Love and Fortune

I have to admit that in the initial episodes I was very troubled about the age difference. This was almost a stumbling block. However, what the young actor brings to his character is super unique- he brings just the right mixture of innocence, youthful insecurities but also a level of deeper maturity well beyond his age. Perhaps that desire to be a mature adult made him look like he was older though he clearly wasn't mature on so many levels. All performances were good but I thought that his acting and character were brilliant. I personally esteem the fact that Japanese filmmakers would often present the intimacy of a relationship honestly and in more intense albeit thankfully not obscene ways. However here the relationship was driven almost purely by passion. Yes, it was an intense passionate relationship but I frankly did not see it as lasting romance. The age difference is definitely a big red flag because our female protagonist is meeting a young boy still in high school. Although I do believe the feelings and passion was mutual, the idea that the young man is potentially a victim was there. It is true that emotions of this scope can derail a young person and make them particularly vulnerable. Keeping his student's ID to get him to come back was manipulative too. Now although there are no absolute standards for falling in love, it's understood in most societies that a young person should be protected. So while I bought into the idea of shared interests, longing for each other and loving passion, I still did not see the protagonists as a real or healthy couple. I'm not sure I fully understood the ending. In spite of several significant issues, the writing was consistently strong, story engaging and acting superb, so I still think this is a strong production. This is the reason for a strong rating.

One of the best dramas i seen in a very long time. The cinematography, music and the main leads makes this drama something really special and memorable. It makes you feel so many emotions and you feel for the characters. This was movie quality and the best Jdrama that has come out. I wish more jdramas looked and was written as good like this drama.

Imagine the storyline where the sexes are flipped. In other words, the lead character is a 30-something male, bored with life with a steady girlfriend, who decides to have a fling with a female high schooler. I'm not sure which culture would find this premise acceptable.

But for some reason, as long as the lead character is female, then it's OK and we go into a fantasy storyline.

As depicted in the story, the female lead is just bored of the mundane life she's leading and so goes looking for a hot, underaged pickup. Again, imagine if this was a male lead--any sympathies then?

Then we get into the psychologies of the various characters. I cannot fathom how the 30-something female lead acts like a 30 year old. She's more like a stunted 20 year old. Unhappy with life, she is not able to talk with her boyfriend about their relationship issues and instead decides to have a fling. Doesn't this sound more like what a high schooler or college couple would do?

As with many J-dramas these days, the original story came from a manga series that's geared towards young female audiences. Hence the main female lead feels like a 20 year old.

J-dramas in my experience always mean some sort of cliché-adhering, trope-involving affairs, mixing romantic themes and coming-of-age themes, etc., that moset of the time barely make it above the cut.

This show however really struck me as departing from all of that and honestly presenting a premise of: what if a 30y+ old girl got "stuck" in her relationship that seemed to not go nowhere and met someone who's 15y old and made all her life feelings in question? It's naive and dramatic on so many levels, starting with the age gap, but sadly if you're like me you can relate to the dimension of being older and seemingly all the sparks of life are diluted into nothingness and though you're not even 40 you feel like you're dead... SO... this one premise really moves you.

Together with all this, the cinematography on this show is WAY above average. In many of the multiple 25 min episodes I felt like I was watching a masterpiece movie from a respected cinematographer - this never happens on an american TV show. It's a TV series that feels like a succession of very good quality indie movies with great taste.

It may start as just another japanese romantic show but it's incredibly WAY more deeper than that. So many things nowadays purport to be "feminist", whatever that means. Besides all that I've written above, this show has got to be one of few times I felt something true about that. Highly recommended.

First of all, if you're coming to this drama after Kdramas, like I did, be prepared to be a bit shocked and surprised. The love/sex scenes would never make it to Korean dramas.

Other than that, this drama deals with a fictional, out of the ordinary love story. All the actors did an amazing job. There are many issues presented, mostly about what's supposed to be the definition of a successful/adequate adult and about living life on auto mode versus being creative/out of the norm.

I'd just like to make a note after reading some of the reviews. There are still countries around the world that marry off their kids at 12 years old or maybe even younger. This fact is real. This drama is fiction. Choose what upsets you most. Personally I saw it as an allegory of how even though we grow up, some of us find adult living and expectations overwhelming. And even in cases where we do know what we want and don't want, these might be contradictory and require a different perspective/effort in order to fit in with the rest of the world.