caffeinequeen18

Okay, admittedly I went into this a bit blind and thinking it was a sequel. I really felt like I had lost my mind when it started up straight away with the (bad) singing and seemingly following the same plot as the original. Quickly looked it up and discovered, yes, it is a reboot and a musical.

Ugh. Just ugh.

Why?

The young cast aren't terrible, but the originals were much better, and honestly they haven't got a lot to work with here. It really just feels so pointless and the musical bits made me feel like I was watching High School Musical. Just really cringe, and someone else commented on the scene where they pretend to be animals, which I completely agree with. Strong secondhand embarrassment watching that. An hour in and the musical bits forced me to turn this off as I was just over it.

I agree with what I had read about the clothes too. They really did look like they'd been ordered off Shein or Temu.

Full disclosure, I wound up with a dodgy second hand bootleg DVD which didn't contain the final episode, so I don't know how this ended, but I can guess.

The three episodes I saw, this is a decent period tv series set in 20/30's Japan. The actual story nearly had me banging my head, though. It was basically Shoko following her man and getting shortchanged (both emotionally and financially) over and over. Yes, she's spirited and plucky and capable, but I still felt overwhelmingly that she would have been better off without him. Even taking into consideration the era and culture!

Actual look of the series is nice with convincing sets and costumes. Worth a look for fans of Japanese tv.

I first saw this when it came out on VHS and it's been a favourite of mine ever since. I have watched it many times over the years and I never get tired of it, even as my taste changes and I find myself less inclined to watch rom coms.

The casting of Amanda Petersen as Cindy is perfect. She had that right mix of pretty yet relatable and she played her so well. I also enjoyed her relationship with her mother and the quiet dignity she had even while trying to maintain her popularity. It's so sad that she passed on young. I've seen her in a few movies and I always enjoyed her acting.

After a mishap with an expensive (horrible!) dress Cindy has borrowed from her mother after being told not to and gotten ruined at a party, lawnmower boy and outcast Ronald, who lives next door and has long had a crush on Cindy, sees his chance and gives her the money to replace the dress in return for a month of Cindy pretending to date him. His plan is to become popular.

I absolutely love his speech at the end and how the arrangement with Cindy turns to genuine friendship. The ending always moves me too.