Review: Boys Over Flowers

*this review will contain spoilers!*

Hi everyone! This is going to be an extremely long, unsolicited recap of all my thoughts about Boys Over Flowers. I don't know a single person in my real life who has watched this, so I'm using this blog as my space to infodump because this show has become my new hyperfixation. If anyone at all ends up reading this, I really appreciate it! But this is mostly entirely for myself lol.

As someone who is pretty deep into the shoujo anime world and just recently getting into kdramas, I have heard of this show in passing many times. Kkotboda Namja is referenced in Korean media a lot and Hana Yori Dango is lauded as a classic shoujo in the manga sphere, so I figured it might be good to watch the show just to be able to get all the references and consume a piece of shoujo history. Originally, I thought it would be a mindless watch that I might have to force myself to finish; I started off concerned about getting through 25 episodes, but in the end, I ended up wishing there were more lol.

I'm gonna be honest, when I first started watching it, I was like uhhh this is... kinda bad. especially in the beginning. But I became endeared to the quirks I originally criticized. The slow motion dramatic replay shots, the shaky camera, the questionable acting skills all are an essential part of the show itself.

In general, the story was more compelling than I was expecting. But the characters were undoubtedly the best part of the show for me. I always find myself getting attached to media where characters are the focus, and I believe that's why I enjoyed this so much. So I am going to go into each character a bit more in depth.

First Impressions: Good Morning Call

*this review is spoiler free!*

This is a part of my series First Impressions, where I talk about my thoughts on a show after only watching a few episodes of it. In this case, I've seen 2 episodes so far.

I just started watching the Japanese drama Good Morning Call (2016). This show is about two high school students trying to live independently for the first time, however they get scammed into signing the same exact lease for the same apartment. In an effort to save money, they decide to stay in the apartment together and attempt to make this living situation work for them both. Perhaps romance will follow? (of course it will, this is a romcom)

Usually, I am a sucker for these kind of classic shoujo romcom shows. I am typically pretty open minded to questionable acting and writing choices in k/jdramas as long as the overall plot and dramatics are generally entertaining, but I am not sure yet how I feel about this one.

I think the protagonist Nao is kind hearted and cute, but she makes some very questionable decisions early on that make her very frustrating. To be honest, she's kind of a bad roommate! At least at the beginning. She directly disobeys multiple of the reasonable boundaries that Uehara sets, and has blatant communication issues, which makes it hard to root for her. And I have a higher tolerance than most when it comes to 'annoying' characters, so I can imagine other viewers might have even more negative feelings about Nao.

As for Uehara, I think he's a fairly standard 'cold' male love interest. He's actually a lot nicer and more reasonable than I expected him to be. When Nao disrespects one of his boundaries he doesn't even get as mad as I expected him to, or honestly as mad as I would have been if I were in his situation lol. I do think he could use a smidge more of a personality, although this may be an acting issue rather than a writing one.

I'm not yet at a point where I think I need to stop watching, but with every new episode I've been kind of on the verge of giving up. I think it's a strong concept with the potential to get better but I don't feel super drawn to any of the characters yet, which is a big indicator that this show might not be for me.

If this is a show you like and really think is worth the watch, please feel free to give me some spoiler free encouragement in the replies. Thanks for reading!

-threecheersforinking

Anime Review: Maid-Sama!

**this review is Spoiler free!!**

Back when I first started watching anime, I was very into Shoujo rom coms. I watched From Me to You, Lovely Complex, Ouran High School Host Club, My Little Monster, and so on. As the years went by, I’ve started to prefer modern rom-coms such as Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun and Love is War, which have more substance and don’t necessarily follow those common shoujo tropes. And while I do think I prefer more substantial serious shows, sometimes you just crave that classic Shoujo fluff. And that’s exactly what Maid-sama can provide.

A quick summary of the plot: Misaki Ayuzawa is the class president of her high school, which used to be an all boys school up until very recently. There are still very few girls compared to boys at the school, and Misa makes it her mission to keep the girls protected and comfortable in such a male-dominated environment. However, because her family is very poor, she has a part time job to make ends meet. Misa works at a maid cafe, but she wants to keep it a secret, because she fears that her male classmates might not take her seriously as president if they know.

Now, I know I’m late to the party with this one. Kaichou wa Maid-sama! aired in 2010, which is honestly pretty late compared to some of the ones I mentioned earlier that aired in the early 2000s. However, I believe it perfectly captures the stereotypical situational comedy and dramatic romance of classic shoujo.

While I don’t love the main male love interest as much as some other people do (he’s a tad too possessive for my taste), there are some aspects of his interactions with Misa that I think are really important. Misa is immediately established as being extremely capable, hardworking, smart, and a natural leader. She is not a damsel in distress in any way. But what I like about Usui is that he recognizes that Misa can’t do everything all by herself, even if she thinks she can. It’s okay to ask for help!

Maid-Sama is also just hugely, genuinely funny. The cast of characters are all loveable and different, from the class delinquents who become loyal members of Misa-chan’s fanclub, to all of Misa’s interesting and mature coworkers. I would highly recommend this show if you’re looking for something lighthearted and romantic.

Thanks for reading!

-threecheersforinking

Anime Rec List: Shoujo

Literally meaning ‘young girl’, “shoujo” anime are typically aimed at young women in their early teens and preteens. However, don’t let your gender or age stop you, shoujo is a super fun genre for everyone to enjoy! Here are my recommendations:

*these are all considered shoujo according to MyAnimeList*

Ouran High School Host Club

Natsume’s Book of Friends

Kimi ni Todoke/From Me to You

My Little Monster

Fruits Basket

Feel free to add your own suggestions! Thanks for reading,

-threecheersforinking

WIL: Orange

**why I love**

Orange is a 12 episode contemporary sci-fi/drama series. On her first day of sophomore year, the protagonist Naho receives a letter from her future self. This letter contains information on how to stop a tragedy concerning the new transfer student, Kakeru. With the help of the letters, Naho tries her best with the information she is given to help save her new friend.

Anything below is going to contain potential spoilers, but also, cw: suicide/death. This series and my post discuss suicide in great length, which may be upsetting to some.