It's Not That I Can't Marry, But I Don't Want To
5 people found this review helpful
by EastWestandtheRest
This review may contain spoilers
Good (not great, but good) take on the now slightly worn theme of "OMG, successful, single, 40ish year old...but not married! woman". We get the Usual Suspects: Beautiful Workaholic female lead (a doctor, this time); Mr. Second Chance/The Old Reliable (a teenage crush come back as mature husband material); Mr. Abrasive and Cynical-but-Actually-Sensitive Inside (a chef who apparently moonlights as a relationship...well, not exactly mentor, more like relationship boot camp drill sergeant); Mr Hot Young Thing (a delivery boy with a hidden poetic side); plus the supporting cast of giggling juniors, bitchy she-wolf pack, total no-hoper dating rejects, etc. It's all put together in an appealing package with pretty good acting from the main cast, but the story meanders, jumps around, and makes us hang on for a whole lot of crying, shouting, laughing, sighing, flashbacks (LOTS of flashbacks), more crying, some moments of indecision, and ultimately an ending that, though plausible, has been rightfully described as unfulfilling. No spoilers here, but let's just say the best way to describe it is, "Ha! We all pretty much saw that coming - except then it didn't. Although it did. Sort of. But not quite. Though, really, what else was there to say? Well, anyway.
Nakatani Miki delivers a very charming performance as the aforementioned beautiful workaholic doctor in not just a love triangle, but a full-on love quadrangle. She's reconnected with her missed opportunity high school crush (Tokui Yoshimi), now a successful salaryman and all-around decent guy. She seeks to win him over and make up for lost time with the help of a sharp-tongued chef (Fujiki Naohito) whose restaurant she frequents, and who agrees to mentor her on how to be neither a doormat nor an ice princess. His methods are more like verbal fencing than Guy Friend chit-chat, with lots of getting up in each others' faces, which over time sets up a whole "Oh, will you two just quit bickering and do it!" feel. Thrown into the mix is the very self-confident restaurant delivery boy (Seto Koji), whose sporty, unambitious persona belies a warmth and seriousness that our heroine finds unexpectedly compelling.
Overall, there is a sense of lost potential here. Everybody is very good in their roles, and the characters are fairly interesting, but the combination offers little novelty in its take on a thing we'll all seen a bunch of times by now. If, by chance, you haven't seen one or two (or six or eight) dramas on this theme, then this certainly isn't a bad introduction. It's neither too fluffy nor an emotional gut punch, and it's nice and easy to get through. Just don't expect a lot of fresh ideas if you have been around this loop before.
Nakatani Miki delivers a very charming performance as the aforementioned beautiful workaholic doctor in not just a love triangle, but a full-on love quadrangle. She's reconnected with her missed opportunity high school crush (Tokui Yoshimi), now a successful salaryman and all-around decent guy. She seeks to win him over and make up for lost time with the help of a sharp-tongued chef (Fujiki Naohito) whose restaurant she frequents, and who agrees to mentor her on how to be neither a doormat nor an ice princess. His methods are more like verbal fencing than Guy Friend chit-chat, with lots of getting up in each others' faces, which over time sets up a whole "Oh, will you two just quit bickering and do it!" feel. Thrown into the mix is the very self-confident restaurant delivery boy (Seto Koji), whose sporty, unambitious persona belies a warmth and seriousness that our heroine finds unexpectedly compelling.
Overall, there is a sense of lost potential here. Everybody is very good in their roles, and the characters are fairly interesting, but the combination offers little novelty in its take on a thing we'll all seen a bunch of times by now. If, by chance, you haven't seen one or two (or six or eight) dramas on this theme, then this certainly isn't a bad introduction. It's neither too fluffy nor an emotional gut punch, and it's nice and easy to get through. Just don't expect a lot of fresh ideas if you have been around this loop before.
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