If you're looking for a drama that takes your breath away with it's pureness and cry because it seems so hopeless, then you've come to the right place.
This drama taught me that just because society view it as "forbidden love", it doesn't make it wrong or any less true.
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In some ways, Majo no Jouken was a predictable roller-coaster ride as the ‘forbidden’ couple struggle to find acceptance in a society that doesn’t legally forbid their love, but certainly doesn’t know how to handle it. However, a variety of side characters add to the battle, including Hirose-sensei’s one time fiancé and Hikaru’s young and possessive single mother. And between these two, we get the feeling that there are some things even sicker and twisted than the relatively innocuous age difference of our show’s main lovers.
On a Technical Note:
This drama had me asking questions I never thought I'd worry about. The amount of time I spent surfing the internet studying Japanese legal age of consent; wondering if Japan really does consider it a psychological disorder for a woman to love a high school age boy; curiosity if Japan would really go to such lengths to depict one of the creepiest mothers ever before hinted at; confusion as to why I could care so much about a couple that seems so destined to suffer one crisis after another...
All fruitless efforts, really. Half mushy, half gritty, Majo's romance was a hot whirlwind of a mess, and not afraid of delving into serious life questions. What does a woman do when her boyfriend is uneducated and unemployed, and how does said boyfriend take care of a woman 9 years his senior? There is no instant maturity, no immediate solutions, and not every expectation will be fulfilled as first it was conceived. Kind of like... life.
I almost find it hard to recommend this, because unless you’re in the mood for a torturous road of almost Kdrama level proportions (though at least not in length), Majo no Jouken is a painful drama to watch. Even the initial sweetness of the romance is very nearly spoiled by a traumatic second half. However, if you love seeing actors portraying their characters well, and those characters being well-handled over the course of the drama, or if you just want to see Tackey back when he was young and adorable (as opposed to the older version which is just plain hot), then I guess you should watch it sometime. ;) And hardships aside, the characters really do make a sweet couple. I say that even remembering just how young he is here. At least that much is quite believable.
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It's one of the best romance Japanese dramas around, from the golden age when Jdramas showed great kisses and realistic love scenes.
Maybe you've read the synopsis and the idea of a teacher-student romance really doesn't appeal to you... but after watching this drama you will change your mind completely and fall in love with these characters.
This isn't a perfect drama. It certainly has its flaws. But I think the positive aspects far outweigh the negative.
The Good:
- Great casting. The actors are the same age as their characters, therefore making everything more believable.
- Good chemistry between the actors. They pulled off the romance despite their age gap.
- Good kissing.
- Very pretty scenes. Great cinematography!
- Wonderful music.
The Bad:
- The "evil" characters were kind of ridiculous. The crazy jealous Mother and the Tutor were the worst.
- Michiru went a little overboard on the childishness and rashness at times.
- The last couple of episodes weren't so satisfying.
In short: it's a one-of-a-kind drama with age-appropriate actors and a very sweet romance.
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First, the leads had awkward chemistry. In the beginning, it was ok because they had just met, but later it just became strange to watch. Don't get me wrong, it did have a little to do with the obvious age difference, but I could have gotten passed that had there been real sparks between the two which would have made their need to be together all the more powerful. Alas, I didn't see or feel any fireworks.
Second, I wasn't sure if the main couple's actions were spurred by noble idiocy or mere idiocy. Reasons behind most of their actions were seldom clear. In addition, their reactions to all the supporting characters were often murky. I kind of think that had more to do with the writing and direction, than the acting, but subtext was sorely needed and missing. Additionally, the leading lady's acting often seemed forced and less believable than the leading man and supporting cast.
I don't want to scare anyone away from watching this, BUT I don't want anyone to have high expectations since previous reviews seemed to be glowing.
Since it was set in 1999, I tried to remember that a LOT has changed regarding attitude and treatment of women, marriage, and gender roles, but coming from the present day mindset it was a challenge. Mostly because although the social commentary was obvious from several character's points of view, I never fully accepted that this was also supposed to be entertainment, which I kind of expect when watching a drama.
There were some lovely moments, and seeing how much has changed over the years was interesting to watch, so I would recommend this show for someone interested in watching an older drama in order to study the gender roles and social norms of those times.
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This review may contain spoilers
This is not so much a romance as it is a serious work of art
This is not a linear romance story. This is the story of an event (a teacher and a student getting together and falling in love), and how that event came to be, and how it impacts the future and the world around them. If you are looking for a strict romance story, then drop this drama. I can see from the comments that some girls with hearts in their eyes for the ML, watched this and took it as a romance. But it's clear that was not the intention of the creators. This is for people who are looking to appreciate a deliberately crafted piece of cinematic art.Taken as a romance story, this was total crap. Taken as a piece of serious cinema, this was absolutely stunning.
(SPOILERS FROM HERE ON)
Art does not shy away from controversial subject matter, and neither does this drama. Some people have rated this based on the level of disgust it evoked in them. That is completely unjust. The drama depicts their relationship through the lens of realism. It doesn't ask you to condone it, or to judge it. It simply tells it's story.
We have an ML whose mother has transferred her romantic feelings for her late husband onto her own son (an only child), and buries herself in work and part-time romance with another man, to try to escape this truth and hide it from herself. The ML needs to get away from her claustrophobic feelings for him but is barely conscious of the unhealthiness of their dynamic, and doesn't really have enough self-awareness of the situation to rise above unconscious reactions. So he is an isolated, indifferent "bad boy".
We have an FL who is a walking identity crisis time-bomb waiting to happen. Her father is overbearing and strict, emotionally cold and distant, and withholds approval to get what he wants from his family. Her mother seems content with this, but she is not.... not at all. Her fiancee "needs her", but what he really needs is not her, it's the IDEA of her, he needs what she symbolizes to him: sex, stability, a sense of pride in being a man. He seems so unconcerned with her true feelings about the relationship, that he doesn't even realize that it's a bad sign that after 7 years of dating, she still can't cook for shit. Or that you shouldn't give your GF a halfassed proposal in your boxer shorts at 2am and toss a ring at her and call it all good. She didn't like that, and it was visible that she didn't like it. He paid no attention. At work, the FL is the bottom rung of the teacher totem pole, being only a 26 year old teacher. She's too young to be a respected teacher, and too old to be respectable as a single woman. There is seemingly nowhere where she fits in for who she is.... only her making herself fit in to be appreciated for what she is.
When these two people meet, they cannot resist what the other offers. ML is the opposite of every man she knows. He is sweet, considerate, listens to her, and sees he for who she really is. He encourages her to open herself up more, and discover what she really wants. FL bears an eerie resemblance to ML's mother, is everything his mother is, only FL is warm and emotionally available and gives him the kindness and balance he needs in his life. Needless to say, they fall HARD for eachother. Not only because of the love they share, and the attraction.... but also because each one is a manifestation of something the other yearns for deep in their wounded psyche.
And then..... the aftermath.
Because the relationship they have shakes every other relationship and interpersonal dynamic around them to it's core, the relationship itself becomes their vehicle to freedom (a theme that runs through the drama), and without it, they are trapped and utterly lost in their own lives, over which neither one has any degree of personal agency. But when they follow their hearts, the ways in which others have them trapped in codependency begin to crumble, and their unhealthy relationships with others start to topple. So they find that increasingly they cannot live without eachother. They don't want to live without eachother.
Yet their undertaking is enormous: He was an unsuspecting child, who suddenly becomes completely responsible for a grown woman who is emotionally stunted and avoidant. He is totally unprepared both logistically and emotionally. She was used to relying on everyone in her life, because most people treat her like a perpetual dependent, and now she has a 17 year old boy she has to protect and raise up into a man by herself... so she also is totally unprepared to be a provider and an anchor for someone. Since she is avoidant, she has to summon up a lot of willpower to keep her heart open to the ML no matter how afraid or upset she is. Both of them fail many times as they learn to bring out more of themselves for eachother They attempt to break up multiple times, until they finally come face to face with the fact that they NEED eachother or they'll die of sheer despair.
When they fall in love and run away together, everyone who was dependent on them to hold up their own psychological illusions begins to deteriorate and flail around. Should they stay apart to hold up their families? Or should they begin a new family, and let everyone who was misusing them falter and crash? On it's surface levels, it appears as though their love for eachother is killing eachother and those around them. But on deeper levels, their romance is the only thing keeping them - and therefore everyone who depends on them - alive.
The acting was on fire. The script was a thing of beauty.... there were many silences built into the script to give the directors and actors room to create genuine emotions and evocative scenes, and the grasp on human psychology was totally brilliant. (For example, when ML runs away with FL, he realizes out of the blue that he wants to visit his long-lost paternal uncle... because now he needs to grow into a man, and is desperately looking to any other man in his life or connection to his deceased father to give him some direction, or even just a hint of a direction... it's so poignant) The cinematography and use of visual symbolism were on point, and gave added meaning to the story. I do think the music and soundtrack was where everything kind of fell down. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as the other elements that went into this, it wasn't as thoughtful and elevated as it could have been.
It was painful, thrilling, moving, sentimental, passionate, and all in all a really great watch.
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I actually liked the fact that they casted actors that are the same age as their supposed characters since we can see the stark difference, the main actor looks like a young guy and the teacher looks like an adult. I'm actually happy that they didn't get an actress that looked young to make this more acceptable. Though I have to admit having two quite attractive leads doesn't hurt the drama.
I've thought Michi's character was weak especially at the beginning, she doesn't have control of her life, somehow she ended up accepting or more like forced to do things that were asked of her and the fact that she want to be accepted so much that she's handling things in a way that makes you just want to shake her. As one of her student said, she ran away when she encounters difficulties. She's quite impulsive too, she doesn't think of the consequences of her actions, there are so many times while watching this that I was like try to think of your actions more thoroughly since it's not only your life that gets affected. She redeemed herself in the latter part of the show, the experiences she and Hikaru went through made her stronger and more mature, she knows she makes mistakes on her decisions and yet I don't think she ever regrets any of them. She has taken control of her life and one might say she can be rather reckless and irresponsible, but I believe that the's biggest turn in the story for me. She learned and accepted that there are consequences with her actions, she grew up.
Hikaru is a troubled student, while he may seem more mature than Michi since he comes off as serious and quiet, but for some reason I've never thought he was mature throughout the series, he's a young guy, he still needs a lot of guidance which he is not getting from her mother who seems to spoil him and had planned his life for him. He makes rash decisions too, I've thought he and Michi are like two adolescents trying to find their way in life except that Michi is supposedly the older one.
Now that I'm writing this review that I realized that aside from the love story between Hikari and Michi, the story has focus more in the development of Michi's character, could it be I'm bias on Nanako but nonetheless that's how I feel. Now to discuss their love story, it's sweet, poignant and makes you want to root for them.
I rated this drama originally 9 but changed it to 8 because when I thought back on the story, while it tackled the difficulties that one may encounter if they pursue a teacher-student relationship, there are many parts of the story that I believed are used to detract from the taboo relationship to make it more acceptable.
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Worth watching
I have watched this JDorama a couple of times & it still makes me cry whenever I watch it. I can still watch this JDorama over & over again. I really love the story & it makes me love Hikaru ( Hideaki Takizawa) even more. About the ending scene, my interpretation about the said ending is that Michi is already out in a coma & and was just falling asleep when Hikaru return to the hospital. That's the reason why there is no more machines connected Michi. When she wokes up & saw Hikaru beside her, she holds Hikaru's face & he open his eyes & saw Michi's awake. Right at that very moment they knew they are already free to express their feelings to the world.Was this review helpful to you?
Before I talk about the problems with the show, I want to discuss the good. At the end of each episode I was always wondering "Oh my god! What will happen next!", the fact it had my eyes glued to screen means it was doing something right. I was never bored. The acting was on point! The actors were really convincing with the characters that they were trying to portray, and please don't get me started on the soundtrack the music left ear worms in my ears and really did suit the theme of the show.
Now let's get into what's wrong with the show. The first thing the bugs me about this show has to be how I can really see how hard the actors are trying and see that some effort went into this, but I can't ignore some of the issues this show has.
I couldn't stand the teacher in the show because she was soo stupid if you ask me! If she is soo uncertain of her love for her boyfriend why is she with him? Why did she accept his proposal in the first place? If she doesn't like the pressure her father is giving her, why not move out? She is clearly an adult who has a career she can totally leave! Also a lot of the crap that came out of her mouth and a lot of the things she does is stupid, irresponsible, and down right questionable! I wish I could say what those things were but that would be spoiling the show, which is a no,no!
Another problem I had has to be how the chemistry between this teacher, student couple felt kinda forced and rushed. Another problem I had with their relationship was how unrealistic and dumb they were in that relationship. They did the worst possible and dumbest things anyone in their situation could do. The story wouldn't of been so heart-wrenching if the couple had been smarter about their relationship. I was face palming at almost every episode because I was confused by this couple.
And the amount of whining this couple did about their lives was annoying! It's like some of their non relationship problems they were facing weren't all that bad and were problems some people wished they had! Watching people who are good looking and living privileged lives complain about their lives is annoying to sit through!
I wish I could give this show a higher rating but this couple annoyed me to the core. This show was entertaining but made me want to rip my hair out. I don't know how a show could have good moments and be very entertaining but make me angry at the same time, which kills me because this show could of been much better.
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An adult taking advantage of a child.
Maybe I would have liked it more had I watched it when I was younger, but as a 23 year old myself all I see is a confused youth being taken advantage of by an authority figure. Imagine this has the genders been reversed. I am usually very into onee-san romances like Anago, second love, etc. Though I'm not a fan of it I don't really mind student teacher romances either. But in Majo no Jouken, somehow the relationship felt predatory. Usually I prefer if the younger guys pursue first. In this one all I see is an adult misguiding a teenager. Maybe if the boy seemed more aware, of if the female teacher showed some restraint. This is not a good Ane-romance.Was this review helpful to you?
