Haru ga kita

My track record with J-Drama's been pretty productive lately & this one is another winner. More sombre & reflective than the Otaku-centric shows I've been enjoying, the salient feature here is the cross-cultural angle which I've not encountered before. As in, a 30-ish single Japanese woman ( Kana Kurashina ) who works in the lingerie section of a large store meets a younger Korean man ( Kim Jong In ) & a relationship ensues. The two countries have obviously had a long & usually tragic history & recent trade-war spatting is no surprise. On the other hand, Japan's long been a major K-Pop market & some group members are Japanese, so I think they're really stuck with each other ( plus very close geographically ). What gives this well-written show extra depth is the attention given by the script to the supporting characters & the consequent portrayal of modern life rings very true. The two leads are charismatic & premium eye-candy, though the lovely KK as a wallflower bereft of male interest is a bit of a stretch. The ending was also unexpected ( a good thing ) & it does suit the bigger picture. Whether you like it or not is up to you. PS - the poster baffles me ! Since the story is a definite two-hander, why on earth would you have only one of the actors as the dominant picture ? A deliberate concession to Korea perhaps ?

A short drama with an okay story but not so great romance. Maybe it was the chemistry that was kind of lacking. At least the ending was original and kind of unexpected, though it did feel like it was cut short. Back to the story, the plot was interesting and kind of heart warming for at least the first few episodes, but then it got a bit too much character centred and lost the family valued dynamics. So, the family drama was entertaining and interesting, but the romance and background story, not so much. Aslo, it was kind of tricky to use a korean idol for the main role, due to the language barrier. Though he wasn't bad with his japanese dialogues, he didn't have much in general, or the girl just narrated his parts or there were korean dialogues to work with. So, 4 out of 10.