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25 Ji, Akasaka de japanese drama review
Completed
25 Ji, Akasaka de
3 people found this review helpful
by mikimika101
Sep 16, 2024
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 5.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

Best Skip This One

I'm not sure what it is about this drama, but it's just too dull.

It's strange to say this because both actors can act decently in other dramas, but in this one.... I'm not sure what it is.
They really lack chemistry... and their acting is dull.
Also, the story itself isn't the best story.
The manga was better.

•❅✧❅✦ Story ✦❅✧❅•

Shirasaki is trying to get his foot into the acting world. He gets cast in a BL drama where he plays lovers with Hayama, a popular model turned actor. Hayama is also Shirasaki's film clubmate from when they were in university, although they didn't interact with each other at the time.

Shirasaki, who's never been in love, hits a wall when trying to portray love, so Hayama suggests they become lovers. While pretending to date, Shirasaki starts to develop feelings for Hayama. Hayama, on the other hand, seems to have an unrequited love from his college days that he can't get over.

So.... The plot of the story isn't too bad. It's not anything special, but it's a decent watch.
However, there is some angst and major miscommunication.
Shirasaki and Hayama are both quiet and neither wear their hearts on their sleeve.
They both bottle up their emotions, thoughts, and everything, hiding their true colors, which is where the angst and miscommunication come in.
This is also where both actors struggle to portray the characters, which unfortunately dragged the drama down.

•❅✧❅✦ Acting ✦❅✧❅•

Both Shirasaki and Hayama's actors are decently talented.
Both actors aren't household names, but they have been in quite a few dramas and movies.
However, they are both still rookie actors, learning their craft.

As stated earlier, the characters of Shirasaki and Hayama are quiet and don't wear their hearts of their sleeves.
This types of character are difficult to portray due to their lack of dialogue, only using body language.

Shirasaki is naive, yet straight forward. His actor, Niihara Taisuke, has a hard time with both sides of Shirasaki. Both his naive side, and straight forward side, comes off as two different characters. It's due to this that it's hard to pinpoint what Shirasaki is thinking. Furthermore, since Shirasaki is quiet, he needs to express himself more with his body language, which is not Niihara's strongest suit. Shirasaki's innocence, jealousy, and longing just come off as indifference because of Niihara's lack of expression during the quiet scenes.

Next is Hayama. Hayama is the cool kid that can talk to everyone and anyone, but doesn't really say his true feelings. His actor, Komagine Kiita, tried his best and was able to portray Hayama's popular side quite well, but seemed to have a hard time acting out Hayama's "true personality," which is his vulnerable (and quiet) side. When Hayama is talking and being the popular kid, Komagine's acting is on point, however, when Hayama is lost in his thoughts, quietly thinking about Shirasaki and plotting his next course of action, or even being quietly jealous, Kogamine struggles. You can see that he's trying to act with his body, but his facial expressions sometimes fall flat.

Lastly, maybe it's because both actors struggle with acting without dialogue, that both Shirasaki and Hayama don't seem to be the perfect match made in heaven. We don't get to see the longing and jealousy that Shirasaki and Hayama hold for each other despite being told that they are pinning for each other. So yeah... no chemistry between the actors.

•❅✧❅✦ Overall ✦❅✧❅•

I didn't really hate the drama, but I could have gone without watching it.
The story is decent, but the acting isn't amazing, which pulls the plot down significantly.

This drama is about two actors that end up falling in love with each other and having really good chemistry that they end up becoming really popular after the drama is aired. Unfortunately, reality doesn't follow fiction, as I live in Japan and no one is talking about this drama. (Compared to My Beautiful Man, where it was everywhere and everyone was talking about the drama.)
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