It delivers what it promises
With a title like Peanut Butter Sandwich it's not going to more than a lightweight comedy with some lightweight drama. For eight quick episodes its a worthwhile endeavor that delivers what it promises. Yahagi Honoka does some great scenes with deadpan stares and sort of double takes that add a dry humor to the general goofiness of the PBS setup. I also thought Hotta Akane was excellent as Sayo mixing a veneer of bitterness and denial over the underlying sweetness of her character. Don't expect an epic drama and you'll likely enjoy this.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
This drama wasn't quite what I expected. I expected a story about a small little government agency that went around helping different women each episode or couple of episodes on their quest for love and marriage. Something like Five Star Tourist (https://mydramalist.com/13029-five-star-tourist) but about a government agency helping people find love rather than a travel agency helping people plan the perfect vacation.What you get is still a small little government agency, but one that mostly spies on a particular group of women for what they call 'research' but then never explain what the research is for. So something more like Tokyo Tarareba Musume/the I Need Romance trilogy/most dramas with a similar 'Group of Female Friends Seeking Love' type of story but using the Peanut Butter Sandwich organization as story framing.
While I still think the first synopsis would make for an interesting story, I will say that This drama makes for a very breezy, enjoyable watch. The characters are all generally quite likable (even if some of the choices they make are not so likable), their journey's are all fairly relatable, and I like (or can at least accept in the case of one of the characters) how each of their stories ends. My only major complaint would be that I would have preferred the issue of cheating (presented in two of the women's journey's) had been addressed a little differently. (Japanese dramas always seem to be just a tad too ambiguous for me with their messaging around this topic, and I find that very frustrating.)
I'm still not sure what the purpose of the Peanut Butter Sandwich organization is. They don't actually Do much other than give random little factoids about what Japanese women are feeling and wanting based on their answers in various polls (no idea if this is based on real data or not, but that would be interesting to find out about) and spend the rest of their time spying on a group of four women as part of their 'research.' They make for an affective story framing device, but you also finish the drama not really knowing what their purpose is in the stories universe.
But that's fine. This isn't a drama that's meant to be read into too deeply, and for the most part, I was able to not do that and just enjoy the ride. If you're like me and you enjoy the 'Group of Female Friends Seeking Love' drama trope, then you'll probably enjoy this drama too.
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not super memorable, but with a couple of gems
In the grand scheme of things, this drama is entertaining, but not super memorable except for two things.First, Yahagi Honoka as Tsubaki of PBS was brilliant. It's terrific seeing her in something other than Itazura na Kiss. She's a lively, fun actress, and it was hilarious watching her tramp around, tracking these women who are her research subjects.
Second, the relationship foibles of Miharu, her long-time boyfriend Ryota, and Tokita, the younger man out to steal her away. That's kind of the only relationship that felt halfway real to me. I love Sato Ryuji as Ryota, and I feel like he's probably waaaaay too good of an actor to be in this show, so he added a certain emotional depth, I think. I appreciated the mistakes made and the forgiveness offered, but I also wish that hearts didn't have to be broken along the way. Poor Tokita. Miharu's story was the only reason I kept watching so I'm glad it was such a big focal point for the series.
I couldn't have cared less about the other three women. They were all over-acted portrayals of stereotypes so I just rolled my eyes and moved on.
Would I watch it again? Probably not. However, I did appreciate that while dealing with mature themes, it didn't go heavy on the sexual content. That would have been too much, I think. Oh well, I watched it, it was fun, and now my brain will probably wipe it from my memory except for Sato Ryuji as Ryota and Yahagi Honoka as Tsubaki.
Watch it on Viki for subs and HD quality streaming. Very nice.
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This review may contain spoilers
Rooting for 4 women to be happy in love...
First, the premise of the story is way stupid for me. A mysterious organization Peanut Butter Sandwich (PBS) that do... something that i quite don't understand. Peeping Tom as its best.STORY
Tachibana Tsubaki works for this organization doing... research maybe. She cannot intervene, and what we receive in the drama is this way of PBS telling the story of 4 women trying to find happiness and love. They have successful careers and different personalities.
Matsuoka Akane grew poor and wrongfully thinks that she will achieve happiness by marrying a wealthy man. She dates several men, uses them, gets bored, and dump them. One day she meet Igarashi Shu, not wealthy, but a former school partner… Maybe happiness is something different…
Yamashita Miwa has no self-esteem, so she is explore by Kaneko Shin who has sex with her and uses her when he wants. She is ok with that, being almost a slave. Then, she gets some drops of love for herself and tries to be the first choice of someone.
Katagiri Sayo worked her hass of to be succefull and she accomplished that. She is a well payed woman who wants a man that can understand her ambition and complements her for her achievements. She dated a married person, she falls in love for a man who she discovers is about to marry and…
She used to unburden to her junior Aoki Haruaki, about her friends problems and her own. Through her counselling and advises to the others, especially Miharu, she understand that maybe her happiness could be close to her and with someone that she never consider as a boyfriend…
Morimoto Miharu has a seven-year relationship with Tanaka Ryota. It is not a healthy relation because there is boredom, lack of communication and expressions of love. Ryota does not help at home, forgets important dates, does not have sexual desire and do not understand that Miharu is unhappy. On the other hand, Miharu never express her feelings to him. One day she goes to a blind date and meet Tokita Yuto, a very sweet person that makes her heart even more confused. After some decisions, she decide her future giving another chance to Ryota. Do not know if a person can change much and begin to act in a different way, but...
Tachibana deserves also tp find a man. And the peanut butter eaters should have some kind of therapy or treatment.
ACTING - i like it. The fact that the actresses were gorgeous maybe turned me a little bias
OST/MUSIC - didn't catch my attention, but i watch some episodes in silence
REWATCH - i have a large playlist of dramas, so maybe i will not rewatch this. But, if someone ask me to i will do it.
OVERALL - a nice short drama with 4 strong women as I enjoy. Even Miwa was a very interesting woman that did not understand soon how good she was. The men were… I like the personality of Igarashi and Aoki. Ryota was nice in the end, but a lousy boyfriend. Tokita was sweet and had a great gesture at the end, but love does not choose kindness first.
Miwa master is an awful person. Usually in a master and servant relationship, the servant is the best.
If you enjoy people finding themselves through love and others I think you would like this. Try it!
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Good Enough
" Peanut Butter Sandwich " started nicely, but it was too short and too rushed.First of all, they didn't manage to finish properly the stories. Rather, as the length of the drama is too short, they focused on one of them and they either verbally mentioned the conclusion of the others in the end, or they showed a scene or two as to wrap things up in a way. That element of the drama was probably it's major minor, as the start was strong, with compelling stories and some interesting characters. Especially the 'Peanut Butter Sandwich' team was a delight to watch.
As for the performances, all the actors and actresses did a great job with their characters and their performances were nice.
So, overall, five out of ten.
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Quirky but Not Memorable
I randomly picked this drama up once I saw that Honoka was apart of the cast. It was interesting to see her expand from her roles in Itazura na Kiss and Nee Sensei, Shiranai no (which are the only two dramas I've seen with her). Peanut Butter Sandwhich is pretty quirky and unusual but the premise was interesting. Sadly, this drama fell flat for it. It was not horrible at it but it was very forgettable. If you just want to watch something different and quick I'd say go for it but it left me feeling very meh.PLOT/CHARACTERS:
The plot follows five different sets of characters. The first four are the subjects that the PBB crew are assigned to. Each plot line is distinct in it's own way but I found the dynamic of the PBB crew the most interesting. This isn't a spoiler but I thought that Honoka's character Tsubaki was going to pair up with her coworker Kobayashi. They never did, which is not a spoiler since the actual writing never came right out and said it. I think this is a case of "reading too much into the chemistry between characters" but sometimes that happens. As for the other plot lines I found them okay? All of them are searching for love; one looks for it in a man that isn't her long time boyfriend; one tries to find it in a man who has a girlfriend; another desperately clings to anyone yet is always let down; and finally the last tries to pretend like she is someone she's not. All plot lines had a somewhat equal screen time but it's possible that others liked one more than the others.
ACTING:
Acting was okay! I thought most of the love interests were more natural in the acting though. Most of the characters matched the quirky nature of the drama but the most believable was the actress who plays Miharu. She played her character the best and so did the actor who played her boyfriend/secret lover.
OST/CINEMATOGRAPHY:
I don't remember anything special about the OST but the camera work and visuals were really good. If I had to pick my favorite part it would be the production that went into everything. All the set design and shots brought it to life.
Anyways, this was an okay drama. I don't regret watching it because it was a good way to kill time but I'm not sure anything about it will stay with me.
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Well Acted, Poorly Written
Based on a manga serialized in the fashion magazine "with" as a way to present the results of laughably awful relationship question surveys, Peanut Butter Sandwich tells the somewhat compelling stories of the love lives of four young women friends within a cringy "comedic" wrapper of a secret government agency which investigates why women in Japan are not getting married at the rates they used to by invasively surveilling the four women while also continuously eating the eponymous sandwiches. (You see, the abbreviation of the name of the bureau ... gah, no one cares, and the bit isn't funny.)The stories of the four friends are reasonably well done, if nothing you haven't seen before. The script is somewhat overly reliant on voice-over to present what the characters are thinking - lots of telling rather than showing - but the primary characters all have reasonably good arcs and most provide the actresses with moments to shine. Takamoto Minori as Miharu gets the most interesting role with the greatest range and does well. Hotta Akane as Sayo makes the most of the least interesting arc by making some really out there choices for behaviors with a light, comedic touch. Kakei Miwako as continues to progress from her days on Terrace House and gets a couple of major emotional scenes which she handles well. This is Niwa Niki's first role in a J-Drama (after also being on Terrace House) and, well, she's a bit wooden, but seems to be hitting her marks and effectively learning her lines as Akane whose story-line might have been more interesting in more veteran hands.
The entire staff of the secret bureau consists of three people: the chief Gonda (Ito Shuko), her flunky Kobayashi (Ito Kentaro, an erstwhile host of Terrace House) and Tsubaki (Yohagi Honoka) who is the only person who does any of the work. (You see, it's a commentary on senpai/kohai relations in the the workplace ... gah, no one cares, and the bit isn't funny.) The wrapper is meant to be comedic and provide context for the stories of the four women, but brings the show to a didactic halt every episode by providing the results of a survey of a whopping 200 women. (You see, most women think their experiences are unique but the surveys show ... gah, no one cares, and the bit isn't funny.)
The one redeeming feature of the series is that it's blessedly short at eight 24-minute episodes, and so it is not much of an investment to check it out, But there are far better ensemble romantic comedies out there which have no need for a secret government agency to halt the actual plot by spewing survey results. Go watch the K-Drama Because This Is My First Life if you want a comedic sismance with a deft injection of real math - it includes a marriage proposal which invokes, I kid you not, Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem. Or if you must have a J-Drama, Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu, which partially inspired that K-drama.
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Beyond Boring
Honestly, I'm sure this is someone's cup of tea but not mine. I was thoroughly bored throughout the two episodes I watched. The absolute only saving grace for me was Honoka because I enjoy her acting.The story is really just bland; some girls looking for a stable relationship. The organization just kinda spies on them....without any significant reason.
Anyway, I think this would work better as just a manga. There really was no reason to make this into a live-action show especially without making it more interesting.
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