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.
