#raise de wa chanto shimasu 2

[crayonflop]

follow ur dreams

[niaoniaos]

@pscentral​ event 12: take two, event 04: love @userphotoshop​ event 10 | colours @userdramas event 04: love ↳ fake, fake, real

raise de wa chanto shimasu (2020), raise de wa chanto shimasu 2 (2021), raise de wa chanto shimasu 3 (2023)

[waitmyturtles]

CW: MAJOR SPOILER ALERTS FOR THE MOVIE “THE PORNOGRAPHER: PLAYBACK.” LONG POST!

I feel like there’s been something humming in the wind lately around the franchise of The Novelist/The Pornographer. We’ve seen a cameo by the incomparable Izuka Kenta in Candy Color Paradox, Yoshida Munehiro is about to cameo in The End of the World, With You, and The Novelist’s Twitter account has been buzzing with news about new DVDs and theater showings of the last installment of the franchise, The Pornographer: Playback. Miki Koichiro, the screenwriter and director of the franchise, has TWO shows out at the moment, the aforementioned TEOTWWY, as well the sessy-sessy Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu, the three seasons of which I am dying to watch as soon as there’s a solidly bad season of QL sometime in the future (which seems like will never happen in my lifetime, bless all these amazing QLs for coming out every season!). Couple all of this with recent reviews of the OG Novelist and Mood Indigo series by the fabulous @gillianthecat (here) and @respectthepetty (here), and I was happily reminded of good times of watching all of these parts way way back when I first discovered QL/BL in 2019/20. 

When the amazing @lurkingshan commented on a stray thoughts post by @bengiyo that she had seen The Pornographer: Playback, I was VERY intrigued. With HUGE thanks and big ups to @lurkingshan, I watched it over the weekend, and here are my thoughts! I’m going to put up a break to keep y’all from getting spoiled if you want to avoid it.

First off, let’s make sure we know what all the installments are, and that we’ve watched what we’ve needed to get to the movie. We have:

1) 2018 -- The Novelist: the original meeting between student Kuzumi Haruhiko and adult author Kijima Rio

2) 2019 -- Mood Indigo: a prequel depicting the sexual engagements between Kijima Rio and his classmate, Kido Shirou 

3) 2021 -- The Pornographer: Spring Life: a very short vignette set 2 1/2 years after Kuzumi and Kijima first met. They’re now in a long-distance relationship, and Kuzumi visits Kijima in the countryside at Kijima’s sister’s house, where he’s living as he continues to write.

(The first three works are all available on Viki.)

So I was BEYOND THRILLED to get to watch the movie and see all of this wrap up. If most of y’all only watched up to Mood Indigo, you saw Kijima re-meet with Kuzumi. Kuzumi, at that time, was just becoming a successful employee in the advertising business. 

Spring Life hints that things are still going well for Kuzumi, and that he was looking forward to spending a summer break with his long-distance boyfriend. Most notably, the piece ends with Kuzumi jumping from honorifics, by asking Kijima if he (Kuzumi) could call Kijima “Rio-san,” which we know indicates intimacy. Kijima’s like, whatever you’d like, and the smile on Kuzumi’s face takes up the whole screen, it seems.

So then we finally get to The Pornographer: Playback, which begins during the same summer break. Continuing with the theme and mood that I like to call melosexual (the music alone of this franchise is SO INTENSE, let alone the heaty sex scenes), the guys head to a love hotel and do their thang. At the end of the night, as they’re getting dressed, Kijima finds a business card in Kuzumi’s wallet for a hostess club that Kuzumi is forced to go to with work colleagues. 

Without divulging a tremendous amount more about the plot at this moment, the movie is basically structured around the push-and-pull of Kijima’s inability to move authentically closer to people -- not just Kuzumi, but also his sister, who Kijima disappoints repeatedly by backing out of family events. 

Kijima’s essentially paralyzed by fear and insecurity that he is a terrible person -- one that is not worthy of love. His sister is so overwhelmingly angry about it that she essentially kicks him out of the house, and blames their mother for never calling him out on his namby-pamby bullshit (at least, that’s in her eyes). At another point in the movie, he frustrates Kuzumi so much that Kuzumi walks out on the relationship and heads back to Tokyo, a surprising move for the otherwise always-devoted younger companion. 

It takes a serious scolding by a hospitalized and flirtatious owner of a karaoke snack bar (you read that right) for Kijima to get his damn head back on straight and fight for his relationship with Kuzumi. (And, HILARIOUSLY, I was cackling -- in the process of this, Kijima has KIDO -- KIDO OF ALL PEOPLE -- call Kuzumi on Kijima’s behalf, to get Kuzumi to talk to Kijima to reconcile. KIJIMA used KIDO to call KUZUMI. Lord.)

Okay, so what I’m really getting at here is that the movie showed that the whole franchise was missing two KEY elements that the first three parts did not have: comedy and authentic emotional connection. There was actually a little comedy in this! Besides the whole Kido thing (which I’ll get back to in a minute), there were a couple of bumbling moments that were designed to elicit some lightness, mostly with the snack bar owner, a flighty gal with a lovely son who tries to hook up with takes Kijima under her wing.

About the other element: we FINALLY, FINALLY SAW KIJIMA SHOWING SOME EMOTION ABOUT SOMETHING. He really regretted letting things go to shit with Kuzumi. Kuzumi called Kijima out for wasting Kuzumi’s time to leave work in Tokyo and visit the countryside. Kuzumi felt like Kijima wasn’t taking him seriously, and was constantly pulling back. I mean -- Kijima was living away from Kuzumi.... for what, exactly? It’s not ever clearly explained. And Kuzumi got angry and left.

This is a great time to mention the excellent post by @emotionallychargedtowel on pursuer-distancer dyads, because the Kijima-Kuzumi push-and-pull in this movie perfectly defined this dyad dance. When Kuzumi got fed the fuck up and pulled way back -- Kijima finally stepped into his emotion and owned his desire to be with Kuzumi. 

Honestly, in the first three installments of this franchise -- I felt like Kijima really didn’t talk too much. I felt like he was far more defined by his brooding, his letting the winds take him to where he was at any given moment, ragingly sexual and lonely all at once. He simmered -- he was flinty, defensive, and used his sexual energy to dominate and burn the emotional energy all around himself. 

The movie showed a TOTALLY different side of him. To me, the movie showed that his relationship with Kuzumi, long distance as it was, HAD a softening impact on him -- even to the point that Kijima dropped everything he was up to in the countryside to head to Tokyo and fight for the relationship. Kijima needed to be rendered totally alone, one last time, to come to realize that the connection he had with Kuzumi was worth fighting for.

And, yes, in the process of it, he brought back Kido in the mix -- which was also seriously poignant. 

REALLY SERIOUS SPOILER HERE, y’all, especially if you love/hate/gaaahh that awful devil, Kido!

. . . . . .

Kido asks Kijima if they could have ever had the same kind of relationship as Kijima is fighting for with Kuzumi! AAAAAHHHH! AND! AND! KIJIMA SAYS, no way. We’re too similar.

WHICH IS TOTALLY TRUE! They’re both self-indulgent, selfish assholes! I mean, after that insane sex scene in Mood Indigo, Kido just fucking LEFT -- he just LEFT, and GOT MARRIED, and HAD A KID, and was like, peace the fuck out, I can’t actually be my honest queer self with you, Kijima, because I think that’s actually abnormal (oh, Kido, you internally messed up piece of shit, AAAHHH). 

Whereas, as beautifully analyzed in @respectthepetty‘s review, Kuzumi represents honesty and openness -- the kind of traits that Kijima doesn’t have, but is aspiring to, in order to be with Kuzumi. AAAHHH. 

I was seriously like, WHOA, WHAT AM I WATCHING HERE, at that moment. AND, AND? At the end of that scene? Kido wishes Kijima good luck. And says: “You better keep Kuzumi-kun. He’s a valuable asset.” Of course, what a Kido thing to say -- that humans are assets, commodities. But -- he sends Kijima off with good wishes. 

And then.

Kijima reunites with Kuzumi. He called Kuzumi by Kuzumi’s name, Haruhiko. AND -- holy shit, y’all, my mind was blown. He tells Kuzumi that he loves Kuzumi by saying ichiban aishiteru.

I tell you, I was FLOORED. All throughout the movie, I’m like, “dang, Kijima keeps talking and talking, and I just don’t remember him TALKING all that much before in the other three series.”

And then he DROPS the ichiban aishiteru! And I think BOTH me AND Kuzumi are BOTH LIKE, WHAT THE DAMN, DUDE!

I’ve spoiled a LOT, but I won’t say more after this, except to say the following:

The ending was one of the happiest, LOVELIEST endings of a drama/movie I’ve seen in QL. Oh. my. god. Talk about SATISFYING. EVERY. CHECKBOX. MARKED. Takezai Terunosuke and Izuka Kenta were MAGNIFICENT. I had SERIOUS tears. They got in everything -- they got the heat, they got in FAMILY, LOTS OF FAMILY, GORGEOUS shots, FEELINGS. ALL OF IT. 

@bengiyo made an excellent point recently in one of his reviews of TEOTWWY that it seems like Japan lately has only been doing high heat in stories about death. It’s an accurate point: all of the pieces of The Novelist came out well before TEOTWWY and Eternal Yesterday, the two most recent shows about death that had heaty elements. I kind of wonder about something. I wonder if other directors and screenwriters are like.... The Novelist did it the best. We can’t mess with that standard. 

Because -- Takezai’s and Izuka’s acting in those scenes is BEYOND EXCELLENT. It was NECESSARILY EXCELLENT to end this franchise on such a warm, happy, COMPLETE high note. 

Now that I can look back on all four parts of the whole franchise, what Miki Koichiro did for us by way of Kijima was to show the whole-scale growth of a man vis à vis love. This guy, Kijima -- a brilliant writer who was influenced by a sexually provocative teacher, someone who was left inexplicably behind by a tormented, internally homophobic lover/benefactor -- felt he was deserving of nothing. And then he found his something in Kuzumi. He nearly destroyed the relationship, multiple times. And as he fell and slipped while climbing the hill of happiness, he was able to get a stronger and stronger grip each time he tried harder. And he was supported by people around him, including family and random friends, to give him lift. 

This movie was a lot more straightforward than I had honestly expected. I 100% expected more of the melosexualness of the first three parts of the series. Instead, what I got was a WHOLESOME (I can’t believe I’m using that word, but it’s true!), complete, and uplifting story of a man finding his true happiness in his lover, his companion, his chosen family. All of it certainly laced with heat, for sure, but also very deep, very convincing love. 

It was utterly fabulous. It might be too emotional, maybe too family-oriented for some who preferred the dark heat of the previous installments. But Playback, in my eyes, was a perfect closing note for a man who honestly deserved happiness after the work, and the SELF-CHANGE he put in, to get love in the first place. If you are a fan of this whole series, and can get your hands on the movie, I beg you to watch it, even just for one of the best happy endings you’ll ever see in QLs.

[leekimdramas]

2023 Drama List

Here are some of the dramas I have finished this year. If it has bold font, I gave the drama a 10 and if it has italic I really enjoyed it but it’s just not a 10 for any reason.

I write the reviews for all of the dramas I finish, so you can just click away and enjoy the reviews!

Last year’s list: 2022

Kdramas:

1. Unlock My Boss

2. Island Part 1

3. Work Later Drink Now 2

4. The Glory Part 1

5. Missing The Other Side 2

6. Crash Course In Romance

7. Island Part 2

8. The Glory Part 2

9. Delivery Man

10. Divorce Attorney Shin

11. Taxi Driver 2

12. Bora! Deborah

13. Doctor Cha

14. The Good Bad Mother

15. My Perfect Stranger

16. See You In My 19th Life

17. King The Land

18. Heartbeat

19. Not Others

20. Bloodhounds

21. The Uncanny Counter 2: Counter Punch

22. My Lovely Liar

23. Moving

24. The Worst of Evil

25. The Kidnapping Day

26. Evilive

27. A Time Called You

28. Twinkling Watermelon

29. Doona

30. The Escape Of The Seven: War For Survival

31. Daily Dose Of Sunshine

32. Vigilante

33. Castaway Diva

34. Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo

Dramas From Other Countries:

1. Love Between Fairy And Devil (Chinese drama)

2. Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu Season 3 (Japanese drama)

Web Dramas:

1. Semantic Error

2. Love Playlist 3

3. Finland Papa

4. My 20th Twenty

5. One Day Off

6. Drama Special Season 12: A Moment Of Romance

Movies:

1. Unlocked (Korean)

2. The Witch: Part 2. The Other One (Korean)

3. Dream (Korean)

4. One In A Hundred Thousand (Japan)

Variety Shows:

1. Love Catcher in Bali (Finished)

2. Single’s Inferno 2 (Finished)

3. HyeMiLeeYeChaePa (Finished)

4. The Devil's Plan (Finished)

Dropped:

1. Trolley (ep 3) 

2. Agency (ep 7)

3. Call It Love (ep 3)

4. The Heavenly Idol (ep 6)

5. Delightfully Deceitful (ep 5)

6. Numbers (ep 4)

7. Misty (ep 4)

8. Destined With You (ep 8)

9. The Killing Vote (ep 8)

10. Strong Girl Namsoon (ep 5)

[thewalkingplumbob]

Get To Know The Blogger 💖

Thanks for the tag, @akitasimblr 🥰

✿ show your wallpaper. My phone wallpaper is this picture of Ishihara Satomi, my favorite Japanese actress.

✿ last song you listened to. Konayuki by Remioromen

✿ currently reading. Obsession by Karen Robards

✿ last movie. I'm still in the middle of watching the Japanese movie Kingdom 2.

✿ last show. Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu season 3

✿ craving. Soda. I've had to completely cut it out of my diet. 😭

✿ what are you wearing rn ;) Comfy pajamas that involve no pants 😉

✿ how tall are you. A little under 5'6"

✿ tattoos. None

✿ glasses/contacts. Glasses

✿ last thing you ate. Mashed potatoes

✿ favorite color. Pink

✿ current obsession. Adult coloring books and gel pens

✿ any pets. A kitty cat named Sebastian aka Sebby. 💕

✿ favorite fictional character. Makino Tsukushi from Hana Yori Dango. She was tough but kind and stayed true to herself no matter what.

✿ last place you traveled. My grandparent's house lol

This was fun! I tag @sweetpyxels, @silverspringsimmer, @lazymblr, @ellemant, and anyone else who wants to do this. Feel free to say I tagged you!

[miss-floral-thief]

welcome back momoe lol

[dramacoolll]

Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu Season 2 Episode 8

Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu Season 2 Episode 8

Watch  Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu Season 2 Episode 8 English SUB has been released. DramaCool will always be the first to have the episode so please Bookmark and add us on Facebook for update!!! Enjoy. Korean Tv Released Just Fresh Video of Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu Season 2 Episode 8 English SUB DramaBus Download Online With HD Quality Free Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu Season 2 Episode 8 English…

[mihotose]

Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu 2 | Episode 6.5, The Three Kuriyama Siblings’ Get-Together

[marzhsposts]

2021 Review: Favorite Japan TV Drama/Series

Oh! My Boss! Koi wa Bessatsu de (Jan 2021)

Kikazaru Koi ni wa Riyuu ga Atte (Apr 2021)

Konin todoke ni Han wo Oshita dake desu ga (Oct 2021)

Rinko-san wa Shite Mitai (Oct 2021)

Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu 2 (Aug 2021)

Gohoubi Gohan (Oct 2021)

Tsumari Suki tte itai n Dakedo (Sept 2021)

[crayonflop]

AS PREVIOUSLY STATED

[go-our-own-ways]

小関裕太 | Koseki Yuta

Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu 1 + 2 (I'll Do It in the Next Life 1 + 2)

[leekimdramas]

Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu 3 Review

At first two seasons was fine... But why I think we will get the 4th one too?

The plot follows the same 5 people, their relationships and their sex lives.

A short review without spoilers would be that I enjoyed this season but I just wish they didn't overreact so much.

I don't know if I just don't remember it right but it didn't seem like a big issue in the past seasons, I saw a few people talking about it too, so maybe it's not just me issue.

And I just wish it would seem like we're moving towards the end... Or at least somewhere.

Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu reviews: season 1, season 2.

Momoe is the main focus of the drama but I don't think there is much to say about her in this season.

She had her moments and I liked her storyline but I think she was the character who didn't get a lot of growth this season and some of her reactions to things annoyed me. (That's where I felt most overreactions came from and it doesn't help that other characters look weirdly at her)

I was a big Matsuda/Momoe shipper from the first season, so I'm happy just to see them together but even if they're together now, why do I still feel like they're not getting enough screen time?

Matsuda is the one to go through some stuff and I was interested in his ex-lover story or his sister's and I would love to see in the next season what happened to his sister and maybe more communication about that with Momoe.

I don't think that Matsuda's actor did well in the emotional scene, he's not a bad actor but I just don't feel it was very believable.

Takasugi Ume is still one of my favourites and I really like seeing her knowing what she wants now in the relationships but not completely dismissing other people's feelings.

Hayashi didn't have a lot of screen time this season and I'm not really mad about it. I think we came a long way from the virgin girl thing but I just need him to grow some balls and maybe do something about the Kuriyama situation.

What I absolutely despised this season was Hiyama. He was a complete stalker mode and I just wished he would never be on the screen again. Sorry not sorry and I hope Kokoro runs far away so he can never find her.

Overall, I think for me 1-4 episode was a bit hard to get through as sometimes it felt a bit weird and not like the past seasons but I got back into enjoying it.

But after 3 seasons, I'm not sure if we have enough development in characters. Sometimes with the new season, it even feels like we're back at the start and by the end of it we're again left with so many unanswered questions.

8/10

[cafe-hallelujah]

Just found out raise de wa chanto shimasu 2 exists

[boatspeak]

Some of my favourite dramas from the past half a year, ranked: 

1. Because This is my First Life 

k-drama, 16 episodes, each 1 hour long

So sensitively and personally written. I was sucked into the storytelling and felt as though I was seeing these scenes through the eyes of the characters. Bravo to the scriptwriter; as I was watching it I felt, ah, she must have drawn from some intensely personal and important place. It was not a story anyone could have written. Because This is My First Life follows the stories of three BFFs as they experience, and grapple with, love and marriage. It does not shy away from the complicated sides of these issues - the societal, monetary and financial pressures that love and marriage cannot be separated from, the difficulties of communicating with others honestly yet sensitively. There are some frustratingly incorrigible people in the drama (like sexually harassing superiors), but most of the time the conflicts play out between good people who care for and support each other, yet inevitably butt heads because they have different - and equally valid - views of life. Is it wrong to want to marry and start a family? Is it wrong not to? It was painful at times, I think I cried for some of the characters. Not because they were pitiable, but because sometimes in life there is no right or wrong; you have to make tough choices and it hurts but you have to keep your eyes open and keep watching; keep walking. For the literature lovers out there, especially those who might be sick of gratuitous (often cheesy) quotes inserted randomly into dramas, well, good for you! Characters in Because This is My First Life read and are impacted by (real life) books, and you can see how the books they’ve read influence the way they think, act, and communicate with each other. It’s very realistic and mirrors the way you might consume and digest books in your own life outside of the drama. Oh, the PPL is also wonderfully done and actually contributes to character building.  8-9/10.

2. Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu (I’ll be serious in my next life)

j-drama, 12 episodes, each 1/2 an hour long

One woman, five sex friends. I know. I know it sounds messy and melodramatic and angsty. I hesitated for the same reasons as well. But when I finally got over it and watched the damn thing (very bingeable, totalling at only 6 hours), I regretted not watching it sooner. Raise wa Chanto Shimasu is a breath of fresh air. Most of the characters, whether hypersexual or asexual, are pretty unabashed about it, and I love their self-love. Want to have sex? Go for it, gurl. Don’t want to have sex? Also no problem. The title is an apt one and showcases this message of acceptance. We might have bones to pick with our current lifestyles, but welp, we’ll just be serious in our next lives. As one of the characters said at the end, “we all became independent, working adults, I think we should be proud of ourselves”.  Much needed affirmation in a world of moralising, slut-shaming, virgin-mocking, and expectations to get married and settle down.

Warning: one of the characters in a bi/gay relationship is pretty vocal in denying his sexuality even in front of his partner, and a trans woman was harrassed at one point. These were discomfiting for me. 

3. The Fiery Priest 

k-drama, 40 episodes, each 1/2 an hour long (or 20 hour-long episodes)

Action. Comedy. Kim Nam Gil, who won the Baeksang for this role. Honey Lee. Badass babe. Ahn Chang Hwan, who was so realistic at playing a Thai immigrant my friend who studied Korean for three years didn’t even realise he was Korean. Father Han. One reviewer said he was a literal angel, and I concur. Most dramas leave you with at most three or four characters you really like; this drama makes you fall in love with the whole gang. Everyone has a backstory, or some hidden side that you didn’t expect that just adds so much more dimension when revealed. Where some might find it hard to balance the weight of action and the levity of comedy, dipping too deeply into angst or farce at times, The Fiery Priest manages the tone really well even as the plot deepens and our characters have to deal with deep-seated traumas. I have nothing more to say to promote this drama except, how could you pass on Kim Nam Gil doing action plus comedy MINUS tragedy and the moustache? 

A final note: Technically, The Fiery Priest is a stronger drama than Raise and should deserve the no. 2 spot. The former deals with bigger issues like corruption, morality and forgiveness, while the latter is more light-hearted and deals almost entirely with personal choices. However, some issues Raise touched on were really important to me and came at a time when I really needed affirmation to believe in my beliefs, so it edged out The Fiery Priest in my heart. 

4. 传闻中的陈芊芊 (The Romance of Tiger and Rose) 

c-drama, 22 episodes, each about 45 minutes long

甜。This drama is just Sweet with a capital S. What a refreshing watch, especially for women. I loved not having tugging battles between two men. I loved the respect given to consent. I loved having so many smart and capable women who have conversations with each other that do not revolve around men. I love how the male lead wasn’t hung up on Male Ego and gave his wife space to be herself and make her own decisions and mistakes. A rare gem. I’m sure I will revisit this when I’m tired of the usual ドキドキ tactics involving possession and pulling around 

(If you can read Chinese, I suggest watching it on the 腾讯视频 app with 弹幕 on. I found it pretty hilarious, meaning I laugh-cried so hard in the middle of the night my neighbour knocked on my door to ask if I was ok.)   

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A quick rundown of the dramas and films I’ve watched so far in 2020 so you know the pool I picked these four from: 

Penguin Highway 

good watch. super cute. I cannot over-emphasise how cute the penguins were. It got me into a penguin phase and I’m not out of it even after 7 months...

ぼくは明日、昨日のきみとデートする (My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday) 

good watch. bittersweet.

わたしに××しなさい！(Watashi ni XX Shinasai/Missions of Love) movie and drama special

would pass on the movie (which cherry-picked from the manga but unfortunately left out a lot of important character developing scenes so the relationship didn’t make as much sense as it did in the manga)

but the drama special. Whew. I watched the drama special twice. It’s trashy good. Because it’s basically a spin-off to build hype for the movie, it doesn’t have to follow the plot of the manga, instead taking on the format of a (very cheesy) otome game. So you have all these ikemen saying clichéd toe-curling lines like “I am also a man you know” and getting stuck half-naked bReAthInG HeAviLy in cabinets together but instead of playing it seriously (as the movie would do because it’s supposed to make you feel like they are falling in love), the main character goes huh??? wtf are you saying?? at her otome game screen, which is so realistic and just cracks me up. definitely would rec. 

ごめんね青春！(Gomen ne Seishun/ Saving my Stupid Youth) 

hmmm. so-so? Leading lady Hikari Mitsushima is pretty, cool, and fits the bill of gap moe. Ryo Nishikido is also pretty believable (once you suspend your disbelief that somehow all his students think he looks dorky and are not gushing over his ikemen-ness). Unfortunately, relationship development between the otp happened too late and too suddenly. 

Он – драко́н (On Drakon/ He’s a Dragon/ I Am Dragon)

a pleasure to (re-)watch as always. Lovely visuals. 

Tokyo Ghoul: S

decent! Great performance from Shota Matsuda as the Gourmet. He’s definitely a draw-point for this movie - you can see him being featured heavily in the trailers. 

Strong Girl Do Bong Soon

great drama, would rec! 7-8/10. Points docked for all the digressing they did with monks and gangsters. I loved the otp’s dynamic, how healthy their relationship was. One line that struck me was, “Do you know how you’ve found the right person? When you see yourself in their eyes, you look happy”. It was a reminder that while these are obviously fictional characters, we can and should form relationships where our partners are as supportive of us (and us of them) as our dear otp, and not to settle for less. Also loved the fact that smol Bong Soon is so strong and no one can manhandle her >:-) 10/10 also to rookie actor Jang Mi Kwan, who was absolutely terrifying as the villain. How is he only a rookie??  

Because This is my First Life

see above

The Fiery Priest

see above

선덕여왕 (Great Queen Seon Deok)

hehe I watched it (again). As great as ever. Somehow cried more than I did the previous two times I watched it? Took me a week to get over one of the characters (even though I already went through all that heartbreak the first two times I watched this..) Sayang... Definitely has a special place in my heart. Available in full on youtube with subs. 

传闻中的陈芊芊 (Romance of Tiger and Rose)

see above

来世はちゃんとします (Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu) 

see above

覆面系ノイズ (Fukumenkei Noise/Anonymous Noise)

pretty good! Adapted from a manga but very film-like with its color-corrected shots, many cut-scenes to birds and crashing waves. Shison Jun was great in his intense scene, Ayami Nakajo has the most manga-looking face I’ve seen and Koseki Yuta is my bb as always hahaha he’s appeared in, like, four dramas on this list. 

博多弁の女の子はかわいいと思いませんか？(Don’t You Think Girls Who Talk in Hakata Dialect Are Cute?) 

YES!! I DO!! Wholesome drama packed to the brim with hometown (Hakata) pride). I also loved Okada Kenshi going around looking for Ramen shops hahaha. Now I want to see him host a food discovery show. 8/10. Would rec! 

帝一の國 (Teiichi no Kuni/Teiichi’s Country)

面白い 。Interesting watch! In which a bunch of high school boys in an elite school take their student council elections very seriously and attempts at political hijinks ensue. Suda Masaki and his pals somehow make over-the-top super seem natural. I don’t know how they do it, but it’s pretty good. Peppered with interesting reveals and counter-reveals along the way. 

男子高校生の日常 (Daily Lives of High School Boys)

I liked this! It delivers on what it’s supposed to. As a film, it is very film-like. The background is given a lot of weight in this film, and the director “shows, not tells”. The conversations of our characters are situated in the chatter of their schoolmates, you hear random snippets of conversations drift around, you see the school situated in the mountains, piles of decorations around the hall. This helps in conveying the “daily” nature of what happens in the film - not some life-changing adventure, but a warm high-school memory that is pretty like a paper star in a glass bottle. The boys are also very lovable and dorky in their high-school roles. 

ピーチガール (Peach Girl)

not bad. Typical shoujo manga adaptation storyline, even if the leading quartet do well in their roles. Nagano Mei was especially memorable for me out of the typical shoujo heroine roles I had previously seen her in. Inoo Kei also really looks like a boy from a manga. He has a lot of exaggerated actions, but he pulls them off really well. 

突然ですが明日結婚します (Totsuzen desu ga ashita kekkon shimasu/ It’s Sudden But Tomorrow We’re Getting Married/ Everyone’s Getting Married)

pretty decent. It’s not mind-blowing, but it’s definitely not bad. (Or you could flip it around and say it’s definitely not bad, but it’s not mind-blowing). 

ヲタクに恋は難しい  (Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku)

disappointing. I really wanted to like this film for Takahata Mitsuki and Yamazaki Kento, but there were too many useless musical scenes. 

同期の桜 (Doki no Sakura / Our Dearest Sakura)

Hmmmmmm. About colleagues who become inspired in their work and lives because of their colleague Sakura. I wanted more love but that’s not the main point of the drama so it’s not their fault. It got a bit repetitive towards the end, and I felt there wasn’t enough character development. Another drama I really wanted to like more than I did, because I was looking forward to seeing Takahata Mitsuki, Ryusei Ryo and Mackenyu work together. 

Tokyo Coin Laundry

A mishmash of lost souls meet at a coin laundry. A short drama about running away, making choices, and moving on. Katayose Ryota might have been cool in My Brother Loves Me Too Much, but this was where I first saw him and I prefer him in this. I enjoyed this a lot and even drew a postcard based on this. 7/10. 

兄に愛されすぎて困ってます (My Brother Loves Me Too Much) drama and movie

ok don’t judge; I watched this because my friend said it was pretty good. Katayose Ryota IS pretty cool in this, and Tsuchiya Tao brings to life the quintessential image of the Japanese girl, but if you’re watching this for “so cheesy it’s actually good” I would point you to the Watashi ni XX Shinasai drama special instead. If you do want to watch this though, you should watch the drama before the movie, because they are not standalone. 

Nodame Cantabile

What can I say? Classics are classics. 8/10, would rec. This is my first time seeing Ueno Juri acting, and she’s so believable as quirky Nodame I wondered if this was her actual personality. Straight out of a manga. There was potential for messy love-drama, but this drama took the high road and focused on proper character development instead. Thumbs up! They also did really well in “showing not telling” us the OTP’s relationship development. Rather than declarations of love, you can see it in the little caring gestures and almost subconscious smiles. I liked that too. Though maybe I’ll dock a point for how they treated gay expressions of love - “he’s a man you know” and icky faces - and how much casual manhandling there was against Nodame (exaggerated flying punches... maybe that’s how the manga wrote it?) 

[miss-floral-thief]

lol the art style is surprisingly good 

[leekimdramas]

Raise De Wa Chanto Shimasu 2 (Review)

The first season was my start in 2021 and this is how I start 2022.

The plot follows the same 5 group of people, their relationships and their sex lives.

This review will contain spoilers, so if you don’t want things spoiled for your please watch before coming back.

I will just say that I enjoyed the drama, maybe a bit less than the first season but it was still fun to watch.

I have also written a spoiler free review for the first season if you’re interested in that: Raise De Wa Chanto Shimasu

Let’s start with our beautiful Momoe who has different sex friends. I really enjoyed her this season, especially her growth and understanding what she really wants after she spent some time with E-kun.

Her still liking A-kun was a bit upsetting to watch, I got even angrier when I understood how shitty he actually is.

However, I really loved to see Momoe with Matsuda, both sluts getting together to be in a relationship was interesting. As I said I love them but everything happened too quickly.

I wished we have seen more of Matsuda, (yes he had that episode where he was kidnapped by one of the girls he was sleeping with) but other than that I’m not sure how he feels.

His confession and suddenly turning into a one woman guy was something I did not expect and it seemed to forced and fake. 

The ending was nice, both of them acknowledging that they still like other people too but they will try to somehow be together and that fits them.

It’s a short drama, so I want to be understanding but I wanted to see more how he developed.

I don’t have to say a lot about other characters, still hated how Hayashi wants virgins and he always made me a little bit sick. 

His talking about pure woman and stuff like that just a big red flag, funnily he never ends up liking one.

Hiyama Toru stayed completely the same just maybe started to think a bit more about if what he has with the girl is true.

While I had fun watching Takasugi Ume, she also did not do a lot of things this season, just happy that she could finally make her bl manga.

Overall, as much as I enjoyed this season there were some problematic aspects to it, for example, there was mentioned that Kuriyama Nagi was underage... Was the translation wrong, did I read it wrong?? What???

As I mentioned, I wished they had more time or more episodes to tell about some of the characters growth and why they came to the decisions they did.

It almost felt like we were at the very beginning again and going through all of it AGAIN just with less episodes.

8/10