Hot n meeeh
This is a drama that takes you on a journey of insecurity and dives in to the minds of the two leads with kind of theatrical affects making it at times hard to distinguish between the inner and outer world...The supporting characters in this do one hell of a job supporting the main story, and saying what the audiance is thinking. And the tension and physical scenes between the leads is hotter than pyrolysis... or I don't know a car left out in a dessert during a heatwave... But between those scenes I find myself feeling nothing... As if something is missing without knowing what is actually missing? It could be a loack of build up and interactions between the leads, or jumping from one relationship to another type of deal... or maybe it is the lack of communication... or all of the above plus something more.
That said the drama was indeed a J-drama a bit different than most things I have seen, an easy binge... Also the styling of the whole cast was lovely!
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The Guessing Game
Subjective Gut Rating - 7.75“The Date of Marriage” is a very typical Japanese rom-com. It’s comforting, cute and also very predictable. It’s great for stress relief, but don’t expect it to blow your mind.
I had a pretty enjoyable time watching this. But I think my enjoyment stems from me being a fan of the trope - “Does he/she like me? Nah.. probably not and it’s all in my head. There’s no way he/she will like me”. If you like this trope, you will have a very fun time watching “The Date of Marriage” because the leads are adorable, good-looking and have good chemistry. But if you don’t, you will be super annoyed as they spend more than half of this drama guessing each other’s feelings. The back-and-forth can be very annoying and frustrating.
J-dramas are known for their fast pacing and this drama jumps right to it. In supersonic speed, our female lead was dumped by her boyfriend in the beginning of the first episode and she fell for another guy by mid-second episode. You might also want to suspend realism and common sense. You know, a guy probably won’t promise to marry you if he doesn’t like you, no matter how kind he is. There’s no question to it and no guessing needed. But you have to go with the flow because this guessing game is a big part of the show. Our leads had other long-term relationships in the past but they acted like it’s their first relationship and forgot how to communicate and act, once they got together.
I do like how the stories are told in both the male and female lead’s perspectives (for part of the drama). You can hear their inner thoughts and their own narration. This storytelling seems to be most common with J-dramas, compared to other Asian countries. We also get a few good kisses and not just shy fish kisses.
Overall, this is not the best Japanese rom-coms out there, but it’s passable if you want to watch something short and easy. If you don’t like the trope I mentioned, then don’t watch it.
Other Random Observations:
1. Matsuda Genta is really handsome! LOL He looks older than his real age of 24.
2. Did our female lead wear the same nail polish for a whole year?
3. The comedic inner monologues/daydream confuse me a little in the beginning. I wasn’t sure if they were speaking to the camera/viewers, or to each other.
Completed: 10/3/2023 - Review #362
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This review may contain spoilers
Love and ugly blouses
Is it possible for a couple of actors in a romcom to completely lose chemistry they had by the end of the drama? Well, yes and this is the drama!When she gets dumped by her boyfriend a few days short of her 29th birthday Yoshiko is devastated: her life plan is ruined. She accidentally meets Yuki, her 23yr old co-worker who consoles her by offering to marry her in a year. Unbeknown to her, he has been in love with her ever since he saw her for the first time. His promise o of marriage makes her really notice him for the first time and within days she falls for him. Misunderstandings make the most of the rest of the drama (7 episodes out of 8).
Actually everything felt off about this drama. First, the narrative process: the main two characters often stop, turn around and talk into the camera which in itself is an interesting way to tell the story. Here, it is used so much that often we do not see the line between the real and imaginary things they say in their minds so it is very disconcerting and confusing.
Secondly, what possessed the costume / hair designer to make the FL look ugly and old? The hair is a disaster: the basic bob was ruined by unnecessary hair/head ornaments. The clothes she was made to wear...I cannot believe someone actually makes those. They made her look like an overweight 40yr old victorian spinster. It has been a long time since I'd seen such ugly clothes. And finally, her behaviour was inconsistent! She's just wallowing in misunderstandings, drawing wrong conclusions, blowing hot and cold (I like you, kiss me, let's sleep together, why do you want to sleep together again, let's give us some space, why don't you want to sleep with me again, are we dating, why are you kissing me, why don't want to kiss me again....and on and on and on like this!) and behaving kawai like a good japanese FL. The ML was a bit better: at least he was rather nice and consistent, kind and full of understanding. But why did he constantly speak in that breathless voice. It made me think of all those chinese dubbed dramas! The chemistry was going from bad to worse in spite of the main actor giving it all but her character was ultimately so unlikable (not even annoying) that their being in love was not credible.
The story is fluffy enough, rather basic as we do not see any member of their respective families (except for her mother, blink and you miss it appearance). They are adults so the parents have no say in their lives. Rather refreshing. There is a group of friends at work who are a varied and a very fun lot to watch. As usual with these romcoms there is not one single "evil" character, no jealous exes or worried parents who know the best...
The best part of this drama are the opening credits in which two of them run around the beach.
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Promises, promises
J-dramas are often built on a foundation of quirky characters and outlandish premises. They don't all work but when it does, it can turn up some memorable and unique dramas.Unfortunately, this show seems to have missed the memo and what we got is a nice romance drama but there is nothing fresh or unique about it.
The biggest selling point of this show is the life goal of the FL. She has set her mind on when she will be married and when she will have kids. Everything should be done and dusted by the time she turn 30. However, life has other ideas and she turned 29 and has little prospect of marriage let alone 1.3 kids.
In stepped a "stranger" who promised to marry her on the day of her 30th birthday. That is a chivalrous move but it would have worked better if it was a written short story. In this case, it is stretched to 8x20ish mins episodes. It is still watchable as a run of the mill office romance but little else.
There are swoon-y moments and a reasonable amount of skinship. It is nice to watch the ML trying to woo the FL and deliver a promise made on a whim. It helps that he has a crush on the FL but there is a lot of pushbacks from the FL initially. She is confused about the ML's motivation and whether it was all a joke.
As a relatively short dramas, it is sweet/nice/decent enough and an easy binge. It is perfectly suitable for that but it would not be my first choice and it has minimal rewatch value. Peace out.
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The female lead is super cute, I find her adorable and not quite the typical skinny girl lead which is the usual in other dramas. The male is sooooooo handsome, just my type. Their love story is really different, but I like that they showed both of their respective viewpoints which is typical in japanese dramas.
It's short but it's fine short, it's not too dragging and the conflicts are also managed faster than the usual full length dramas so it's good for passing the time.
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Good Enough
Japanese Drama '' Kekkon Yoteibi '' is an office romance.The story is fun, even though it's pretty predictable and somehow basic. But the way the drama is filmed, and the choice to use monologues acted out to the camera by the characters, were what spiced things up and helped the drama stand out.
And even though it's short and has some things underdeveloped, it managed to wrap up the story nicely in the end.
The performances, in addition, were great by every actor and actress in the cast and the leading lady was especially cute without being annoying.
Another plus is that the drama didn't shy away from showing a little intimate moment between the two leads.
So, overall, six out of ten.
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Cute
There are many dramas that are about marriages. This drama is not all that different from the others. The story is sweet and not complex. I liked that very much.The actors are good, but sometimes they overacted a bit or seemed childish, which I didn't like. But if you've seen some J-dramas, you know that this kind of thing can happen. The supporting characters and the main couple did a good job and were pretty funny.
It was interesting to see the inner thoughts of the characters in this drama. I have never seen that in any other drama.
All in all, I can't say much. It wasn't the best drama, but you can always watch it if you want to see something light or a story that isn't complex.
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This review may contain spoilers
Does he really mean it?
9/10 is my rating. This is a 2023 Japanese romance series with 8, 23 minute episodes.First I provide a unique synopsis then review.
Synopsis
Kawai Yoshiko (Sakurako Ohara)had a clear life plan, originally she wanted to get Married at 26 then have her first child by 27 and her second child at 29. During her three year relationship, she adjusted when it was clear there wouldn’t be a quick proposal. What she didn’t account for was breaking up from a long term relationship with 30 year old birthday approaching. She was broken hearted enough that when she ran into her work colleague, Yuuki Masaomi (Genta Matsuda) on the way home, she poured her heart out to him. To her surprise, Yuki declares he will marry her the day before her 30th birthday if she doesn’t find someone. Yoshiko thinks he is only saying that to comfort her and because he is confident she will find someone in the two years before she turns 30. He doesn't really want to marry her. Or does he?
Review
This is a very cute, straight forward romance with a happy ending.
Spoilers
I was glad she did not get back together with her ex. I thought they were headed for that but was really glad it did not materialize.
There was a separation, which I usually find annoying, but the way it came up, and how it played out, made sense.
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Okay, let’s just try something new. So far a real blast
Great OST. You are 29 and still unmarried. What to do? This Japanese Drama is so unusual and the premise is so far out, I want to say as little as possible, otherwise this drama may be spoiled. The drama challenges the boundaries of marriage and reality and our Plans of Life. Only the first episode is out as of 6 August 2023, but it may be worth your time to check out the first episode to see if this Japanese drama is something you want added to your list for future binging or you find that this is a crash and burn. For me, I am going to view this one real-time. I am interested to see what comes next.It is funny that this drama picked me. I just tried to watch a trailer and Episode 1 started playing. So I just watched the first episode and it seemed interesting enough to watch the whole series. The series is on VIKI. Each episode is 30 minutes.
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