To me, I personally enjoyed the storyline of Switched beyond what I thought. When I first saw the preview of the drama, I was immediately interested on how they story would progress from the switch. The switch I'm referring to is the one between Umine and Ayumi. To Umine, Ayumi has everything that she's ever wanted to have, the perfect life in her eyes. With that in mind, she comes up with the plan to switch bodies with Ayumi, and she succeeds. The storyline follows Umine as she lives in Ayumi's body and how Ayumi adjusts to the sudden change in her life from the switch. This is the part where you add the high school love interest, or shall I say interests. Kaga and Koushirou are Ayumi's friends yet it's Umine in her body now. All throughout the story, you empathize with all four of the main characters in some way. The reason why the storyline of Switched connected with me so much is because I feel like at one point in your life, you do wish to be someone else. However, the story shows that the inside does matter, even taking appearances in. It depicts this beautiful story that connects the characters in a way they'd never thought possible. I do think it's truly one of the most eye opening dramas I've watched in a while in terms of the moral of the story. The outside doesn't always matter as long as you're still you.
(I really wanna say more but I don't think spoiling the entire plot is fair. Therefore, check it out.)
The acting is beyond amazing in this drama. I didn't really have any expectations on the quality of the acting but it truly knocked me off of my feet. Imagine playing two completely different characters or portraying a whole different personality. I really must applaud the two main girls of the story, Kiyohara Kaya and Tomita Miu. I think it's only appropriate to compliment their male counterparts for a well-done performance also as I was also a victim to the charming Kamiyama Tomohiro and Shigeoka Daiki. They all are beyond amazing in Switched and I couldn't be more impressed with their acting.
I usually don't have much to say for music and this drama isn't much different. It has a catchy opening song that I found myself humming to often times but it's also not the worst music in my opinion. Of course, my taste in music varies from yours so I do suggest you give it a listen.
As always, I highly suggest that you deduct your own opinions by watching this drama yourself. I will say that it's pretty dang good as far as dramas go and it's surely worth rewatching. The actors/actresses, the storyline, and the overall tone and moral of Switched is what makes you fall in love with it, inside and out. Again, this is based off of my opinions from watching the drama and not everyone will like it as much as me, but you'll never know until you watch it.
This has been Switched.
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An entertaining short story, yet nuanced and impactful.
- Surprisingly entertaining and gripping storyline.- Fleshed out characters placed in real areas of conflict- does well to raise the stakes and moves the plot along well.
- Intriguing take on the body swap trope.
- Explores dark themes not usually done in a high school set drama.
- Potentially unnecessary graphic scenes, but adds to the gritty horror of life vs. death.
- Nuanced look at what ‘beauty inside’ means. Not done in a cheesy manner- topic excellently expanded.
- Full of heart and emotional impact comes from Tomita Miu’s performance.
- Quick-paced story perfect for when you’re looking for something short to watch.
- All plotlines are rounded up neatly, but does the ending satisfy? That’s for you to find out!
O V E R A L L : I surprisingly found myself binge-watching this show in one go. V. Entertaining watch & raises tension very well. It brings to life an unbelievable premise, and uses a high-school setting well.
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Started out interesting, but disappointing execution
As mentioned in the headline, Switched really grasped my interest the first episodes. I was taken by the realistic acting and more than excited to see how things would develop!Unfortunately it did not reach my standards, but 3-4 episodes in and it certainly started to crumble. What I thought would be valid criticism against society and an opportunity to bring up many important topics and life lessons, just ended up generic and actually rather problematic as well.
They really did not do Umine's character justice as she remained the ugly and bitter person within. This could have been a chance for Japan to discuss more sensitive issues such as bullying, mental health and suicide, yet the message given is peak toxic positivity and could basically be summarised as: "Don't be ungrateful and jealous, be happy and everything will be okay. If you're sad, it's your own fault for not trying hard enough". They could've at very least referred Umine to a therapist considering she tried to end her own life several times, but I guess her abusive mom making her an onigiri once was enough to magically cure her depression.
Don't misunderstand me, I don't mean to be pessimistic, I'm just sort of disappointed as I know how stigmatised mental illness is in our Asian community. Still impressed by the great acting though.
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What's inside is important
Was hopeful going in with a plus size actor, not bad cast, everyone acted decently. Short story.I do wish plus size folks were not usually shown as unhappy and hateful as they did. And that's just my personal opinion. (Based on the amount of media we have portraying it this way.) The ending was VERY short, and was not what I expected and felt almost incomplete. While there was some issues it was not bad to watch through. I was happy for character growth, especially Umine's mom! Produced well and flowed smoothly until the last episode. I will check out what these actors have also done since this show
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The drama really did a good job emphasizing the theme of how superficiality is so apparent in our society today. Your appearance is the first thing people judge you by in our society, and this drama really exemplifies that theme with Umine and Ayumi, both two separate characters, treated with a huge disparity by their appearance.
However, throughout the show, Umine is shown to have an ugly personality when she's already in the losing side in the first episode and Ayumi is shown to have a beautiful personality to fit her beautiful appearance is already very boring to me. This drama just tried to make Umine be in the back of the spotlight that Ayumi is dominating. Even when Umine and Ayume get switched into each other's bodies, it's still obvious Ayumi is being treated better than Umine because Ayumi is already known to be beautiful before this switch happened. Umine, even in the beautiful Ayumi's body, still gets looked over because she's not considered the real Ayumi. Therefore, this show still strongly harbors superficiality in their plot by making Ayumi get the better treatment than Umine, even when their bodies are switched, which is not helping the drama on proving how wrong superficiality is.
It was interesting how this drama made a story about how it feels like for someone wishing they were someone else because the person they wish to live a life as is perceived as having something they don't by the person filled with jealousy. The story shows that no matter how selfish some of Umine's actions were, you still feel some compassion for Umine from all the struggles she has faced just because of her appearance and that she didn't act completely out of selfishness, but also sorrow. The ending proved to us a lesson that no matter how much you wish you were someone else, in the end, you should still always be proud of the life you live because your life is completely unique from everyone else in this world and no one else can replace you no matter how hard they tried, except you, yourself.
Anyway, this drama has passable acting and good fitting music to go along with the story. The directing was not bad at all and captured the right feelings for most of the moments and emotions the characters enacted in this drama to really give us the full impact of some important scenes happening. It's a great drama to watch if you have some spare time to learn about how severe our society can sometimes really place importance on looks and how far concern someone has for outer beauty can drive them to accomplish what they are actually capable of.
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Get yourself a man like Kaga. A true gentleman, on all fronts.
Switched is a member of the "Movies that undermine their own messaging by the end" group, except only as an honorary member, obviously, since it's a short TV series. Without delving into spoilers too much, the show makes a point of saying that looks don't matter, and yet completely disregards that beautiful messaging by the end. Just like 200 Pounds Beauty, and a few others.It also doubles as a school bullying story.
The lead actress looks so much like the actress who plays Gogo Yubari in Kill Bill Volume 1 in some shots, it's actually uncanny. She is also terrific, and the range she displays in this show is a sight to see.
So yeah it's sadly just a fine body swap story but that's it. Only fine. For genre enthusiasts only.
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A smile means a lot
Through this drama, I truly learned a lesson about what looks and beauty means to society. The characters portrayed the part excellently as their personality shone through even when they looked different. Yet it could've been developed better and 6 episodes wasn't enough as it wasn't dissected thoughoughly.Zenko was alone with poor relationships destroying her self-esteem to the point where she wanted to rid herself.
Ayumi finally learned how fortunate she is to have true friends surrounding her and to be liked by others.
Kaga was a total sweetheart that he is my favourite with a bubbly personality who will fight for what he believe in.
koushirou however I felt was the cool silent type that is still manipulative towards others as he more jealous that people preferred kaga
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Great, except for one big thing
Folks, it has been quite a while since I've gotten second lead syndrome and even longer since it's been so bad that I've had to start my review out with it, but here we are. I think the thing that was so jarring about this one, though, is that I did not see it coming at all. Contrary to other dramas where you sit through 16 episodes of a SML pining for someone you know they'll never get, I sat through this drama with the continuous thought that this drama had one of my favorite tropes — the one where the main lead feels like the second lead but ends up getting the girl because they were the one that stood by her and laid out all their cards on their table while doing it (see Dream High). I was unfortunately, very wrong, and you cannot imagine the absolute whiplash I felt when Kaga, my favorite golden retriever who spent all six episodes unabashedly spending time with Ayumi and making her laugh...ended up being the second lead. It's not that I dislike Koshiro and in a way it makes sense, but the problem is that we, the viewers, didn't get to see any of it beyond the childhood flashback and a few speaking scenes — because we spent all this time seeing Kaga with Ayumi instead. I have a big soft spot for the storyline where Person A loves Person B but ends up falling in love with Person C because of a big life change (see Vampire Diaries) and thought this was going to be the case based on screentime alone. Long story short, my heart is SHATTERED.Okay, with that out of the way, this drama actually had a lot going for it. It grabbed me right out of the gate and kept me on the edge of my seat. There's the more "fantasy" and "thriller" aspect where you have the leads trying to figure out how the body switch happened and how to deal with it, and there's also the more down-to-earth part of the drama where they just have to go about their day, attending classes, eating lunch, dealing with bullies and school events, etc. The balance between the two is done extremely well, and I was also really touched by the story.
The theme is common but really interesting. The drama does a good job of showing "pretty privilege" — not just in terms of your genes but also how wealthy you are, if you grew up in a good environment and with good parents and were able to take care of yourself, etc. But it also shows that sometimes people who are dealt a bad card let it define them forever and blame others for it to a fault. I was really happy to see Umine's redemption arc and loved that everyone became a friend group by the end, though it was a little fast.
Plot-wise, I do think the short length of this drama hampers the pacing somewhat. It feels really well-paced and fast at the start, but it starts to drag a little bit before it just completely speed-runs the ending. I'm not sure if the manga originally montaged through it or had more, but I wish we got more scenes about the "shuffle," had more time to develop Umine's redemption arc, and explained more about the lore and how switching worked. It felt like they introduced a researcher character who was supposed to have a lot of answers about the process, but ended up not really doing anything other than some lore dumping early on.
Ultimately, though, SLS aside, I still really enjoyed this one. In my heart of hearts Kaga will always be endgame, but even if he's not, I hope it doesn't deter anything from watching this.
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P.s: I have nothing more to say and i already finished my review, i didn’t reach the minimum number of words so ignore this.
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Interesting plot with deep lessons
I am not really a fan of J-Dramas. I have watched only few of them so I don't know much about their shows nor they actors but I can definitely say that I'm lucky I've seen this one.The plot is simple yet interesting. It's not that long too that's why I decided to give it a try. There's nothing so outstanding about the story alone however I really love the message and the overall theme of this series - "looking different on the outside doesn't change what's inside." I just kind of wish there were more depths on their characters because I felt like everything was focused on Umine's life only. There's very little I know about Ayumi, Kaga and Koshiro. I wished that we've known more about the personal demons of other characters and not just being someone who almost had it all and lost it overnight for something supernatural. I get Umine feeling the way she felt but I feel like Ayumi, Kaga and Koshiro was just born that way. They seem like they're just walking on a flowery road. Wouldn't it be better to see them as someone who became they are because they've conquered their own challenges? That's just my own opinion though.
Overall, I really liked this series and I recommend it highly. The life lessons here are so deep that I'm still reflecting about it even after I watched it.
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However, the reason of my low rating is because it left me with a very unpleasant feeling, all the situations, how they solve... it made me feel like even in the end nothing will change between them, and eventually the same might happen. I don't think this was the idea of the producers or any one, it is just how I saw it.
Anyway, don't watch this if you want a story that makes you feel that thinks can change, I think that the idea of this drama was a good one, what it teaches, beauty is in the inside is beautiful, the acting as well... but there was something missing for me.
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What should be loved? Looks or personality?
A lot of dramas, in general, have used the body-switching concept before but Switched managed to step up their game and completely own it.Most of the dramas carrying the same concept mainly focused on the comedic aspects of swapping bodies, as it's usually fun to watch how two different characters struggle with their new lives, right? But not with Switched. Seeing how the conventionally attractive girl lost her perfect life to an unpopular and bullied classmate, is like a huge slap to our faces that this is the truth; physical appearance can be a measure of how others would treat you. However, it didn't just stop with the ugly truth as the characters tried to overcome the hurdles of reality and change themselves for the better, which is a satisfying resolution for me.
That's why I had a hard time parting with this drama because I know that I won't easily forget such an impactful story. The acting was really superb, and it's more astonishing because they're still at a young age! Makes me look forward to their future performances because I'm sure that they would be promising actors & actresses someday. The cinematography is a bit different from what we usually see in Japanese dramas as there is a high production value, but it still didn't lose its usual essence and rawness. The only thing that I am frustrated with is the number of episodes. I don't have any problem with its conciseness, but just like what I've mentioned, I don't want to be done with it yet lol. This also made me love Japanese dramas more because I realized that it's possible to effectively tell and wrap up a well-written story in just six episodes (I don't have any issues with the ending haha), so what's stopping the other series to avoid dragging their audience with their numerous episodes and never-ending seasons?
Anyway, I think Switched has become one of my favorites so far, with Kaga also being on my list of favorite male Japanese drama characters. I'm late but now, I understand why the ladies love him!! Hoping that the success of this drama will open a door for others to explore engaging Japanese dramas like this. Give this a try if you're looking for a short drama that can blow you away in one sitting.
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