So… I lied.
I was intending to write Wolf Girl and Black Prince first, but that needs 2 posts since there is an anime and live-action, so I decided to write this one first.
I found this while browsing Netflix, and was immediately blown away. And yeap, this is a Netflix production, so it should be available for most regions.
This show is pretty short, 12 episodes of ~24 mins. Something like an anime but live-action. Based from a manga, I’m actually going to read it after this, so I cannot comment on how faithful the adaptation is and character portrayal performance.
I will also try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible.
Story
This show is a pretty simple one, yet complicated. It’s easy to follow, no frills mystery.
The first episode did throw me off a little, as I was confused with how things happened but things just flows as the context keeps on coming.
I really like how we get to know the girls’ backstories around the same time as the main guy, but eventually we will get to know more as there are quite a few behind the scenes stuff.
The pacing is pretty slow, for an 12 episode show. But it doesn’t bore me. The comedy is served pretty nicely for the first half, but during the 2nd half, things get a little serious and dark. With so many girls inside this show, the show does slowly transition into a harem.
The whole story keeps on building up towards the extremely unexpected climax. The feeling of “Ah, the bad guy is definitely this guy” but ended up to be someone else. Its a simple trick, but they executed this wonderfully.
The ending was simple, sweet and of course, the one I absolutely wanted. I have never watched a show that gave me such a wonderful ending for such a long time. I think this is a rather personal, but I feel like most people would approve of this ending.
If you wondering why this show is 16+/18+ if the show seems rather simple on the surface (depending to your region, mine is 18), there is A LOT of sexual references, but it’s not fanservice, its actually crucial to the story.
Overall, it’s a simple to follow, yet mysterious story that a lot of people would fall in love with. There is very little flaws, no flaws, or big flaws covered up so nicely by the plot’s mystery.
Music
This is also another strong suit for this show. The ending music is dark, grim, perfectly fitting for this show.
The next thing is that the BGMs were hitting the spot, amazingly. The composer made some amazing tunes to fit the atmosphere. It really drives the story.
Casts
Characters | Actors/Actresses |
Michima Shin | Noda Yojiro |
Shirakawa Minami | Fukushima Rila |
Tsukamoto Hitomi | Matsui Rena |
Kobayashi Yuki | Wagatsuma Miwako |
Suzumura Midori | Takeda Rena |
Seki Nanaka | Araki Yuko |
If you find Noda Yujiro name familiar, he is the lead vocals of RADWIMPS. And yeap, he is in this drama. What about his performance? I have quite a few things to say.
His look really fits his role. I feel like his bad acting worked with him because that made him fit his character even more. But during the serious 2nd half, I am not sure if he was just hiding his acting talent or it was his acting ability starting to awake. But either way, I was skeptical about his performance, but slowly I became hooked.
Ahhh Fukushima Rila, another familiar name. Yeap, she was in The Wolverine (2013). Who would imagine, in 7 years, she could change from this
to… erm… this
Her performance is impeccable as well. Her voice is drastically different as well. I really like how she read her character well, and portraying it the best way possible. A big plus for me.
Matsui Rena is definitely my favourite one here. I think she had it a little easy. Her character is simple to understand, easy to portray. She did it amazingly.
Wagatsuma Miwako is also another dark horse here, I like how she can seamlessly change personality in the show. To prevent spoilers, you go find out yourself.
Takeda Rena is also pretty basic, but she made herself looked nicely basic as well. Her character change at the end, didn’t worked as I thought it would be… Not bad, but not good either. Right in the middle.
Araki Yuko on the other hand, also did a good job hiding her true nature of her character.
Everyone here did their roles well, which boosted my enjoyment of this show. I was immediately hooked by the cast at first, but their performance made me marathon the whole show in a day.
Scores:
Story: 9/10
Music: 8.5/10
Casts: 9/10
Highly recommended. I think this show can be rather easily accepted by most people, even if the sexual references would be rather distasteful. I feel that the sexual stuff is an integral part of the story, instead of it being simply fanservice.
I am actually surprised that I missed this show, this show was 3 years old and I only found it by recently. Really, watch it, it’s not time consuming, and it’s on Netflix.
That’s all for me. I am putting a pause to reviews for the time being. Expect a plan-to-watch post soon, and the wrapup during the weekends. Posts are going to be a little more sparse as well, since I am going back to work soon.
I will see you guys soon!
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I’ve been meaning to watch this, but that first episode is just so mysterious and a little confusing that I’ve left it on my watch list for years now lol
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It is time
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