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Junko Sakuraba (Satomi Ishihara) dreams of working in New York, but she currently works as an English conversation teacher. She's about to have her 29th birthday. Junko Sakuraba works hard to achieve her dream, but New York seem far away. She has also not dated in a long time.
Junko Sakuraba attends a funeral held at a temple. During the funeral, she makes a mistake and throws ashes onto a monk chanting a sutra. She feels apologetic and embarrassment.
Later, Junko Sakuraba's family deceives her into going on a blind date. The man she meets on the blind date is Takane Hoshikawa (Tomohisa Yamashita). Her date is the monk whom she accidentally threw ashes on. (asiawiki-2015)
If this was a book, I would have probably bought it without much thinking. First, the cover looks super-cute and fun. Second, the leads look so good together, both of them very attractive. The plot doesn't sound bad either. Very chick-lit, in my opinion. Alas, it wasn't, and I feel bad for Ishihara Satomi, since she is a wonderful rom-com actress, she suits a professional, but also prone to hysterics, woman.
The Good:
- The English-Spanish: it was fun to watch them speaking in English. Satomi's is not that good, but she has a cute accent, very Japanese. Yamapi sounds to rigid, he needs to open his mouth while speaking. Of course Furukawa was good, too bad his lines were so few. Tanaka Kei was so-so, and the best of them all...
- Arthur-sensei (Hayami Mokomichi). I loved this character. He was not only tall, handsome, but his English was EXCELLENT! It made me giggled at first to think of Hayami-san as half-English (hahaha), but his character certainly was. He was cute with Miss Momoe, their romance was way better than the other romantic relationships, he was a true friend. My favorite scenes were with this guy.
- The little boy (Kerada Kokoro): so cute! Too bad his scenes were so short and few. He was adorable. And his name! "Sankyou", haha.
The Bad:
- the so-called romance: For 6 episodes all that monk does is stalk her. He stalks her in her work, in her house, everywhere. He kidnaps her, because "he can't be away from her". He films her. He promises her he won't stalk her again if she stays at the temple for XX time. She does, but he doesn't fulfill his promises. She begs him again and again to please stop following her, he doesn't. For 6 episodes all she wants is to work hard to go to NYC, and maybe be with her boss, Kiyomiya-san. For 6 episodes she refuses to be with the monk and is in love with someone else. Then, starting episode 7, she suddenly cares for him. WHAT. For a couple of episodes, he is happy, they love each other, blah blah. Final 2 episodes, he is a total jerk (he has his reasons, but still), and that was it. I hated him and their "love" and I just wanted her to go to NYC with her boss.
- Junko has not ONE, not TWO, not THREE, but FOUR suitors! That was too much, everyone was in love with her.
- The romance between the teacher and the "Prince of Shibuya". Yikes. And WTH was that ending with the 2 of them? PATHETIC.
- The Grandma was a real pain in the ass. For 9 episodes. And in the final, she suddenly has a change of heart. WTH.
- Junko's family was so annoying, so meddlesome.
- Yamapi CAN'T act. He was a robot for 10 episodes. Thank Godness he was paired with Satomi, since she always has chemistry with her co-stars. But there isn't much a girl can do if the guy shows NO-EXPRESSION and his eyes ARE DEAD.
Music was OK. Setting was gorgeous, specially the temple. Little brother was ok, his story ended up to be good and somewhat sweet.
Mini-reunion: Yamapi and Saeko, after Dragon Zakura.
**My rating: 5/10**
Junko Sakuraba attends a funeral held at a temple. During the funeral, she makes a mistake and throws ashes onto a monk chanting a sutra. She feels apologetic and embarrassment.
Later, Junko Sakuraba's family deceives her into going on a blind date. The man she meets on the blind date is Takane Hoshikawa (Tomohisa Yamashita). Her date is the monk whom she accidentally threw ashes on. (asiawiki-2015)
If this was a book, I would have probably bought it without much thinking. First, the cover looks super-cute and fun. Second, the leads look so good together, both of them very attractive. The plot doesn't sound bad either. Very chick-lit, in my opinion. Alas, it wasn't, and I feel bad for Ishihara Satomi, since she is a wonderful rom-com actress, she suits a professional, but also prone to hysterics, woman.
The Good:
- The English-Spanish: it was fun to watch them speaking in English. Satomi's is not that good, but she has a cute accent, very Japanese. Yamapi sounds to rigid, he needs to open his mouth while speaking. Of course Furukawa was good, too bad his lines were so few. Tanaka Kei was so-so, and the best of them all...
- Arthur-sensei (Hayami Mokomichi). I loved this character. He was not only tall, handsome, but his English was EXCELLENT! It made me giggled at first to think of Hayami-san as half-English (hahaha), but his character certainly was. He was cute with Miss Momoe, their romance was way better than the other romantic relationships, he was a true friend. My favorite scenes were with this guy.
- The little boy (Kerada Kokoro): so cute! Too bad his scenes were so short and few. He was adorable. And his name! "Sankyou", haha.
The Bad:
- the so-called romance: For 6 episodes all that monk does is stalk her. He stalks her in her work, in her house, everywhere. He kidnaps her, because "he can't be away from her". He films her. He promises her he won't stalk her again if she stays at the temple for XX time. She does, but he doesn't fulfill his promises. She begs him again and again to please stop following her, he doesn't. For 6 episodes all she wants is to work hard to go to NYC, and maybe be with her boss, Kiyomiya-san. For 6 episodes she refuses to be with the monk and is in love with someone else. Then, starting episode 7, she suddenly cares for him. WHAT. For a couple of episodes, he is happy, they love each other, blah blah. Final 2 episodes, he is a total jerk (he has his reasons, but still), and that was it. I hated him and their "love" and I just wanted her to go to NYC with her boss.
- Junko has not ONE, not TWO, not THREE, but FOUR suitors! That was too much, everyone was in love with her.
- The romance between the teacher and the "Prince of Shibuya". Yikes. And WTH was that ending with the 2 of them? PATHETIC.
- The Grandma was a real pain in the ass. For 9 episodes. And in the final, she suddenly has a change of heart. WTH.
- Junko's family was so annoying, so meddlesome.
- Yamapi CAN'T act. He was a robot for 10 episodes. Thank Godness he was paired with Satomi, since she always has chemistry with her co-stars. But there isn't much a girl can do if the guy shows NO-EXPRESSION and his eyes ARE DEAD.
Music was OK. Setting was gorgeous, specially the temple. Little brother was ok, his story ended up to be good and somewhat sweet.
Mini-reunion: Yamapi and Saeko, after Dragon Zakura.
**My rating: 5/10**
