly stretched imagination. Why would you go that far, have all the friends/family paying their respects... seems like bad juju, and I'm not even religious. Imagine all the ticked off people you'd have to apologize to after that..! They should have made it his decision alone, let everyone believe the worst then reappear several days later to make his point. They could even have thrown in a few outraged slaps, and the happy ending would be even more meaningful, lol. Less is more.

I must say, the fight scene between Risa and Pong when she pushed her way into his condo to find that picture was WILD. They were both showing that real crazy love! I can't believe she managed to shove him down twice. The fist fight with the husband in the husband's house later on was also pretty good. I'm not just in it for the fights, but the intensity was well-done, and this is still the widest range I've seen from Joss in a drama so far. Now for the alternate ending:

I've fallen off the wagon after several months without lakorns and I am HERE for this messy romance! I love Nune (though she'll always be Yada to me) but I'm really here for Joss. He gets to show a hungry, lovesick side in this that was missing from 3 Will Be Free. He has way more range in this and gets to portray all the highs/lows/misery of love. And the poster was not false advertising - they must have set a quota of at least one shirtless Joss scene per episode and yessss, they are delivering. I hear there's an alternate ending that will probably leave me happier, so I'll be jumping straight to that.

I rewatched a lot of scenes of this week's episodes (11-14)! Overall what I love best is how the ML spends so much time sneaking glances at her and smiling, watching how she acts in certain situations, just learning her. Ah, my heart. I've seen so many overly cool, poker-faced MLs so it's wonderful that they show on camera how smitten he is from the start of the show. And they really show much more of his feelings than of hers, which may be partly because he has a broader acting range as an older actor, but also because they know there's a hungry audience that can't get enough of his little reactions!

Ever see a remake so frustrating that you have to go back and watch the original again? I want so much to like this, because I love the D/s element of original. As a remake, it's very clever that they set it as a historical. Besides that, it feels like the writers concentrated too much on telling the same story that they left out all the chemistry in the original movie. Mainly the casting of the MLs was pretty flat, and their casting is so, so important. The ML just looked liked they picked an actor who could play a bully, and the "white prince"... eh. In the Japanese version, the white prince is so ridiculously, innocently adorable that it feels like an actual crime, and it makes all his advances on the FL so powerful and makes him a worthy rival. His cuteness is actually weaponized. Here, the nice guy is just so... bland. Like a stand-in actor for any historical character cliche. I'm trying so hard to enjoy this, but the movie just won't let me.

While you don't have to watch all of them in order, I think the first 5 mins or so is good as an intro to all the FLs of the series and where they live, since this is the first in the series. I'm a bit surprised at the rating - it had some dark topics but it wasn't terrible. I liked seeing a more complex FL, and that the story wasn't focused on "fixing" her complexity or quirks. Halfway through I was riveted just waiting to learn why she broke up with her ex in the first place. Also, the little commercial at the very beginning was cute. Usually I cringe at those things, but the guy had decent flow, hah.

I'm only up to episode 4 so far (on Viki) and the one disappointment I had was I felt like the drama missed the opportunity for a bigger surprise moment when the ML discovered the identity of the chef. It really felt like they breezed over it, when I was expecting a "What?! It's YOU??" kind of scene. It fizzled that episode a little for me because afterwards I kept waiting for a shoe to drop that never did.

I'm so happy they made a drama of this!! The movie This is Not What I Expected is one of my recent favorite movies. The movie was pretty light on "direct" romance, so it's fun to see how the series can expand on the original and it already has way more chemistry, imo. The drama still has gorgeous food scenes like the movie, but I can see what was changed a little in the drama with the start. The ML is such a *snack* - I love his expressions and those bespoke suits. I could watch him all day.

Ugh. I was okay with this until they fridged the highly-skilled girl 20 minutes before the end, and it felt so completely unnecessary. (If you're unfamiliar with the "fridge" concept, google "Women in refrigerators" which is basically killing off or worse of the female character in order for the hero guys to "feel" something and get the rage they need to go after the villain). Right before that, I was intrigued on how they'd solve the final battle problem, but the writers ducked out of any real problem solving. Before this, the film had been fairly family-friendly, too, and of course my kid stopped to watch the one truly awful scene.

Unfortunately no

They're good enough, I'd say, but I've also watched a lot of painful subs on iQiyi so I may have lost perspective.

This drama had a lot of wasted potential all around: waste of good actors, of Kaoru's "gifts", and of a compelling story. It turned out to be a narrow, one-dimensional drama. This is one of the few dramas that might have been better in an episodic format (maybe Kaoru helping Fujiwara solve a few different missions) instead this one plot that consumed the entire series. It also seemed like disabilities were used as plot devices, and in some cases, to add quirks to villains, and it wasn't a good look. The treatment of disabilities in one of the main villains seemed outdated, something that could have passed without notice a decade or so ago, but ended up being cringeworthy here. After the 7th episode, I could have dropped this and not have missed it. It felt too long and stretched out, and by the end it was just a time killer for me while doing other things.

I felt this so much. I've been on an extended kdrama break for awhile now. The last one I watched was Hotel del Luna, and it reinforced this feeling for me. It really is the romance, to me. It feels like the writers are trying to deprive the audience of *any* kind of romantic satisfaction to keep us hooked, but we just end up feeling starved and drained by the end. It also gets ridiculously chaste a lot of times with those wide-eye kiss/pecks. The writing and polish are still very high, but honestly in any storytelling when the artistic goals get too lofty, the first thing to get axed is genre fiction (and romance is a genre fiction category).

I loved this episode overall. Sakura was not just cute in this one, she was *believably* cute - all of her delight seemed so natural, from candy apples to the amusement park (and a hot 2-kiss episode, wow!) All of their cute scenes together just fed my heart. I'm glad they're not keeping their relationship too chaste and slow, which happens in a lot of dramas when there's an inexperienced girl involved. The guest-starring patient (whose name I want, he's a cutie even if he became a real pest) - he did good in his acting. Some dramas throw way too many random hot guys falling for the same girl without reason, but he really sold it - you can see the moment he falls for Sakura when she had a bite of his apple. I enjoyed his role until the very end of the episode when he became a sore loser.

Does anyone know who the actor guest starring as Episode 7's patient is? And omgaaaawd @ 3:50 minutes in..! I was brewing tea to wake up but I don't think I need it anymore, whew

Also, I need a sake drinking set like Ryuko's. It's so pretty.

The synopsis is definitely a little off, one of the reviewers is right. I found this looking for more works with Narito Ryo since he charmed me in Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu, and he does not disappoint. The first episode left me on the fence because it felt a little dry, and it seemed like they were playing the "frumpy wife" card too hard. But I was sold in the second episode. This one is a lot more realistic in the setup and development of the romance than Hirugao; it feels more real. Like Sato in Hirugao, both of these MLs have that pixie dream boy feel and Ryo can definitely wear that longer hair. I better appreciate the range of emotions from the FL in this one, not just basic hesitation/shyness and guilt, but in the beginning, she seemed even resentful when the ML tried to get close. I think it even handles the emotions of the children better than Hirugao and I like that it explores the frequent loss of personal identity in family life.

I enjoy their banter and arguing, though I'm not sure I feel the chemistry. Lightly amusing.

I'm enjoying this, and I find the camera frames of every scene visually stunning. The little evil spirit looked so tacky in comparison to the rest of the drama's direction, it seemed like an odd choice.

Another Gintama fan!! I'm still watching the anime so should I finish it completely or up to a certain point or can these stand alone? I'm at about episode 255 of 367 and I also haven't watched any of the animated movies.

Equal parts mildly entertaining and appallingly patronizing toward women. I like the historical tidbits about major fashion brands, but this drama is a caricature of its own genre - "aging" 30 year old who can't get married, taken to an extreme that's painful to watch. However, I did enjoy the message at the end of the 2nd episode, regarding moving on from a toxic ex: "Loving yourself is not the same as spoiling yourself. Love yourself, because there's only one of you in this world. If you don't first love you, who will?" It's a surprising nugget of wisdom in an otherwise played-out plot.