Usually in J-dramas the topic of sex is one that is not addressed at all; in this drama, it is there and openly seen, but not in a lewd and raunchy manner (unfortunately which is seen far too much in American dramas) so that is a relief. We see characters actually acting like adults and not middle school students that are afraid to hold hands. There are actually kiss scenes that are quite believable and not overly awkward to watch. The romance scenes are not too steamy to the point that you would get uncomfortable if someone were to walk into the room when you were watching.
Another positive point is the music, setting, and atmosphere. This drama was beautifully shot and has a great soundtrack of memorable songs that get stuck in your head for the entire week after watching an episode. I myself have been listening to the soundtrack a lot. Ken Arai did a great job in capturing the perfect compositions for the various moments in the drama. I also like how the theme of chocolate was included in the drama. It is not strictly a food drama but the importance of this beloved treat in the various love interest's lives is an interesting and apt addition, without overriding the other aspects of the plot and making it another culinary porn type of series.
Things I did not like about the drama were the lack of characterization for certain characters, especially Rikudou and Sekiya , and to an extent Saeko. Rikudou could have been a very memorable character if utilized properly, but unfortunately his presence was one that contributed very little to the drama as a whole. Sato Ryuuta did a great job in all of the scenes that he was in. Sekiya was just a pointless throwaway character. The actor's performance was not memorable and neither was the character. As for Saeko, I feel like we could have seen more what makes her the person she is, like a bit of her past, her hopes, dreams, ambitions. Instead, she is regulated to an empty manic pixie dream girl who really is defined by the men she is with. Sure, there were some good instances of female bonding with Kaoruko , but the character was not developed enough. The same can be said about Olivier as well.
Also, the drama does a poor job of addressing heavy subjects such as domestic violence and infidelity. I feel the characters have done things that are taboos and generally accepted as wrongs, but very little repentance is shown. It really sends a clouded message. As for the ending, I very much though that it summed things up nicely, apart from certain unrealistic and overly optimistic aspects. I'm glad the ending wasn't the typical drama ending, but this opinion may not be shared by others.
All in all, it was a entertaining drama from start to finish, though definitely not perfect. So for that, I give it an 8 overall.
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The story is a fairly basic one, but I thought the actors in the show played their parts very well. I haven't read the manga, but I thought each of the actors looked great (love you MatsuJun!) and at no point was I cringing due to wooden acting. I really hated Saeko, and I thought Ishihara Satomi played her part to perfection. However, I felt the strength of this show was in it's supporting characters- Rikudo, Sekiya, Kaoruko etc. They provided the comedy when the main storyline got a bit too much.
The music was great- not only did I LOVE the Arashi song, the other music was very well suited to the show.
I probably won't rewatch this show again- hence the low rewatch value score, but overall I enjoyed this drama. It's definitely a great one to watch when you want an interesting mix of melodrama and comedy.
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This review may contain spoilers
Now you'd think my ratings would be overestimating the value of the show, but I thought it was absolutely fantastic.If you didn't think there was any character development, that's more or less true. Their overcoming unrequited loves that don't just immediately go away. It's not as easy to forget especially when you're around them so much. This story isn't so fluffy since the main character is trying to get the girl of his dreams to fall for him even though she's married and he sleeps with a girl who isn't interested in him either to comfort each other's unrequited loves. There isn't any real visible character changes until the end where they accept their unrequited loves, but what else can we expect? Love isn't that easy and the drama perfectly depicts that.
What really gets me is the female lead isn't the typical female lead in dramas. Where they're mentally weak and easily impressionable, will follow the male lead anywhere and believes he can do anything. This lead never brought her walls down for him, she plays the same game as him when it comes to entrapping the other. She's independent and still, I find her so mysterious. Has she ever loved someone? It all seems so convenient for her to be with the man she's with. You can either love her or hate her.
She's incredibly cute and sexy especially in the middle of episode 8. And the kiss scenes actually doesn't make you want to cringe. Every episode my heart feels torn and I would get mad, but thats what dramas should do: they should move you. I also kept wanting to watch more and more to the point where I needed to stop and had to look at spoilers to end some of the crave.
The music, especially phonecall was extremely good and matched well to the heartbreak. It really elevated the emotions of the drama. The background music would probably the best part of the drama.
I would definitely rewatch this again but skip the trivial side couples. Some say they like them best but what really captivated me was the main character's love interests.
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The acting was good for the characters they were given. I really enjoyed the music. I probably won't be watching this again anytime soon. Overall it was just OK. There wasn't anything ground breaking and there were just so many cliches in this drama that it almost made me sick. I don't know after I watch a movie/drama I want to be able to take something from it. I literally took nothing away from this. I didn't really ship anyone together in this drama just because all of the relationship are so unstable that it was hard for me to really want two characters together. Well these are my thoughts.
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This review may contain spoilers
Maybe it's me, but I really really like this drama, despite how awful it made me feel inside. It turns the twists in me, how much I love Saeko for being some kind of sociopath manipulator, she can grasp the weakness in other people's hearts, toying with them, control them as she likes. Japanese drama contains layers to its story, especially when it's so concise; brief but comprehensive. Every details were placed on every tiny bits of the episodes without making anything repetitive. It has darker color to its shade and very blunt with the message, I would definitely categorize it as 'mature'.
Though, the ending disappoint me so much I want to smash my laptop :( Like every hard work and effort was useless as Shouta was 'starting over'.
---Major Spoiler please be careful--
He waste the care from the model girlfriend who had been nothing but supportive and wonderful, they could totally reach happiness together, but then he drowned again inside Saeko's storm. The model moved on, find someone better who shows more care, while Shouta was late, but accepting and supported her. When he realized his own wrongs and failure, he decided to go abroad and be an apprentice again to gain more 'experience'.
While the awful Saeko was back with her 'abusive' husband, reject Shouta's kind offers because (that's just how wretched she is) she didn't want to lose the stable life she wants. Her husband is wealthy, could buy her numerous of designer bags, antique tea cups, for her to show off anyway and she doesn't have to pay attention much because he's busy, unlike Shouta who is demanding care and comfort from relationship.
Saeko cannot afford that. She's the one with needs, she was never a giver.
In the end, I did understand Saeko because... Shouta isn't all great either. He is quite fickle and easily swayed. He's young and reckless.
The characters are vivid and more 3-dimensional to me than many mediocre, popular korean dramas (they often awfully repetitive, have a LOT of filler episodes, and full of cliche). It touched the realistic part of life and love.
6.9 ratings? Shitsuren Chocolatier deserves more!
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This drama has many things that are different from other lovestories. First of all, it's an adult story. It's about relationships of adults. Then, the female lead character is not your pure, soft-hearted girl who is loved by everybody and everything. In this case, she is someone who would get called bad names in real life and for the first time while watching a drama, I thought the female lead feels real. Not in a very positive way, but very realistic. Especially how her character and way of thinking gets revealed step by step is what I enjoyed. In this drama, the male lead is more of the pure-hearted guy who is loved by everybody. He really is, even though the makers didn't let him be a virgin until he finds love, instead made him a bit more real by getting experience here and there.
Actually, until episode 10 this drama felt like a masterpiece. I enjoyed watching it, the characters were fun, the job-parts weren't boring at all and even the development was made nicely. Some parts were ridiculous, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Especially the comedy parts were sweet. And then there comes the very generic ending and destroys most of the enjoyment you felt during the whole series.
So, for me, the new type of female lead was really appealing, I enjoyed the humor and the characters. I also like the adult vibe it gives off. The ending took away one star, so it's a 4* rating, but it still gets a recommendation, if you want something that's not for teenagers and can get away from the imagination, that a female lead always has to have a good character. And if you're looking for a lot of romance, passion and cute moments, then you better look for another drama.
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I actually decided to make an account here, just so I could write a review about this show. lol
Story 2/10
Story? Hmm, well, this show's ' story ' is more like a mess of ideas. I like the uncommon idea of unusual and kinda twisted love stories and I like the point this show was trying to make, but, alas, it failed at doing so. See, if you read the premise, it is clearly written that this show is about Sota and his love for Saeko and the setting where we don't know if she loves him back, is she just a horrible person or not etc. If you think you are gonna watch a show that deals with this problem at the center of it, you are very, very wrong. At some point of the story this really good premise, became, believe it or not, a reverse harem with amazingly shallow characters. Now, I really tend to accept most of the characters, even the ones that most people would find really annoying, but this show, this show is the only one with characters that are completely unrelateble, shallow and annoying to the point I wanted to smash my pc. Really, I can't even explain the shallowness of the characters with words.
Acting/Cast 10/10
The only good thing about this show is the cast. Matsumoto Jun and Ishihara Satomi are both amazing actors and the acting for this show is no exeption. They did an amazing job portreying such shallow and stupid characters. I was beyond impressed, believe me. Now, THAT takes talent. Apart from them, I really liked all of the cast, especially Mizuhara Kiko, she did an amazing job too.
Music 8/10
Music was really good, but music is not what makes the show, right? I'm seriously sad this amazing music was used in this pointless show.
Rewatch Value 1/10
The only thing worth rewatching is Matsumoto Jun's hot scenes xD Like seriously. Or Ishihara Satomi's if you're more of her fan. Apart from that, nothing worth rewatching lol
Overall 5.5/10 - says mydramalist so be it
The overall is so high cause I couldn't rate amazing actors with a 5 just cause I hated their characters and cause I couldn't rate good music with a low rate too. It's a pity I haven't watched this show before, so that hopefully more people would read this review and consider again whether they should watch this show or not. I was seriously amazed at the good rates this show got in the reviews.
Anyway, this is my personal opinion and I hope it'll help you out.
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