Ainori Love Wagon: Asian Journey

Among Japanese or other Asian reality shows, Ainori Love Wagon is probably one of the better ones. The reasons? One is that unlike many Japanese shows, it is not mean-spirited. You actually feel happy and sad for the participants, who are not acting up for the camera but rather come off as genuinely trying to find themselves.

Despite this, I enjoyed season one much more than season two. A lot of this has to do with personalities, and for me the passengers in season one are much more interesting and relatable. There are some very memorable personalities, both men and women, that I reminded me of people whom I know in my own life. And that, ultimately, is the strength of the series. The reactions when picking up new passengers are particularly fun.

And unfortunately that strength is also its weakness. For some reason season two was a bit boring for me, despite that we started off with some of the same participants from season one. Some of the confessions and rejections simply did not make sense to me. I don't know if the producers forced some of these dramas or not, but they just did not feel as genuine as in season one. There was also one person who I thought should not have been brought back.

This person is a drama-queen and a bully, and it was evident back in season one. I'm sure the producers brought her back in order to have more drama, and it was the wrong decision. She was poisonous and brought down the fun for everyone else, and ultimately for the audience as well. Hence I cannot rate this series higher than a six.

I've been watching ainori for years. I really don't understand why this program engaged AGAIN a person like depparin. I think it is a huge lack of respect to all Japanese citizens since this program is on Netflix worldwide. Her dirty language and vulgarity do not represent the program, I imagine... so why she was called twice? People see enough of arguing and fighting in everyday basis, I want to see love and peace, collaboration between participants to do good things! I really don't want to see people like depparin who talks like a non educated hooker!

The first season was great, I had some minor issues here and then but I really loved the show. Second season though... I don't know whose brilliant idea was to reintroduce Depparin on the show. She is incredibly problematic and you can tell how much distress she inflicts on the other participants. Watching her "voice out her opinions" really gives me anxiety and I wonder why someone doesn't just kick her out. The show would be pleasant to watch if it was actually about people finding love, not about Depparin steamrolling over everybody's feelings.

First season was 9/10 - maybe the best dating show I've ever seen. Genuine interactions, with a lot of great cast members. And the major romances that ended up being the focus were super enjoyable to watch.

The second season was 1/10, basically unwatchable - completely ruined by focusing the entire show around an abusive, violent bully. Really tragic decline. And the show paints her out to be the heroine, letting her get away with all of her terrible behavior, over and over again. She should have been removed from the show after she assaulted one member - but nope, then she assaulted another cast member, then another cast member, then several crew members - and all the while the show is bending over backwards to each and every one of her whims. Absolutely insane stuff.

I loved the concept of this show, but Season 1 had one character that got violent and bullied and actually punched a guy that made it uncomfortable for everyone. Somehow she got it turned around with the directors and others on the love wagon into staying and continuing. I thought it was detrimental to the show. So I thought I would give Season 2 a chance since I loved the concept and was looking forward to it. I could not believe my eyes when they brought back the same girl again for season 2, and it wasn't long before she bullied and hit another male who was really struggling with it as he was clearly having PSTD from it. He couldn't defend himself since he was brought up never to hit a woman and he described it as assault because she pulled out his hair, punched him and more. Yet, they keeped her and profiled her more than anyone else. This was upsetting and unfortunate as this could have been a great show. I felt real good about a few of the love matches that were made and thank goodness for those because the one character ruined the show.