I continue to be quite impressed with Hasegawa Hiroki's acting. It wasn't just believable, it was real. The chemistry between the lead couple was some of the best I've seen in a J drama.
The soundtrack was strong, and unique. There was one piece that had a wild Celtic sound to it, another that was reminiscent of "Once Upon A December" from Anastasia, as well as a variety of other music. It was used to great effect to enhance the action and different moods.
I will be rewatching this. I may already know the basic story, but the story is so rich in detail and characterization that it really doesn't matter. I also have a good ending to look forward to again.
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Suzuki was gorgeous and I get now when men write and say she's a MILF. :P Yup, no doubt she is. :P She is a fantastic actress and I love her from before in other dramas but in this one she simply shined with her personality, looks and sex appeal. Rui is one strong, confident, smart woman who didn't let emotions got in her way but of course everything fell apart and her guard was put down when Ko appeared. She is a woman who loved for her work, she is divorced and she experienced a married life, she even got a child from that married life (on top of that her child is played by amazing Ayano Go who was such a plus in this drama with his wild, rebel personality and his unique, weird sense of style and fashion, a young man who simply didn't do anything in his life aside from playing in some band for fun and taking money from his mother). But she chose career as something most important in her life at that time and she haven't felt regretful about that. Anyway from that angle her character is a very respectful and admirable one.
As for Hasegawa Hiroki, he was HOT and ATTRACTIVE LIKE CRAZY, I don't know how to put into words his expressions when he was with her, his glances, his stares, look in his eyes, his gestures, it was a mind blowing, seriously I literally felt his eyes on me. ;) Naughty naughty but yeah the main genre of this drama is romance so from that angle it was a successful one. The sparkles between them were flying all over the place, in every scene when they were together it was so impossible not to feel all those emotions and attraction, so rare to see that nowdays. And you have to take in consideration that age gap between the actors is 11 years which is also a plus more in here, you didn't feel that not for a second.
Both of the leads are a respectful people In their work and their respective jobs of publishing and stock trading play an important role in the story and contribute to the tension besides the usual plot devices for affair dramas. I like that part about their professional career, the whole show was so real with problems on their work, on solving them and although this drama is a romance one with affair going on, that wasn't the only thing and that's why I enjoyed in watching, you get to see every day problems and their daily life at work. And dialogs were written very good, whole screenplay was an intelligent one which is something very very important in dramas.
What I didn't like is his wife Marie, she was one big evil bitch, manipulative one with many complex in her life, she was a typical housewife who didn't do anything in her life except of satisfying her husband and depending on him about every little thing, soooo boring and stupid, I mean where is your life, your hobbies, your time and freedom?! Anyway she was the most awful person in this drama and a main culprit for everything. In the last episode maybe someone would or could somehow understand her but I simply didn't want that because she didn't deserve nor pity nor understanding. At least in my opinion.
Also I find the pacing really fast and just when you think a plot device is too cliched, it quickly moves on. But I didn't like that, I do love more slow pace in these kind of dramas with details, much more story and character development, somehow in historical dramas a fast pace is much more logical but in this one a big no for me. It's like I almost got to use to particular happening, dialog and scene and in the next moment it's one year later. That doesn't work for me.
Oh and the music was fantastic with such a beautiful melody, some tones reminded me of Secret Garden's music and the main song sang by Koda Kumi "Anata dake ga" graved in my heart and I'm still playing a song in my mind.
Overall I liked this drama a lot with its darkness and that old J drama feel, I liked the screenplay, the acting was brilliant from the two main leads, as for the characters I didn't like any of them cause all of them were hungry for power, money or some other things, too much selfishness and emotionless but that is why I found this drama to be different and not an ordinary one. I do recommend it to people who love mature, dark, serious plot and story with great chemistry and some real passion and who don't mind not happy and fluffy endings.
With all its flaws and this show does have them pretty much, I've enjoyed and it was my guilty pleasure.
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The acting, chemistry, story were great. The only thing I hated was the wife, which was supposed to be hated anyway... I hated her so much that I grinned my teeth every time she appeared... Both leads were great and super-realistic.
I loved the fact that this drama has sexual elements. It is so tiring to watch all others that just ignore this subject. Sex is a fact of life and an important part of romance. Thank god the producers saw this. I also loved the fact that there was a gay couple! Finally, one step ahead of the bromance thingy...
This is a weird drama, as expected from the Japanese, but weirder than I imagined. The ending song is very nice, but my god, the music played on those 'exciting' scenes... That violin... Who the hell came up with that idea? I have no words to define it really.
This must have been called "Love and Business". As expected from the Japanese, business was always there, maybe more than love. But it didn't have any negative impact on the story I think, it was rather original.
Current rating of the series is totally under its real worth. But hey, we call this kind of gems "cult" for a reason! Watch it, if you want to see the soul of Japanese dramas :)
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This review may contain spoilers
There's only 9 years difference between him and her, if we speak about the cast, but well it's the cast we watch in the drama. She's pretty, womanly. His looks are a bit dry, he's very skinny, with hollow cheeks (very skeleton-ish). He kisses main heroine episode 1 and then moves next door to her with his... wife.Being in the dramaland, she does not notice the identity of the male counterpart of the new couple that moved next door, only the wife, who is the kind of overly friendly neighbor. She becomes his lover, though at first she hesitates. The phrase "second virgin" describes a woman who was not with a man for decades. Just to take off her clothes takes courage, now. She concentrated on her worklife, while having no personal life, and became very successful. So much that she now believes that if she falls for a man, her worklife would crumble (which does not make any sense, but it probably feels like that to her). Also she knows the fact that he is married, and that if she falls in love with a younger, married man, it would not put her in the best position. Still, she sleeps with him in episode 3, when abroad. Obviously the point was for her to do that before she realizes that he has moved next door.
Reviews for this drama noted it has the 90s feel and one should watch it to see the soul of jdramas:-) Comments of course inquired whether the ending is a happy one. I guess we do not need one for a drama of this kind, just be advised that SPOILER he even dies. My belief is that the Tag "Death Of Main Character" should be listed on MDL for those viewers who can not handle it. From the hot romance, through divorce drama this show descends into personal tragedy of the man.
Some of my notes... The wife was such a psycho it would be understandable (considering they did NOT have children, yet) he would plain told her he wants divorce the day he met the second virgin. Or BEFORE. Either way she was obviously SO alone in the marriage she talked all her personal life to total strangers so it would not make much a difference to actually separate. (Which they eventually do, yet we keep watching her side-character.) Then there's the big court case we go through. Sometimes, less is more. Ordinary things are more dramatic. Normal wife, normal life. At least (perhaps thanks to being a real couple also offscreen, or thanks to something else) all main couple's scenes were a treat. You notice the difference immediatelly, especially after watching many dramas with all the "high-schoolers". Only it was bit ridiculous when repeatedly there was a scene with her trying to run from him on a street, but with the far-fetched kind of plots I already mentioned, what can you expect. Last episode is more about surviving women than about anything else... I found myself to care less and less about every character the more the series progressed to the end.
I was kind of at loss as to how to rate this because overall it's good yet it's not a satisfying romance drama, nor a family drama, nor a human drama. Least of all it's "mafia genre" because all that was pretty intermediated. We just read some letter retrospectively, about what happened before. So, I don't know: a career drama, maybe?
I'm not interested in the following movie (marked it as *Not Interested*), after learning what it is about.
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