catsudon
What do you mean this isn't the original?!?
Like many of the other reviews left, I also initially dropped the Korean version of She Was Pretty because of the length, draggy plot, and annoying acting - pitfalls that this drama manages to avoid because of its shorter length and excellent acting choices.
As usual, Nakajima Kento really suits the role of male leads who are stand off-ish and initially mean to the female lead. He can be a slightly mean boss in the early episodes, but never in a bully-like way that makes you think it would have been office harassment in real life. The mean person also gets stripped less than halfway into the drama and he becomes super lovely and nice from then on.
The way the show also handled the concept of being 'ugly' was maturely done. Sato Ai is never naturally ugly, she's just never really taken time to invest in herself - physically and otherwise. Multiple times in the show, it is reiterated that everyone (not just Ai's character!) has the potential to be beautiful when they are given time and support to explore their interests and develop themselves. I also liked how the transformation wasn't a fix-all but just a step to show how Ai had started to step up and really decide to live a life she wanted that was beyond mere survival. The cute romance is just the cherry on top of it all.
Second leads were also realistic - bordering on annoying at times - but while they weren't perfect characters, they had more to their characters aside from being an obstacle towards the romance of our two leads and were characters that I was at least mildly invested in as well.
As many have said, weak points of this drama would be the rushed final episode (so many things happen!) and a reveal about some support characters that weren't fully fleshed out. However, this one 'weak' episode isn't really any worse than your standard romcom drama episode, and overall this still remains a sweet + non-annoying romance drama if you need a quick pick-me-up.
On a less important note - I can't be the only one with Natsu no Hydrangea stuck in my head after hearing that song for over 15 times in a 10 episode drama, right? 😂
As usual, Nakajima Kento really suits the role of male leads who are stand off-ish and initially mean to the female lead. He can be a slightly mean boss in the early episodes, but never in a bully-like way that makes you think it would have been office harassment in real life. The mean person also gets stripped less than halfway into the drama and he becomes super lovely and nice from then on.
The way the show also handled the concept of being 'ugly' was maturely done. Sato Ai is never naturally ugly, she's just never really taken time to invest in herself - physically and otherwise. Multiple times in the show, it is reiterated that everyone (not just Ai's character!) has the potential to be beautiful when they are given time and support to explore their interests and develop themselves. I also liked how the transformation wasn't a fix-all but just a step to show how Ai had started to step up and really decide to live a life she wanted that was beyond mere survival. The cute romance is just the cherry on top of it all.
Second leads were also realistic - bordering on annoying at times - but while they weren't perfect characters, they had more to their characters aside from being an obstacle towards the romance of our two leads and were characters that I was at least mildly invested in as well.
As many have said, weak points of this drama would be the rushed final episode (so many things happen!) and a reveal about some support characters that weren't fully fleshed out. However, this one 'weak' episode isn't really any worse than your standard romcom drama episode, and overall this still remains a sweet + non-annoying romance drama if you need a quick pick-me-up.
On a less important note - I can't be the only one with Natsu no Hydrangea stuck in my head after hearing that song for over 15 times in a 10 episode drama, right? 😂
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