Love and Fortune (2018)

Compelling and Provocative Series About Moving Forward and Following Your Dreams!

Anyone who simply views this series as a story about a 31-year-old woman being in a relationship with a 15-year-old boy is simply not looking deep enough. The world is made up of religious, societal, and even cultural "rules" about how to live. Many of those "rules" involve telling others how to live.

Wako is a young woman who has always lived her life under the premise of doing what everyone else expects her to do. I've lived in Korea, China, and Taiwan as an ESL teacher. I don't think many people understand or appreciate what it means to be a woman who is being told how to live her life. In many cases, they are told as children what they will do for the rest of their lives. This is no joke. I had a mother who'd already told her 8-year-old daughter that she was going to be a doctor. And, yes, if you're a woman at/near 30, and if you aren't married yet, you will undergo enormous pressure to hurry up and marry and have kids. Asian parents often live vicariously through their kids.

Wako is constantly reminded of how old she is and how she needs to hurry up and marry and have kids. She is in a familiar and comfortable four-year relationship with a boyfriend with whom she no longer connects with. Of course, as with 99% of the people on this planet, we often prefer the mundane, shallow, and unfulfilling life to taking a chance on something better. In short, people settle. And perhaps there is nothing so sad as someone who settles. Someone once said, "Your comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there." This is why so many people lapse into doing things they don't love. Why? Because it's safe.

Iko represents a step out of that comfort zone for Wako. Of course, they are despised and nearly ostracized. Those who believe in the "rules" will likely say, "And rightly so!" But this series isn't about the relationship as much as it represents going against the grain. Swim up river even when everyone else is going down it. Don't be a lemming. Follow your own heart and your own dreams no matter how many people cry against you. Carpe Diem!

Of course, it does take courage to do this. To tell your family and friends that you aspire and want to do something that they all disapprove of. Wako finally understands why she isn't happy. She looks for "love" and approval in all of the wrong places, in everyone, and yet she can't understand why this does not bring her happiness. Love can only come from within. It can't be found outside of yourself. And it isn't until Wako finally realizes that the only person who is responsible for her love and happiness is herself.

The series is beautifully filmed, deftly acted, and the story is something that is sorely needed in today's world that loves to tell everyone what to do and how to live. The world wants followers. Masters dare to walk alone on a path created only by them. And yet ironically, people find them so compelling that they end up saying, "How did you do that? How can I do that?" The master can only respond, "Not by following me, but by following your Self. By being true to who you are! That is the only way!" Becoming absolutely vulnerable to your Self and others is the only true courage. And that is what this series represents.

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ew

fl is so disgusting and annoying. she took advantage of the 15 year old guy when he had a boner, she didn't even stop there she just kept going.

she's over 30 yet she's so ignorant and immature, if she doesn't like her current partner anymore then leave him (easier said than done but that's better than being a pedophile). i also understand that she's pressured to get married and have kids before she's in her mid 30s because that's what the 'norm' is but she's still disgusting.

fl's partner is annoying too, he just needs to get his shit together bc what the fuck is he on?

i know fl got cheated by his previous boyfriend but i don't care maybe she deserves it because she turned out to be a pedophile.

as for the 15 year old highschooler, i feel so bad for him he probably thinks it's okay and just got carried away and was blinded because he received a blowjob from a 30 something year old woman, like ofc sex releases dopamine or whatever happy chemical there is in your brain but it's still illegal and disgusting. he might think that it's normal and that it's love but when he grows up he'll realize that it was disgusting and will probably blame himself for not stopping the woman.

i have a huge hatred for the fl, never knew a fictional character could piss me off this much tbh, idc if she's 'head over heels' with the 15 year old guy, she should've done the right thing and controlled herself.

also i cant give a 0 rating but if i can I'd give it a solid 0 (cinematography was nice but that's just it).

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In this story, the main character Wako has never been first to be chosen in anything. She has bad fortune, bad luck, or maybe just a despair from never being special to anyone. She has a boyfriend who is stringing her along. He loves her but he's gotten used to taking advantage of her. His lack of committment to her, however, doesn't mean he doesn't love her. Perhaps he is waiting around for something better to come along. Whatever the issue, he is unaware of how his lackadaisical attitude along with her past relationships and her lack of affirmation is feeding a kind of sad existentioal crisis. She basically pays for their household and he is like many men in society who will not pay for the cow if he can get the milk for free. As a modern man, he can ignore the noncommittal stasis of their relationship because he benefits, but modern women do not have that benefit. If they want children, they either have to cut loose from their noncommitting boyfriend or hold on hoping he will marry her.

The drama is slow in that contemplative way Jdramas have. It's not boring for those of us who love Jdramas but some people might find it slow. There is a comparison/subtext about how love waxes and wanes and how differently it seems when portrayed in art then when one actually experiences the ebb and flow and waves of love in life. This is a drama that so focuses on the female lead that we don't really get to understand the male lead except through glimpses. The romantic in me, his off-hand comments about his life, and the glimpses we get of his life, makes me think that Iko is the perfect match for Wako. He probably is the type to fall in love with an older woman because his mother is not really around. They both are oddballs who share the same sneaker style so they are perfect. But the realist in me thinks, "He's a kid with hormones raging, and she's a needy older woman. When he gets older, this whole relationship will get old."

It's a fun watch and i will definitely finish it now that i know the ending isn't overly tragic. I do kinda want our lovers to get together .....when they are older.

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Controversial.

For me love is not the most important thing in a relationship.
Love can not save everything.

When you are in love in highschool, you are quite young, and you get completely intoxicated in the other person, you live a lot off your emotions rather than your rationality. When you grow up the "new" factor dissipates a bit, you still get excited but you are overall more composed, so love isn't as overwhelming. Life and being alive, for me, is about living for a lot of different things, not just love. And i believe this was well portrayed here. There's a big difference between a 15y and a 30y in terms of lifestyle and social events, things that are essential to our everyday life.

I admit that if the boy was 18, this would still be weird to me but at least i wouldn't mind it as much. If you still want to throw controversy then 17 would make me less sick to my stomach, even if he's still underage. Hard to explain why that is, and luckly the actor not only doesn't quite look like he has 15, he is 22y old in real life. Because a 15y japanese boy would really look like a small child - rightfully so - and pedophilia is not something to dismiss and romanticize.

I am about to become 30 and i can't imagine even dating someone in their early tweenties - still going to university and without a job and a similar lifestyle to mine, let alone a minor. I tried through all this jdrama to understand in what ways their soul was connected, so much so that the age of the body wouldn't matter but a 15y and a 30y it's a crazy difference in terms of maturity. The drama also showed how possessive and insecure the male protagonist was, also due to his age maybe, but honestly i can't really accept it. "Love has no age" it's a pretty thing people like to throw around and for sure it all comes down to the maturity on both parts, but there's no way you can try to convince me a 30y would be totally ok with dating a 15y cause the mental age is not that different. I was 15 once... i can guarantee you i was super immature and not ready to compute with any 30y.

I will take it with a grain of salt. There's lot of things i will probably never understand, but it's important to open our hearts to hear different stories once in a while and ask ourselves what would we do in similar situations. Worth watching. Thought provoking.

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It the roles were reversed...also ew

I see a lot of people justifying the age gap and I wanna say what in the world is wrong with you. The thing is this story could have had the same feel if the male lead was legal. If the point was of this storyline was to show a contrast in age and gender roles, they could have made the lead A freshman at Uni. It would have still given him a naive vibe and it would have still made society judge her, but he would have been an adult. Yes, it's still a bit weird, but he would have been doing adult things at that time and have adult responsibilities. For the story's sake, he would have still been super young and hardly an adult, but he would be one that can consent.
If they "had to make him 15"( No) they should have actually shown the signs of abuse boys go through when an adult is grooming them. The main highlight of this story should have been how wrong she is and how she's going down a spiral of darkness. The show makes it seem like she's just going thru a sad phase in life and this KID is there for her...NO. It does romanticize their relationship and it focuses on it too much almost saying "this is wrong and illegal... but should it be, because we "love" each other". Like what.. She should have faced ACTUAL consequences to show how serious, wrong, reckless their relationship was. I wish it showed his inner feelings and inn turmoil from the harsh reality of a relationship like that. The main female character is weak, narcissistic, and pathetic. The storyline is lazy.
It is not a complex storyline. This is no different from a story like Lolita. I'm glad all actors/actresses are at least legal though.

I gave the acting and music high ratings is because the acting was technically good and so was the music. I wish everything else could be given a zero.

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I decided to do a review after Netflix insisted on continuing to recommend it.

While looking at this garbage, I had to start smoking cigarettes (tobacco) because I was so upset and disgusted that I became too anxious.

My thoughts remain the same or perhaps a little more different as I face this odyssey.

There is no way to call this garbage a very hard-core pedophilia.

Wako is a sexual predator, she is a pedophile through and through and there is no way to justify this.

Why would you give a 15 year old boy fellatio out of the blue? You are simply a pedophile.

Let's say that I am a very conservative person and I don't agree when couples have too much age difference but since they are adults I can't judge them.

Another thing is when you are 32 YEARS OLD and you mess with A 15 YEAR OLD CHILD.
At 15 years old it is normal for your hormones to skyrocket and you think about sex very often, but if you want to do it, it should be with a person your own age. Not with a 32-year-old woman.

Obviously Wako takes advantage of him emotionally. He has control over him although there comes a point where it seems or they want to make it seem that Iko is being controlling and overly jealous of Wako.

Aki is just a 15 YEAR OLD CHILD and he has only slept with a 32 year old woman. Because he knows that she has much more experience of him, it is normal for her to start feeling anxious and not control his feelings well. Because at the end of it all he is just a child who is going through a difficult age.

But Wako is an experienced woman and with the face of a dead fly she can easily control Aki emotionally.

Honestly, it seems ironic to me that stupid warnings are made but in the end everyone lives happily without suffering any consequences. I'm talking about Wako, not Aki. She should have gone to jail for her sick head to understand that the problem wasn't that she was 32 years old, but that she was dating a 15 YEAR OLD CHILD.

Of course, pedophiles will always say it's "love." His sick head cannot discern that it is not love, It is something disgusting, it is not normal and it is a crime.

I was so grossed out when Wako was teaching him how to have sex, that I had to skip those parts. My stomach is not very resistant, especially with these things.

Obviously the only way to express what Aki felt was through sex because that's what Wako taught her.

Wako is not only a sexual predator but a very selfish woman. When she no longer felt comfortable with her life, she discarded Aki as if she were trash.

Honestly, this drama does not leave anything of "this is wrong" "you should report if you see these types of acts" but rather a romanticization of a crime.

I really don't recommend this to anyone, unless you're mentally ill like Wako.

I will only say that the only redeeming thing was the performance of the actor who represented Aki. He really has good acting skills.

But Aki suffers from Stockholm syndrome, without realizing it, he falls in love with his sexual attacker.

But anyway, 7.0 is really too high a score for such an atrocity. Maybe it has that score because there are a lot of sick people here, just like Wako. Who enjoy seeing pedophilia.

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a series about a woman but seems lost in her whole life

Yes, I don't feel comfortable with the sexual relation between the female lead and the 15 year old guy. I focused on character development of the female lead. How she can't separate from her selfish and financially dependent boyfriend because of her needs to get married but ignore all of the red flags that her boyfriend has.

The funny thing is she also cheat which I also don't agree with (especially with a 15 year old) even though her boyfriend is totally an asshole but I guess that's a part of her journey until she found herself again. It's relatable in that point of view because we also live in the society, we give up several things in our life, we submit to social standards and pressure as if the society also has rules that we must abide in career and marriage aspects.

This is really refreshing for me because for me career and marriage aspects shouldn't be standardized since each person live their own life and has their own path.

In conclusion, I enjoy to see the process of how the female lead learn about herself and find her life path (except with the sexual relationship with minor). I'm glad though in a sex scene with the minor, they included the law about it and also the female lead also realize that it's a mistake as she let him go. I'm kind a proud she finally able to stand on her own , knowing her dreams and make it happen.

PS: I think that her asshole ex-boyfriend cheat with his new co-worker (even though he didn't want to let the female lead go)

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I finished this very uncomfortable to watch dorama. The FL is so unlikable, she seems a absolutely empty person: no personality, no backbone, no friends, no talents, no brains, no common sense. She thinks she can't live without a man.
The dorama makes a social commentary on the social pressure on women to marry and have children, about this mentality that a woman is incomplete without a husband and children. This may be part of what made the protagonist so pathetic but in anyway justify her actions.
She is a completely fucked up person and this is clearly shown already in the beginning when she smells that boy's neck. Only a fucked up mind would remotely consider she would have any future in a "relationship" with a 15 old boy.
I completely disagree with people here saying the dorama makes apology to an adult making sex with a minor. It's said several times that she was committing a crime and more important: it's shown how screwed was all that situation. The boy obviously wasn't mentally mature to take the situation and we see how broken he became.
The scene where she goes to his school and sees him playing with his friends is so uncomfortable, it's so absurd she thought she would have a place there... again, completely fucked up.
At the same time I don't see the dorama making apology to the FL actions that happy end didn't seem right at all, because that fucked up woman fucked up that boy's life and mind and in the end everything was ok and I was like "wtf, I can't believe it will end this way". It ended that way.
One last reminder: this is not a romance, it is a story about a fucked up woman who screwed a boy's life because of lust. If you are overly sensitive don't watch.

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Woman Compelled To Live Her Own Life

I believe that most Japanese movies and dramas have a sprinkle of quirky flavor to them. No Japanese story is without it. This story is no different in that, but it also compels the viewer to think beyond what they're shown.
I found this more of a woman's story about personal struggles in a society that pushes a particular set of goals on women which mark a successful life, making marriage and children milestones and the only life goals necessary for women. Misogyny at its best.
The female lead (FL) is encouraged to achieve these life goals, but is somehow thwarted each time she makes progress. Her family belittles her few achievements and ignores her dreams. Her boyfriends disregard her desires and needs completely, focusing only on themselves. Throughout her life, she's told that what she wants doesn't matter in the real world. She's shamed to want anything for herself. The sense of melancholy is heavy in and around her. It's as though misfortune follows her everywhere, causing her misfortune.
When she meets and befriends a person who shares her dream, he's forced to stop doing what it is he loves due to unknown obstacles. In the sadness of that event, she finds a new friendship and exciting romantic partner; which is technically illegal. She chooses to hold onto a moment of happiness. The moment is soon disfigured by reality and personality conflicts, which she faces alone despite having a number of people in her life. In the end, her struggle is a culmination of her acceptance of others' adverse treatment of her. Once she realizes this, it's the end of the show.
The movie inside the series works as a reflection of the society she lives in and her own development within it. It's cinematically beautiful and disparaging. It's the disease within the perfect body.
TL/DR: The FL earns her independence through relationship turmoil and professional difficulties.

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AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING

I am not Asian but personally even though he is underage ( which is wrong because he should be at least 18 to have that sort of relationship) I find the TV show extremely well made. I loved the dialogues, the cinematography, and the plot. I don't find a difference of 17 years that much but as I already said he should have been an adult. Age is not important and the director showed how well they suited each other. The FL was not mature enough and the ML was the other missing half. The boyfriend she had at the beginning did not respect her or loved her at all. He was just comfortable with her and was using her for sex. She did not have a future with him at all. Her previous bf cheated on her so he was out of the picture as well. It is great that they showed they will be back together when he is obviously an adult and will be able to handle mature relationship and responsibility properly :) Since you were complaining about the fact that he is just a boy let me recommend you something very well made again with an age gap between adults. It's called Second Virgin and it is again a Japanese Tv show.

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A story about dream coming true

This is my favourite Jdrama. Both the leads have unique characters and were lonely ,but when they meet, their life changes. I feel like this is how love should be. Something that will change your fate,something that will let you achieve your dream.

The chemistry between the leads is electric.Acting is also top notch.The place where they meet is also unique,they meet in a cinema hall. They both love cinema. Even though the male lead is in high school,he is mature in a realistic way. I loved the male lead for his acting.

Overall,it is a must watch drama. I have watched it 6-7 times already. The sex scenes are not gross like other Japanese dramas. You can feel the passion through the screen.
Would also like to highlight the blue and orange aesthetics in the drama.

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