Sacchan, Boku wa. (2024)

Good and bad story at the same time

Let me start by saying that the ending surprised me and yes it did suck in terms of wrapping up the story line.

It was well paced overall I would say but it does help that you can watch episodes back-to-back to keep the viewer in. Because it can bore you. But the idea that the affair and after result with the compensaiton seemed almsot like a buiness transaciton to me. Like there were no feelings on either side. He was just drifting and as a young men who to me seems like he was still a virgin, was given the chance to have sex with a beautiful women, he naviely took it wihtout thinking of the love he felt for his girflriend and it blew up in his face. While she is in an unhappy marriage, was craving as she said, affection and comfort from another and since her husband wasn't giving it to her and as any human would do in my opinion, looked towards someone else to fill that need.

I feel like it is what the Tokyo Tower storyline could've been if the FL was still with her husband as an endgame scenario. But while in this storyy the FL or second FL dependning how one sees it, is just expressing a basic human need which is what we as human beings crave, the attention and affection of another human. It's what made the story good for me is that, the affair itself refelcts both an embodiment of and what the reality of an ACTUAL affair is. Except perhaps the part of the ML compensating the wife's husband. That is a bit alien to me which is probably due to the fact that I am from the West and unlike in Japan where cheating is part of their culture alot more than in Canada, it seemed strange to me that the husband could measure his wife's infedelity in numbers.

Anyways....the ML was a barely out of high school graduate who just enetred the real world and thought he could handle it. But as we saw, he overestimated himself in his understanding of the world and he was consumed by it. He gave this sort of feeling, to quote a character form a video game "my soul was asleep but my body was moving". WHihc can sort reflect alot of men, like myself when I graduated high school nearly a decade ago and enter the big bad world, where you almost just let yourself float and go along with the current of life unitl you hit a wall of reality, causing to wake up and face the consequences of our actions. Which he faced and by the end, is still paying the price for it.

As for the FL(the wife, not the girlfriend) she was sad and she craved affection but did not get it from her husband so she went to an innocent young man (at the start of the drama) to get it. But it was just a means to an end and how she bascially made the whole affair, which seems more like a s*xual realtionship than anything else, since they didn't really do ANYTHING else besides sleep together look like a buiness deal with no reall atttachment except primal human desires.

And here is where I think the story is unique but also falls apart. the affair as mentioned before, was made to look like a transaction. The complete lack of emotions both during and after the affair was exposed gave this sort of fresh feeling that I have never really seen before, in the sense where you, as a viewer see the TRUE reality of what an affair is, but without the emotions attached to it and how yes its a bad horrible thing that damaged a marriage and ended a relationship. But people still have lives, they move on from it. But maybe it's becasue of this sort of cold resolution that made the ending lack a bit substance given the fact that after he payed back the husband, he moves on from the affair but is still stuck in the past where he writes to his ex hence he does not truly move on from the break-up which make the charatcer seem a bit pathethic and lacking "meat" so to speak and therefore lacks storytelling.

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Not a bad watch

When watching foreign dramas, I take in consideration quirkiness, cultural differences, and tropes English speaking countries may find strange. Dear Sa-chan does not follow the typical love stories western cultural are used too. I accidentally found this show and found it interesting and wanted to find out how all the character would turn out at the end. There is a lot of symbolism and themes surrounding things like types of love, timing of relationships (maturity) and miscommunication the effects of past relationships and passing the burden onto others. Seems like the intent of the original author of the manga was to invoke emotions and as seen here other reviewers passed on all 1.0 reviews even though the actors did a pretty great job and the camera work and shooting was above average in my opinion... so they are review bombing emotionally. and not critically.
Katagiri is monotone, slightly lifeless, broken and yet Sachi dates him - it takes two to tango.

** Spoilers
Ironically, when dramas or shows about female lead protagonist burns the good guy and she falls in love with the heart thob or they have 3 guys on ice these dramas have a stamp of approval (ex: Twilight). Dear Sa-chan is an over played trope of the average girl falling for the popular guy and getting burned. There are controversial themes on virginity which I understand female audiences will rail against with; however, waiting years on end to have sex with a boyfriend is a gamble you take especially when you are dating a Japanese guy with above average looks, square jawline and perfect skin.

To the men bashers -
-Katagiri suffers for the rest of his life - in the manga he is 40 and never gets over Sachi.
-Sachi waits 5 years to have sex with Katagiri and less with Makoto wtf.
-All the women get married or live happily ever after.
-Katagiri repays back the husband for 4 years as agreed and owns his fate and apologies to everyone.
- Regarding Alimony it wasn't about $$ but more about not being free to walk away - he had to pay face2face for 4 years
-Sa-chan truly loves Katagiri and makes him experience love for the first time because he comes from a broken family
-Even after losing Sachi he writes to her as sort of a punishment, but never sends the letters.
What exactly are the reviewers/watchers want? For him to go to jail or be executed?


Observations:
I feel like Sachi and Kaname are very similar and touch upon the idea over being overbearing. Kaname is distance from his wife because of being overbearing in past relationships, while Sachi loses Katagiri from being overbearing.

Shino and Katagiri are looking to feel love, but are not fully mature with communicating to the ones that love them.
Sakurada Dori is a great actor, but I feel his character is odd and his personality is very shifty its hard justify or forgive his actions. If they had remove all the creepy wire tapping or switched it to a PI that would have helps his character a lot.

Not sure with Misuzu role. There is romantic energy or a sense of her liking him - but the story does nothing with it.
The really annoying guy that hangs around Katagiri actually gained my respect. He is childish, immature, and a womanizer; however, he knows when to shut up when he finds out personal information and he knows when to talk to help Katagiri out using Misuzu.


Overall the show is ok. Story needs to be reworked to work for western audience. Let the fems have their temper tantrum about dear sa-chan as they gusher over Boys Over Flowers.

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There are mangas that should never be adapted to the screen.

I feel that I did not explain my review well and that some did not understand the drama at, so I will divide this into two parts. The drama part (which is confusing) and the manga which is left (with an open ending).

Drama: I'm not going to tell the story, you already know it. Only that the story does not cover everything in its entirety and makes it seem in a strange way that the male protagonist (I am going to feign surprise) came out in a good position. This, I reiterate again, and I think it is important that you know and analyze it. This is not a love triangle and this was made for a male audience, not a female audience. Why it is important for you to know this? Because they clearly justify unfaithful men and everything they can do to satisfy their needs (as if they were animals without reason) regardless of the damage they do to their girlfriends.

Sacchan doesn't have sex because he doesn't want to. She's just not ready. And they need to understand that many women only in their 20s, or younger, do not have to be ready to have sex and that is something that must be respected. If Kyosuke couldn't handle this, it would have been better for him to break up with her instead of subjecting her to humiliations that no one should allow.

Sacchan, fearing that her relationship will break down, agrees to have sex with Kyosuke, but at this point Kyosuke is more excited to have sex with his married neighbor than with his own girlfriend. So that night he leaves her sleeping in her apartment and sneaks out to have sex with her neighbor. Let's see, this seems like an "innocent" young man or it seems like a repulsive act? To me it seems like the latter, because he is no longer a child and he can't trample his girlfriend like that and behave like a pig.

He is not willing to let go of Sacchan but he is not willing to stop cheating on her either (this type of guy exists and they are called narcissists and you should be very careful with those people). So Sacchan returns and he continues with his thing without thinking if his actions hurt Sacchan, he just wants fun.

The thing continues, until Sacchan finds out. You'd expect me to give him a good kick in the balls and leave him. But this does not happen because Sacchan also blames herself for not being able to "fulfill" him sexually and she is a girl who has low self-esteem. Kyosuke instead of having compassion and thinking for a minute about the damage he is doing her, accepts. Because he is a man and in Japan it is okay for your boyfriend to cheat on you with whoever he wants and you should accept it and forgive him (I don't agree, I'm just saying a reality).

So he carries on with his stuff until Sacchan obviously gets fed up with all this and finally decides to quit. But she thanks him and asks for forgiveness, it's normal at this point. Sacchan is not only tired, emotionally hurt but in some part she blames herself. When it's all Kyosuke's fault (sorry, where is that innocent boy? I don't see him anywhere)

Now her neighbor, Shino. She is not a poor woman who feels alone because her husband does not pay attention to her. Her husband is not with her because he is working, not fucking other girls. Come girl, you don't do anything in your life, you spend it lying on the couch living like a queen. If she feels so alone, you goes and finds something to do, for God's sake.

Furthermore, she does it for revenge (here I can understand that many do not understand and take Shino as a woman "who feels alone") but I, who have unfortunately read this rubbish, know that in her head she never felt alone, she just wanted revenge. of her husband for not being with her 24/7.

And she does it with Kyosuke, with whom she has no emotional attachment, she only uses him. She also sees Sacchan and how dedicated she is to Kyosuke, but she looks at her with pity but not in a "poor, your boyfriend is a son of a bitch" pity, but in a "poor stupid" way. Any woman with morals and sympathy for another woman would have stopped this. But Shino doesn't give a shit about everything. She's not a "poor woman." She is a bad person. Period.

By this I mean, you agree that your partner tramples you in that way? you agree with being the mockery of everyone? you agree as an adult woman not to stop any of these situations and not have scruples?

The only poor person and victim of these two pigs is Sacchan.

Now the manga: Many say that Kyosuke is not a pedophile because he is not portrayed that way in the drama. But I want to give you a surprise, if he is a pedophile! He not only fucks his neighbor but he also fucks her daughter, whom the neighbor sells to him on a silver platter. And also at the end of the manga, he dates many women who look like Sacchan (I have no idea why he does this, he's just not right in the head. Besides sending dozens of letters like a damn stalker to Sacchan, she never he answers of course) until he finds a girl who looks just like Sacchan and he thinks "Poor, poor me, I'll finally be able to forget Sacchan and be happy!" (but let's see you piece of shit, if you asked for it, why are you playing the victim? you piece of shit!) but there is a surprise that he doesn't know, that girl he is dating is not 18, she is 14 years old! Just like what an adult man is doing dating an 18-year-old girl. You tell me if I'm not, it's extremely strange and repulsive.

What happens with the neighbor and her husband? It is not known, it is known that he finds out that she was cheating on him all this time, although it was something he suspected, and he wants to kill her. But he doesn't know that in addition to cheating on him, Kyosuke also fucked his own daughter. So it is left like this, in an open ending where fans of this demand that the author (because if all this comes from a woman's head, incredible!) continue because they want to see Shino and Kyosuke burn. But the author left it at that.

And whoever says that Kyosuke is a poor child and Shino is a poor lonely woman, it's because they didn't understand the story at all.

PS: The actors acted very well, something I forgot to mention, sorry. But it's not enough for me if the story is shit.

I explained things about the original work because the ending is not understood and to give a larger dimension of why everything is wrong here but I have been attacked for giving an honest review.

Since I've been writing reviews, even though I don't like drama, I'm not going to attack a person because that person likes it. It depends on the visions, perspectives and tastes of each person. So don't attack yourself too much about my review because it's my perspective and my taste. I didn't like it at all but if you do, it's very good. I'm not going to tell you what you should like or not like. I don't recommend it, but I always say that maybe you'll like it and watch it. It's just a recommendation, you don't need to follow my advice. Because I repeat, everyone likes what they like.

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Trials and Tribulations of the Insecure

This short series attempts to put into perspective the trials and tribulations of people suffering from low self-esteem and tremendous insecurities. However, the series isn’t very effective in convincing the audience that it’s most important to love yourself first before you attempt to love another. The characters are people we should ultimately be sympathizing with, but we don’t because they don’t learn from their mistakes, nor do they evolve, even though the writer attempts to make it seem as though they have.

Katagiri is a college student involved in a long distance relationship with Osanai Sachi, a girl he’s been seeing for five years. There is little chemistry between the two, and it’s clear that the relationship isn’t balanced as Osanai clearly has deeper feelings for Katagiri than he has for her. He is rather distant and aloof around her, and it’s theorized that this might have something to do with being abandoned by all of the women in his life. However, the writers never take the step or time to explore this more deeply. Instead, it’s glazed over like a train flying by a station.

Osanai adores Katagiri and sends him letters regularly. However, the letters sit in Katagiri’s apartment unopened, and he never replies. Instead, he finds some kind of solace in his next door neighbor, Shino. She’s a married woman seemingly trapped in a loveless marriage. What’s interesting is that she is just as distant and aloof as Katagiri, but for them, the sexual relationship enables each to feel something. So many people in this world take to food, sex, drugs, alcohol, or anything else that either helps them to feel some sense of pleasure or to escape from their problems. The real problem is that all pleasure is short-lived and never lasts, and escaping from one’s problems is also only temporary as those problems are still there once the effect of the “drug” wears off. No wonder there is so much misery in the world!

Osanai is an innocent and rather naïve young girl. She’s nineteen but often acts like she’s thirteen. She simply has no idea how the world works, and she also believes that her love for Katagiri can overcome their distance and their problems, which she never realizes until it’s too late. Naturally, she finds out about Katagiri’s affair with Shino, but rather than getting upset, she tells him that it’s okay with her, as she feels responsible for initially turning him down during a past attempt at intimacy. Katagiri assures her that he feels nothing for Shino, which somehow, is okay with Osanai, at least, at first. Osanai is much like a leech who believes that a painful relationship is better than on relationship at all. She’s so incredibly insecure that she can’t bear to be without Katagiri, and she makes the popular mistake of making him the center of her universe.

After they finally make love, Katagiri starts to come out of his shell when it comes to Osanai, but Osanai begins to realize that she can no longer overlook his transgression, and she eventually breaks up with him instead.

The series takes a very strange turn toward the end when Shino’s husband, who has been wire-tapping his wife’s apartment, finally comes forward and confronts Katagiri, and blackmails him into paying damages for the affair. Shino’s husband, rather than talking things out with his wife, simply plays the voyeur as he sits and watches Shino and Katagiri. This made no sense at all. I don’t know many husbands who would do this unless they took pleasure from the voyeuristic act, which is never even brought up by Shino after she finds out.

What we ultimately have are four very cowardly and immature characters with virtually no appeal at all. Katagiri cuts himself off, using his past as an excuse for his lack of feelings for Osanai. Osanai makes Katagiri her whole world. Shino battles boredom and loneliness by seducing Katagiri (even though he’s just as responsible), and Shino’s husband sits back and watches while his wife carries on with an affair because he’s too obsessive and possessive for his own good. By the time the series ends, we end up rooting for absolutely no one. The only character who shows even an ounce of integrity is Osanai when she realizes her mistake and moves on from Katagiri but not before she condescends to make love with Katagiri, not because she loves him, but because she fears losing him, which is never a good reason for sex.

This isn’t a very enjoyable series to watch, and frankly, I’m not sure that it’s supposed to be. But, what we are hoping is that Katagiri, the main protagonist, might actually grow up and face his insecurities. Sure, he pays off Shino’s husband, but that has nothing to do with facing your insecurities and learning to love yourself. That’s simply making up for getting caught. The only thing that I was relieved about was that they didn’t try to put Katagiri and Osanai back together again. That would have been ridiculous, and so that aspect of the ending was at least believable.

This series played out like a bad soap opera, and I’m thankful that it was only twelve episodes at only 20 minutes for each one. It was barely tolerable at that.

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Dilemas de um cara que só queria transar

Querida Sachan é uma interessante adaptação de um mangá que fala sobre um estudante que está em eterno conflito consigo mesmo, não por menos a abertura é ele se afogando. Kyosuke é um jovem que não sabe diferenciar desejo sexual com real conexão amorosa, ele tem todo um passado obscuro que justifica isso, mas que não deixa por menos: ele paga um preço alto por sua promiscuidade. Creio que foi de propósito para reter o público, o início tá cheio de cenas de sexo, dá para perceber que o cinema japonês é bem mais ousado do que o coreano ou chinês. Curioso dizer que, no mangá, as cenas “calientes” são bem menos explícitas, geralmente costuma ser o contrário. O personagem principal Kyosuke é bem mais frio no mangá, nessa série ele é mais confuso e até mais humano, achei essa decisão de roteiro acertada. Não terminei de ler ainda o mangá ainda, mas espero que tenha um final diferente, porque o dorama acabou do nada e muito mal, ao meu ver, estragou todo o resto que era interessante de assistir.

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