What Dramas Am I Watching This Week?

So here's what I'm watching this week! Of course the list is split by country and the amount of episodes I've seen so far are written below! There will be spoilers from now on so if you aren't caught to the episode number on list, you might want to go watch that episode and then come back! If you're interested in previous reviews, click here and if you want to see a list of my Favorite Asian OTPs and Ships, click here!

KDRAMA

Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol (14/16): "Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol” is a romantic comedy about a pianist named Goo Ra Ra who hits rock bottom after her family’s sudden downfall. After she finds her way to La La Land, a piano academy in a small village, she ends up crossing paths and falling in love with the tough and mysterious Sun Woo Joon, who seems to be hiding a lot of secrets. Goo Ra Ra is an immature and mischievous pianist. With her bright laughter and sunny disposition, she’s a simple, confident, and lovable person, having the charm of making anyone laugh no matter how difficult the situation. Goo Ra Ra also enjoys making jokes and acting unpredictably even during serious moments as she has lived a life without fear, being able to gain whatever she wanted with money. Something happened that caused her to become bankrupt. She doesn't have anything now, and she is frustrated with her situation. Sun Woo Joon doesn't care what other people think about him, but he has a warm heart. He is free-spirited and doesn't have a specific dream or goal for his life. He makes ends meet by working part-time jobs. Goo Ra Ra and Sun Woo Joon meet at the small private piano academy LaLa Land in a country village.

It feels like this show loves to set up cliches only to knock them down in some sort of funny look how unique I am sort of way. I was right in guessing that Ra Ra marrying Dr Cha was obviously a plot of some kind but it ended up being something for Ha Young and Seung Gi rather than an elaborate revenge plot or something. Apparently when they told their moms that they wanted to open a business instead of going to college, it was a wedding business and they needed Ra Ra and Dr Cha to pretend to be their models to prove that their business could work. In the end the video with Joon running out with Ra Ra goes viral, Dr Cha buys their building and I'm assuming their business will take off. We also found out that Secretary Moon wasn't a bad guy either cause Ra Ra found him and he was just as kind as before and gave her some more money which hopefully this time she doesn't lose! Dr Cha is also not terminally ill cause apparently the pill case he carries around religiously is just a vitamin case though Mr Kim really is dying. This week was a total hot mess honestly and I really hated the whole thing with Joon pretending to break up with Ra Ra cause of his mom cause I feel like we already went through this before the time skip! It feels like the writer has these ideas but can't connect them linearly and I really wish people would stop comparing this show to Shopping King Louie cause that show was a gem and this show is not.

Kairos (6/16): Living a precarious life as a part-timer at a convenience store, Ae Ri strives to support her mother who is on a waiting list for a heart transplant. Unfortunately, her mother’s worsened physical condition leads her to forgo the long-awaited opportunity for the transplant, and just like that her mother disappears. Things were already chaotic enough for Ae Ri when she receives a phone call from a strange man claiming to be from the same world but 31 days in the future. Ironically, he desperately asks Ae Ri for help. Seo Jin, a father and a husband of a close-knit family, has been living a successful life as the youngest person to become a director at a construction company. One day, it all crumbles down with the kidnapping of his daughter and his wife’s suicide. On the verge of breaking down, he is given an opportunity to restore everything that was lost under one condition, help from a strange woman. To bring his daughter and wife back to life, he makes a phone call as the clock strikes 10:33.

Once again we only got one episode airing this week but I kind of can't be mad at this cause though part of me is on the edge of my seat wanting to know more, the rest of me is glad that we've returned to the original release schedule so there are no more cliffhangers where there aren't supposed to be! Anyone else starting to feel like it's actually Hyun Chae who's the one running the show and that Do Gyun is low key probs another pawn in her schemes?? We saw in a flashback that she murdered her alcoholic (and probs abusive let's be honest) father without any problems and the more I see of her, the more I think she's some sort of psychopath in how she's so cold and calculating and manipulative. She must see Da Bin as an extension of herself or as a way to break Seo Jin but I doubt that she actually loves Do Gyun like he loves her. The hilarious thing about all this is that it's clearly a way for her to escape her marriage and I'm just sitting here like so divorce wasn't an option?? I'm also starting to wonder if maybe the CEO of Injung really has no idea what's going on cause while the stuff with Ae Ri still feels relevant, everything with Seo Jin feels too personal. I mean Taek Gyu and Do Gyun went as far as to pin the murder on Seo Jin when they didn't have to. Would the CEO care enough about Ae Ri's mom to have her killed or is this more revenge on the part of Do Gyun and Taek Gyu and Hyun Chae who see that Ae Ri is poking around them? I also really wish that Ae Ri would sit her friends down and explain what's happening cause unlike with Seo Jin who has no one to turn to, her friends really seem to care about her! It was sweet the way they rally when push comes to shove.

Please Don't Date Him (1/10): Seo Ji-Sung is a programmer on the A.I. Developent Team at Smart Home Appliances. While working on a refrigerator, she accidentally inserts a chip belonging to the National Intelligence Service. Instead of a program that will rate the freshness of vegetables, it will root out the undesirables from a dating pool, potentially saving people heartache. Ji-Sung herself wants to fall in love, but with the right man. Despair sets in when her program determines that her oh-so-perfect fiancé, Jung-Han, is not her Prince Charming after all! Jung Gook-Hee is a firefighter who spends little time on social media, leaving Ji-Sung with little data to analyze. She meets firefighter Gook-Hee, who has no social media presence. This leaves Ji-Sung without a shred of data for her program to analyze. She can't help but be skeptical, not knowing a thing about Gook-Hee's past. Should Ji-Sung take a leap of faith with him, even if it could mean another heartbreak for her?

Wow wow wow! This show is totally blowing all of my expectations for it out of the water!! When I first heard the premise for this show I'm not entirely sure why I expected to find something like My Absolute Boyfriend or My Holo Love (of which I knew the premise of even if I never actually watched it) but instead it looks like our story isn't going to be as fantastical as I thought which is kinda a good thing cause we can revel in the rom com shenanigans without having to worry about the moral implications of falling for a robot! I'm trying to stay calm about it but this show, as much as it reminds me of Lonely Enough To Love with its short episode count and one episode a week release schedule, had a much better premiere episode than I expected! I love the idea of Ji Sung having built an AI that can basically pull up anyone's social media and online data cause even though it's totally an invasion of privacy and all that, everyone has at one point in their lives wished that they could see what other people say about them! I also wasn't too bothered by the fact that Ji Sung and Gook Hee didn't interact much this week cause I think we were setting up Ji Sung and her backstory and I'm thinking that maybe next week or in a few weeks we'll see Gook Hee's backstory so that we can know our characters apart before they're together. I'm not sure what I think of Ji Sung's friends yet and we didn't really spend too much time with Gook Hee for me to have an opinion but I'm definitely really into Ji Sung so far! She's quirky and fun but also competent enough for it to make sense why she works in such a huge tech company. She had a fiancé and I mean totally expected her to find out that he was cheating but instead she found out that he was a total criminal for taking secret surveillance photos of his patients and her and passing them around his creepy friends. I really hope she printed that message thread and takes it to the police cause the man deserves to be put in jail especially after all his condescending remarks to her about how her job isn't important and that she needs to support him more and that once they get married she'll be too busy with kids to work.

Private Lives (14/16): Swindlers come across a secret of the nation and try to reveal the secret. They must go up against a large company by using all of their skills. Lee Jung-Hwan is a team leader for the major corporation. He looks like an ordinary company employee, but he is a mysterious figure. Cha Joo-Eun is a swindler, who has the looks of a sweet & innocent woman. She supports herself with her crimes. Jung Bok-Ki is a professional swindler. She often targets other swindlers. She is elegant and also charismatic. Kim Jae-Wook is Jung Bok-Ki’s partner in crime.

Sometimes I have the thought that I'm just too dumb for this show. Like just when I think I know every player in the game, this show switches it up and introduces a new layer! This week's info dump starts with Jung Hyeon Chul who was the driver for President Choi and the lynchpin in the case against Choi's bribery only I think he himself was bribed or threatened into changing his testimony during the retrial. Honestly I'm fairly certain the entire retrial was a GK event with Yoo being bribed into being the prosecutor and Hwan being bribed as the judge but that's neither here or there right now. After this Hyeon Chul became director of the Haneul Foundation (as a reward I'm assuming) which was meant to be a money laundering scheme on the part of Director Oh but Edward found out and so he and Bok Ki jumped in to siphon the money by building the All Together Church. GK was originally supposed to take down the Haneul Foundation but that plan got shut down early on so I wonder if this is when Jung Hwan first connected with Director Oh since we learned that he and Oh have been working together for a while. Director Oh must have gotten pissed that Hyeon Chul lost all his money and sent Jung Hwan to kill him only Jung Hwan faked his death instead. In the meanwhile we're supposed to think that Director Oh took the place of Choi in the world but I still don't understand this ledger cause it feels like everyone has a copy so it doesn't seem all that powerful but Hyun Kyung and Hwan seemed really confident in Hwan never being caught up in ledger shenanigans so maybe Oh has a piece of the puzzle that no one else knows about? Meanwhile we also learned that Soo Jin is a GK shadow and that's a whole other can of worms we have to unpack! In terms of the romance, I'm still living for Joo Eun and Jung Hwan being a dynamic duo and trusting each other beyond anything including how worried they get for each other and how Jung Hwan begged forgiveness from Joo Eun's parents but to my surprise this week belongs to Edward and Bok Ki who are so beyond in love with each other but will die before they admit it. I don't entirely know what's keeping them apart but they're both having full emotional breakdowns when they're alone and Bok Ki is seriously succeeding in making him green with envy at the idea of dating Yoo. I am 100% on board!!

FINISHED Search (10/10): Yong Dong Jin is a conscript sergeant in the South Korean armed forces. He is also the military’s leading sniffer dog handler and is just one month away from receiving his long-awaited discharge. But with just weeks to go until he can rejoin the civilian world, a mysterious case threatens to suck him into a long, troublesome intrigue. In the demilitarized zone (DMZ), the area between North and South Korea, a suspected murder in bizarre circumstances piques the army’s attention. The army leaders decide to form an elite search party to scour the DMZ for clues, enlisting Yong Dong Jin and his keen-nosed dogs. Also joining the team will be Son Ye Rim, a relatively green but highly promising soldier who received much of her training in the United States. However, as the party begins to investigate, its members quickly begin to realize that whatever it is they are hunting does not appear to be human…

The finale for this show aired this week and it was just as fun as the rest of the show. I mentioned last week that I was interested in how Lee Hyuk would try to turn things around cause in all honesty a video of him shooting other South Korean soldiers seemed pretty cut-and-dry but I assumed that he'd use politics to fix things which is why never in my wildest dreams did I think that he would be like well kill everyone and then no one can refute my claims that the video is a lie. In hindsight this should have been obvious cause make it dead has clearly been his solution since 1997. In the end though Dong Jin, Ye Rim, Moon Cheol, and Ki Hyung were the only ones to make it out alive. Min Gyu died from being shot at by Lee Hyuk's men, Joon Sung took the bullet meant for Dong Jin, and then Lee Hyuk and Captain Jo died after Captain Jo blew up the military house to protect Dong Jin. This was super sad cause I really wanted him to come home with the others and get cured but it was sweet that both he and Dong Jin got to recognize each other for the few seconds of peace they got. The public backlash ended up being so strong that the government and the military had to investigate the 1997 incident and cause of that they were able to find out that everything in the video was real so Captain Jo and the others who died were able to get justice. I was surprised that Ye Rim and Dong Jin didn't end up together in the end but I guess since romance wasn't the focus of this show, we're meant to think that right now they've got their own problems and romance isn't on their minds. Ye Rim did find out that she was the baby from North Korea but because it took place in the last few minutes of the finale, it felt like we were robbed of a real reaction. I did like the fact that Dong Jin ended up becoming a search-and-rescue firefighter though and that Mac joined him. Overall I'd give this show a 9 / 10 cause it had a unique premise and executed it well!

Start Up (10/16): “Startup” is set in South Korea’s fictional Silicon Valley, called Sandbox, and tells the story of people in the world of startup companies. Seo Dal Mi dreams of becoming Korea’s Steve Jobs. She’s an adventurer who doesn’t own much, but has a grand plan for herself. She also has experience in a wide range of part-time jobs and is a person of great vitality. Nam Do San is the founder of Samsan Tech. He was once the pride of his family as a math genius, but for the past two years, he’s been going nowhere with his company’s investments. It turns out that Seo Dal Mi remembers him as her ‘cool first love’, and he decides to begin a startup in the hope of turning Seo Dal Mi’s misunderstanding into reality. Han Ji Pyung begins a startup company to pay off his debt. A team leader at SH Venture Capital, his astonishing investment skills and sharp tongue earn him the nickname, “the Gordan Ramsay of investments”. Though he’s prickly to most others, he’s softer than anyone to one special person who granted him a great favor in the past. Lastly, CEO Won In Jae has everything society respects: the educational background, beautiful appearance, and money. She considers her background as a second generation chaebol a weakness and does everything she can to create success on her own and be acknowledged for her skills. However, she ends up being used and thrown away by her father, and in order to stop being a disposable piece on her father’s chess board, she throws herself into a startup.

So much happened this week that I seriously don't even know where to start!! We had two very love-triangle focused episodes which high key sucked cause you all know how I hate love triangles but towards the end we started to focus a little more on the work side again and I'm really looking forward to next week! Dal Mi finally found out that Ji Pyung was the one who wrote her the letters and I thought her whole reaction was very realistic and well done but it's kinda funny that the show wants me to think she's torn over who she loves when it's clear that she isn't giving Ji Pyung more than a cursory glance cause even after the reveal she only focused on Do San and had like two conversations with Ji Pyung which weren't exactly enough to show her that she feels something for this man. I'm just glad that the secret came out though cause now she can make a real decision with all the facts and people can stop complaining that she only likes Do San for the qualities she sees in him that are Ji Pyung's. It does seem that part of her is more upset at the fact that Do San might not have really liked her more than he was lying but she's starting to move from the anger to the confusion phase and I have a feeling that the more Do San shows her who he really is, the harder she'll continue falling for him. We also got a bit more backstory on Do San and found out that he actually cheated on the math competition he took part in when he was a kid and the fact that he cheated took away his sense of accomplishment which made him refuse to see anything he did since as an accomplishment and made him super insecure. It's funny cause so many people don't understand why this is important but it's like if you've ever lived under the overwhelming pressure a parent puts on you, you'd know why it breaks you into pieces. In other news Dal Mi and Do San found out that In Jae had been pretending that she was Dal Mi with the Sandbox CEO and it was actually Yong San that was looking for revenge but surprisingly he wasn't targeting Do San or Samsan Tech like I first thought but actually Ji Pyung cause he blames him for his older brother's suicide. 

The Spies Who Loved Me (8/16): Kang Ah Reum is a wedding dress designer who has been married twice. Her two husbands harbor many secrets and Ah Reum gets swept up in them. Jun Ji Hoon disguises himself as a travel writer, but he is actually a secret agent for Interpol. His job as a secret agent is a way for Jun Ji Hoon to support himself financially. He is currently divorced. He was married to Kang Ah Reum, but they divorced without Kang Ah Reum learning about his secret life as a spy. Kang Ah Reum now works as a wedding dress designer. She met Derek Hyun after her divorce and they eventually married. Her current husband works as a diplomatic official and seems gentle and warm. His secret is that he is actually a cold-blooded industrial spy. Derek Hyun treats his wife sweetly, but, for his job as an industrial spy, he will do anything. He loves Kang Ah Reum sincerely, but he also hides his true self from her.

Once again we only got one episode airing this week cause of scheduling conflicts but, like Kairos, I can't say that I'm entirely all that sad about it cause it means that next week we'll be returning to the original release schedule so no more cliffhangers where there shouldn't be. I do have to say that this week was interesting cause I still feel like we've literally just entered this world but in actuality we're halfway through already! I keep feeling like maybe I misconstrued something about Derek's character cause the way the show keeps playing it is so sketchy! On the one hand we're given all these vibes that he's a bad guy and probs had something to do with Sophie's death but then on the other we have Ah Reum figuring everything out but still not being scared of him or wanting a divorce. An industrial spy and a spy for Interpol or the CIA are two totally different beasts so there's no way to say oh Ji Hoon and Derek are both liars and spies so whatever. I did love how Ah Reum was able to unravel Derek so cleanly but I'm still pissed she's keeping things secret from Ji Hoon cause she should know that people die in this world and the fact that she can't trust him cause the most suspicious person is her own husband is rough. I did really like that Ji Hoon reached out to Peter and I really want them to team up but once again I'm not happy that he's hiding things from his team though I suppose if there really is a spy on the team like the show hinted at, maybe it's good that Ji Hoon hasn't told them everything.

CDRAMA

Begin Again (14/35): It tells the story of a domineering female CEO and a warm doctor who turn a fake relationship into reality due to practical reasons. Having exchanged their 'I do's', they start on a new chapter of their lives as they learn to fall in love. Lu Fangning is the general manager of Luning Group, a large corporation in the business of home furniture. Lu Fangning is a woman who has it all - talented, beautiful and rich. Nearing her thirties, Lu Fangning succumbs to family pressures and decides that she urgently needs a husband with whom she will have a child. Coincidentally, surgeon Ling Rui appears in front of her. Ling Rui is not only blessed with good looks but also has an angelic heart, which makes him the perfect candidate in the eyes of Lu Fangning. She schemes her way to his life and they finally become husband and wife. Lu Fangning eventually realizes the error in her ways and strives to be better. However, keeping a marriage is not as easy as it seems.

This week was high key hilarious because Fangning finally confessed to Ling Rui that she loves him but he didn't believe her cause he thinks that she's being flighty like usual which pissed Fangning off and now they're in a cold war. I do think that part of Ling Rui doesn't believe that Fangning could ever love him due to insecurities in himself which is why he doesn't believe Fangning when she says that she loves him. What's crazy though is how he basically regretted everything he said in their fight afterwards and he went to look for her but when she finally came back, he acted like nothing happened. It's ironic as hell that though Ling Rui is the more generally mature one, of the two of them Fangning is the more emotionally open one cause she says whatever she thinks whenever she thinks it but Ling Rui keeps everything close to the chest. The whole being jealous of Bai Ling was hilarious and the poor boy was definitely traumatized by the whole thing. In other news Fangning did catch on that Simon might like her so he quickly decided to pretend like he's interested in Siyu which is actually horribly mean towards a girl that he clearly knows likes him but I'm sure that he'll fall for her for real especially after she finds out the truth and dumps him cause that's how dramas roll! I also still don't understand the point of Tangping cause I thought she might end up with Fangning's brother but we're almost halfway through this show and they've barely interacted and she's still obsessed with a married man. Honestly I wouldn't care if she just disappeared from this show based on how irritating she is.

Oh My Drama Lover (6/24): Li Chunxi, a third-rate romance writer, experiences a car accident and wakes up to find that she has entered a completely unfamiliar world. Additionally, she is no longer herself but someone by the name of Qian Zhenzhen, losing the memory of her former self. Qian Zhenzhen of the unfamiliar world is a woman who does anything to seduce her boss, Ouyang Chen. Li Chunxi, now Qian Zhenzhen, attempts to gradually rid of her bad reputation and in doing so attracts the attention of her boss, Ouyang Chen, who falls in love with her and tries to court her. But her heart becomes increasingly occupied by her loyal assistant, Lu Li, and the two slowly fall in love. Qian Zhenzhen, who has become a winner in love and turned around her image, would have never thought that the innocent Lu Li has a double identity...

I was so excited to find out that this drama finally got English subtitles cause I've been wanting to check it out forever cause you all know that my kryptonite is con artist shows and shows that take place in a book/movie like this one! This drama actually reminds me a lot of a mix of Lost Romance and Extraordinary You with the way it's following the second female lead and how it's forcing it's characters to play out actions the author had in mind while the characters know they're acting weird but they can't stop it. The only difference is that our author doesn't actually remember who she was or that she's in a book unlike every other version of this story. I also really love that like Extraordinary You, the female lead instead of falling for the male lead or the lead that her character is supposed to be after, falls for a side character. I adore Lu Li and Zhenzhen together and I'm really so curious as to whether Chunxi in the real world had plotted out this big elaborate revenge plot for Lu Li or if like most characters in one of these shows, he's kind of made his own storyline appear. It seems as though his brother died and while trying to figure out why, he thinks Professor Yuan is involved and maybe someone at Ouyang? Meanwhile I want to shout the fact that for once an author of a novel/tv show wrote a fantasy for herself in which she's rich and powerful just like the man she wants cause like I always wonder who wants a fantasy in which they're poor and constantly bullied?? I'm also a little sad that since Chunxi took over Zhenzhen's body that she went from this person who was clearly somewhat competent at her job because she became a team leader to this bumbling girl who doesn't know anything especially since work is such an important part of this show unlike Lost Romance where the office is pretty much a place for the leads to interact.

FINISHED The Blooms At Ruyi Pavilion (40/40): Fu Rong who's the second daughter of the Fu family unexpectedly had the ability of "foreseeing dreams" after a serious illness. She predicted that she would marry to Prince Su, Xu Jin, and finally suffered the fate of being buried. However, Xu Jin also has the ability of foreseeing dreams. Although Xu Jin also predicted the same tragedy, he doesn't want to avoid it but try his utmost to change the destiny. These two people begin the sweet game of "framing one another."

Well the finale for this show aired this week and though I managed to finish it, don't for one second think that I enjoyed myself with this mess of a show. I'm not even furious with the way this show went at this point but I am seriously wondering at what point I'll learn my lesson about cdramas. Their favorite trope is to have some evil villain cause rifts to form between the main leads and to have the main leads turn against one another like complete and utter idiots since the world would explode if we ever had a show with a main couple that is rock solid and refuse to allow anyone to form cracks between them. Rong'er really went through a never-ending cycle of being super smart then super stupid in order for the plot to progress the way the writers wanted it to and it wasn't even until the very end that she found out that Duke An was playing her the entire time. It was exasperating seeing how many times she denounced Xu Jin to the point where I was like dude just divorce her ass and let her be miserable out on her own cause she refuses to ever trust you. I hated that after everything Duke An got to die on his own terms and I hated that the show low key made all his actions out to be romantic cause it wasn't. What kind of obsessive monster tries to kill the man that the person he loves loves?? It's extra hysterical cause as it turns out Duke An's mom was alive this whole time and if Duke An had turned any of his revenge fantasy towards finding out the truth, he could have reunited with his mom long ago. I mean seriously he couldn't spend three seconds to go and find out whether the fire in the temple even killed anyone or do whatever Ruyi Pavilion did to find his mom? I'm once again disappointed that the chemistry between our leads was wasted on another terrible show but I guess at least I got through it unlike Legend Of Yuxi which I ended up dropping? In the end I'd give this show a 5 / 10...

JDRAMA

Bokura wa Koi ga Hetasugiru (3/7): Fujiwara Hana and Katayama Mizuki have been best friends since elementary school. When Hana gets dumped by her boyfriend who was cheating on her, Hana and Mizuki take a trip together to relieve her heartbreak. They meet two guys – Narita Yosuke and Ichinose Ayumu – at a hot spring inn at their destination. Although they have only just become acquainted, Yosuke suddenly chides Hana, who does not have it in her nature to speak her mind. At first, Hana gets defensive. But she starts to realize that her inability to speak out because she is too mindful of others is a shortcoming and tries to change. On the other hand, Mizuki, who has never dated seriously before, wants to be loved. Yosuke is despised for saying things that he thinks are for the other party’s sake while Ayumu is a mixture of kindness and frivolousness. Then there is Ayumu’s “younger brother” Kanata (Shimasaki Toa). Friendship, jealousy, betrayal, and quarrels swirl in each of them. They start to come to terms with themselves through love.

Wow this was a rollercoaster of a premiere! I watched all these episodes back to back which is why I have to say that things were actually crazy. The four main characters met at a hot spring and became friends but love triangles formed and I totally thought that was going to last until the end of this show but to my surprise, things already seem nipped in the bud in terms of triangles. It feels like Hana and Narita are going to be together now that they've pretty much fixed their misunderstandings and it's possible that Ayumu and Mizuki are going to end up together cause he was there to see her breakdown and realized that maybe he feels something for her outside of just being a one night stand. I'm not entirely sure what to think of Mizuki yet cause the way she blew up at Hana was really extreme and unless she's about to tell me that she liked every one of Hana's exes and they picked Hana, there was no need for the games she played! In normal circumstances I would say that always pick your friend over a guy but Mizuki barely spoke to Narita and only liked him cause he was handsome while Hana and Narita actually had two full dates and talked so in this show it would Mizuki that needs to pick her friend over a boy! The weird part about this whole thing is how Hana found out so quickly and I wondered if maybe she would still stay away from Narita out of guilt but by the end of this episode, it didn't actually seem that way which makes me really interested in the pacing for this show!

Kono Koi Atatamemasuka (4/10): 21-year-old Kiki Inoue works part-time at a convenience store. She spends her days in a state of torpor. One day, Kiki Inoue meets Takumi Asaba, who is the CEO of a convenience store chain. She has a social media account where she reviews sweets. Her social media account has caught the CEO's attention. Takumi Asaba gets her to work on developing sweets to sell at his convenience store chain. Meanwhile, Takumi Asaba became the CEO to turnaround his company that's ranked lowest among convenience store chains. While talking about developing new sweets, they become attracted to each other.

This week's episode was interesting to watch cause I spent most of it being a little irritated about Kiki but I had to continuously remind myself that she's only 21 and at that age, romance is more important than everything! After seeing Asaba and Riho hug last week, Kiki spiraled down into a pit of sadness and jealously at the idea that Asada might like Riho cause Riho is more mature than her and I was just sitting here like girl move on you barely know this guy and it was a crush more than anything else! Makoto though he clearly had ulterior motives was ultimately right when he asked if her feelings about wanting to be needed and making sweets were so shallow cause she was this close to quitting just so she wouldn't have to see Asada and Riho anymore. I'm also really into the idea that Riho has her own insecurities too cause it's clear that she struggles with the idea of someone younger being better than her but what makes her such a good person is that she tries not to let it color her day-to-day interactions with Kiki. What surprised me most of all this week was when Makoto straight up kissed Kiki as a way to confess to her which like I'm torn about cause on the one hand he clearly didn't get her consent but at the same time I'm a little impressed that he managed to confess his feelings when most second male leads don't (if he even is one cause I'm still not sure) especially compared to Riho who couldn't even manage to hold Asada's hand! We also learned that Asada's probable plan for the company is to sell it but I'm not sure if that's the truth or if his classmate is lying but honestly I could see it being totally true based on how Asada is so sketchy half of the time!

Neechan no Koibito (3/9): When Momoko Adachi was in high school, her parents died in an accident. She was left with her 3 younger siblings. To support her family, Momoko Adachi gave up on going to a university and picked up a job at a hardware store. 9 years later, she is now 27-years-old. Her 3 younger siblings are 20, 17, and 14-years-old. Momoko Adachi places her sibling's happiness before anything else. One day, she meets Yoshioka-san at work. She is attracted to Yoshioka-san, who smiles all the time, but he has a secret.

After this week I'm wondering if maybe this show will surprise me and not connect Momoko and Manato is some elaborate star-crossed lovers situation! I'm only saying this cause we saw a small PTSD flashback Manato had in the hospital after a bunch of boxes fell on him and that flashback showed him  covered in blood being dragged into a police station as he screamed for someone named Kairo. Idk I mean it's possible that is just a fake-out and the real important hint was from earlier when Manato told Momoko that he doesn't drink cause maybe he doesn't drink cause he got into a car accident while drinking but maybe I just want to think positively! Either way it really looks like Manato is punishing himself for whatever happened which is why he isn't trying to be with Momoko when she's made it clear that she likes him. I'm curious if he'll end up telling her the truth before they get serious in an attempt to ward her off or if he'll just be so happy around her that he'll put it off in fear of her leaving him. In other news remember how I was complaining that Momoko's siblings don't have enough character or screen time? Well apparently it looks like the show might be hooking up Kazuki who's the eldest sibling at 20 and Miyuki who's Momoko's friend. They have a 7 year age gap but I suppose since he's legal it's not that big a deal. I'm sure the bigger deal will be telling Momoko if they eventually get serious cause I'm sure that Miyuki is not who Momoko pictured as a possible wife for the brothers she adores.

Shanai Marriage Honey (1/7): A young couple got married almost immediately after meeting each other through a dating app and did not realized that they were working for the same company. They decided to keep their marriage a secret from their company and friends. At first, both parties thought it's okay to get married without love but they gradually got attracted to each other.

I went into this drama not really expecting much cause it sounded a lot like every other contract marriage show out there but that's not a bad thing cause I love watching two people fall in love in that sort of situation and I was especially interested in this drama cause Itagaki Mizuki was in this and you all know how I gushed about him in Sixteen Shoukougun!! So the concept for this show was that Ami was supposed to marry this guy that she had dated for 5 years only to find out that he cheated on her so she decided to get married to Manatsu cause she was tired of the whole romance thing. I expected them to fall in love but more like halfway through this show which is why when Ami fell for him like halfway through the first episode I was intrigued but what honestly shocked me more was Manatsu and how he reacted to her interest. It's interesting cause we know why Ami chose this marriage but we actually don't know anything about Manatsu and for a second I wondered if he had some evil motives based on those texts he was reading and looking pensive over but now I'm thinking that it's probs not as bad as I first thought. I think the fact that the two work at the same company is no coincidence and maybe Manatsu had fallen for Ami awhile ago but didn't make a move cause she was happily engaged and only swooped in after she was single again with this plan in mind. What's also strange is how many men in Ami's life are into her too and I wonder if this is just a mechanism to show Ami that Manatsu gets jealous or if this is meant to be a reverse harem show so we the audience can live vicariously through Ami.

Shichinin no Hisho (4/8): Toto Bank President Ichihara is in a hotel suite romancing his secretary Nana when he suddenly loses consciousness. Four women arrive to perform CPR, but their efforts to save him are in vain. They calmly rid the room of evidence, then ensure the deletion of all records pertaining to the president’s stay. Previously, the president had stipulated that should he die suddenly, his death must be be made to appear as if he had died at home. Keitaro is a former litigation clerk who worked as a political secretary and is now running a ramen restaurant. He ordered the four women to deal with the situation happening in the hotel room. Together restauranteur Keitaro, housekeeper Satsuki and secretaries Chiyo, Nana, Fujiko, Sa Ran and Miwa, form a shadow corps, whose mission it is to help the weak and punish evil-doers. With their combined skills and experience, they are a force to be reckoned with. 

We're now halfway through this show now and it was interesting that this week's focus was on Fujiko and the police force. One of the high up officers in power was the son of an Assemblyman so the fact that he was a secret pervert was being hidden by Fujiko's boss. The boss's plan had been to threaten the poor high school girl who's photos were taken and hide the fact that he constantly did this in order to get in good with the Assemblyman only to be thwarted by our girls. They attempted to catch him in the act, and steal his phone to find evidence but when that didn't work, they finally led him into a trap where the Superintendent General of the police force caught him redhanded with a photo album of under-the-skirt panty shots therefore he got fired as did Fujiko's boss. We also got a little more of Fujiko's backstory and it was seriously horrible how sexist the cops were to her and how they kept demoting her just because she wouldn't sleep with the other officers. I hope that now that her terrible boss has been fired that maybe she can work for a better boss if she wants to stay a secretary or eventually become a full cop again cause she'd be better than half the men on the force! It's also important to note that the Assemblyman from last week appeared this week too and it seems like he knows who Ban is. I'm a little confused about this random reporter who seems to know enough about our secretaries to know that something isn't right but I'm even more curious as to who Ban is. Maybe he was a politician before? Or maybe he's done something like this with other groups of people? We also found out that Chiyo's brother disappeared and I wonder if that means he's dead.

Talio Fukushu Daiko no Futari (5/7): Mami Shirasawa became a lawyer at the young age of 20, as she chose to take the preliminary judicial examinations. Now with a large law firm, she has yet to be assigned a case, despite her competence. When a colleague drops a case, Mami is eager to take it on. Her first client is Yoriko Watanuki, a woman who was sexually assaulted by the son of the owner of a large construction company. Predictably, the accused has denied wrongdoing and had tried to cover his tracks by using his money and influence and by twisting the victim’s words around to suit his purposes. Mami comes to learn that her client has likely been defrauded by an on-line revenge agency, whom she paid up front, but has yet to see any results. In order to take legal action, Mami instructs Yoriko to determine who at the agency is responsible for the theft. The guilty party is one Kensuke Kuroiwa, a petty con artist. In an unlikely turn of events, lawyer and con artist team up to exact revenge upon Yoriko’s assailant.

It's interesting that we're coming up on the end of this show and yet we still really don't know what is happening in the flash-forwards in terms of Mami's father's death or the fact that he was framed. I wonder if the plan for this show will be to have next week be another standalone case for our duo to solve before the finale actually focuses entirely on Mami and her father. Part of me is afraid that the so-called hero of justice that killed the man who set up Mami's dad will end up being Kuroiwa cause we're five episodes in and he's still so mysterious. What if he decided that Mami was the last client he should take and tried to get revenge for her?? Either way this week's case was interesting though a bit silly that these two random young adults would be able to solve a decades old case that so many trained police officers couldn't. This was the one time that I definitely figured out who the killer was very early on though the motive didn't end up being what I thought. I assumed that the secretary was in love with the CEO so she killed his wife but as it turned out it was just an accident though I think that was worse cause the reason she did it was so dumb tbh.

xoxo Allie