Now with all 10 episodes wrapped, we would like to say that it has been such a veryyyy longgggg timeeeeee since we've gotten a rom-com show that is just this good and meaningful. From Saga With Love shows that you the rom-com is not dead and we can do more than just the dead clichèd formula everyone's getting tired of. It goes beyond the boundaries by crafting a story worth telling. It cares about the audience so much that it wants you to cherish this show and hold it dearly to your heart. It is NOT just another money grab story or a story that is lazy, they're doing it because they have to. The team behind From Saga With Love does it because they want to.
We all know that rom-com is relatively the easiest to make (Disclaimer: Filmmaking is not easy); you need a fairly low to moderate budget, a simple story, a bit of jokes and a good chemistry between the leads. Any filmmaker can take this for granted, you don't need an in-depth knowledge to make a rom-com. But to make a very good rom-com, that's an entirely different story. Why? Because you need to think outside of the box, be creative and make sure that it has a right balance between reality and fantasy. From Saga With Love is indeed a masterpiece in the rom-com genre.
What makes this better than most rom-coms is that it treats the audience well. It knows the audience is intelligent. So it brings to the question, 'How can we impress them?'. An instance, those who have seen a lot of rom-coms, looking at the poster, we bet you can tell the ending to the story already, who will fall in love with who. But this show takes it up a notch. 'How about if we trick but still respect the audience?'
We all know the Projek High Council has the best Malaysia ensemble cast this year but hey, From Saga With Love comes as a runner-up with the help of Siti Khadijah, Sophie Koshka, Fimie Don, Ikmal Amry & everyone else. We can see they were given time to develop their chemistry and friendship. And Umi Salwana as the director also helped them a lot. How can we know that? Well, before this, Sophie and Ikmal were okay-ish actors, Siti Khadijah was good in almost everything that she does and Fimie has been talented since he was young. But under Umi, these four leads are all as great as the other equally, with no one trying to outshine the others or holding back in their remarkable performances.
And the thing we love most is that it wasn't trying to portray who's good or who's bad. Each character has their own good deeds and wrongdoings, and their way of showing this is unique enough that it wants us to realize that we're all humans. We can act in kindness while we make mistakes with others. We can be thoughtful and hurt the same person the next minute. Its brilliance lies in the script, where every character learn about the meaning of life in multifaceted aspects and different journeys. At the end, they're all humans just like us, trying to find our Ikigai.
Now, with most rom-coms, it's hard to get away with the corny parts. The 'Yikes' or 'Erghh' you always make if you stumble across scenes that are just plainly corny. Or scenes that would make your little hair on your body just stand straight because of how cheesy they are. But for From Saga With Love, it stays away from this. Of course, there are few moments where they are cheesy but it's forgivable. Appreciating other parts and scenes, the team really spells a lot of magic here. The dialogues, the songs, the acting, the emotions, the context, everything is done with a clear mind to make sure that cheesy and corny are not in the dictionary of this show. Kudos!
We feel that each episode is just impressively made except for 7 & 8. They are good episodes but not as par as the others. 7 was where they moved back to Malaysia and 8 felt like a Part 2 of Episode 7. Just like Ikmal Amry's character, there's a certain culture shock that happened in the script. It was adjusting to the odds of not being in Japan anymore. Other episodes were always packed with sub-stories or laughs, but these two were filled with little gaps that felt a bit lost and stranded. It was a pair of episodes about coming to terms of their current reality which could be as impactful as Episode 9 & 10 but it somehow missed the mark.
Luckily, the final 2 episodes really saved everything. It was a rewarding experience especially during Episode 10. We think this is the first time that a Malay rom-com did its ending true justice, the one that it deserves. No cliffhangers and most of the stories have closures. Adding to that is the none predictability factor, it will make you guess unlike many rom-coms that you will already know the ending miles away.
And why does the ending is so good? This has to do with the script and the previous episodes that they have set up. There's a certain ambiguity that the script creates to keep us guessing. The connections between males and females here are equalized, if two were to spend their time alone together, each pairing would relatively have pretty much the same screen time. Each bonding is just strong that the pay off is served at the final episode.
Verdict: Dethroning Projek High Council, From Saga With Love now claims the title of Malaysia's best series in 2023. This masterpiece breaks free from rom-com clichés, offering a refreshing narrative by highlighting the complexities of human nature and reasonings, emphasizing the universal purpose of life (Ikigai) and ensuring the cheesiness is close to zilch. It treats its audience with respect, boasts strong performances, crafts a well-written storytelling and rewards a gratifying conclusion, making it a must-watch for everyone especially rom-com enthusiasts.
