User reviews

Japanese storytelling is characteristic to be downtempo. There are no big plot twists on it. Instead, they focus on concrete feelings or fears and they develop them. This series is not the exception. But the way in which it is told and how the story grows with the main character, Wako, is really engaging. Wako is a woman on her thirties that is concerned about marriage, having a child and having a job. She's in a solid ground but that doesn't make her happy. She wants to turn around her life but she fears to lose all and never get to that situation again. That's because she's getting older and, in the context of the Japanese society, it's every time more difficult to fulfil those goals from scratch. When she feels surpassed, founds a way to escape from that difficult reality, which to society's standard point of view can result disgusting. In fact, these ignominious situations are really well portraited on the series, being sometimes difficult to keep watching since you are observing the moral decadence of a woman, but in the other hand, it's overwhelming to see her neverending pursuit of happiness.

A very tender and moving approach of an encounter of souls beyond social stereotypes.

Feelings exposed properly and bravely in a society where you live for maintaining appearances of perfection and achievements.

Brilliantly acted and produced.

A thirty two year old woman who works in a movie theatre finds a high schooler asleep one day and finds herself attracted to him. She is stuck in a mundane relationship with a salary man who plays video games all night and seems uninterested in their future. She begins an affair with the young boy which raises the question that if two people love each other does it matter about the age difference. Even though the boy looks older then fifteen I still found it uncomfortable to watch, although it does show well the different outlooks on life each one has at their different ages.

One of the best dramas i seen in a very long time. The cinematography, music and the main leads makes this drama something really special and memorable. It makes you feel so many emotions and you feel for the characters. This was movie quality and the best Jdrama that has come out. I wish more jdramas looked and was written as good like this drama.

Found it on Netflix. Interesting! The concept is good. Age is just number when it comes to love. And There's no point in staying with someone if you are bored or have no lust/love.

.... still tho, they skipped all the steps and jumped to oral without even holding hands or kissing ?? A bit too much for an Asian movie. Well may be I am just not that used to R21 movie.

First of all, if you're coming to this drama after Kdramas, like I did, be prepared to be a bit shocked and surprised. The love/sex scenes would never make it to Korean dramas.

Other than that, this drama deals with a fictional, out of the ordinary love story. All the actors did an amazing job. There are many issues presented, mostly about what's supposed to be the definition of a successful/adequate adult and about living life on auto mode versus being creative/out of the norm.

I'd just like to make a note after reading some of the reviews. There are still countries around the world that marry off their kids at 12 years old or maybe even younger. This fact is real. This drama is fiction. Choose what upsets you most. Personally I saw it as an allegory of how even though we grow up, some of us find adult living and expectations overwhelming. And even in cases where we do know what we want and don't want, these might be contradictory and require a different perspective/effort in order to fit in with the rest of the world.

I hate to be that person who reviews something like this, but I cannot get behind this when it is literally based off of a predatory relationship. 31 and 15 is morally wrong AND illegal. It is impossible to watch this when there is 1) so many sexual encounters between the two protagonists (which btw is r*pe) and 2) they (as in whoever is behind the production) is constantly emphasizing that she is 31 and he is 15. It's always being brought up and it makes it even weirder. They just keep emphasizing that male female character knows what she is doing is wrong.

I just cannot get on board with this show when it is romanticization a predatory relationship.

I have to admit that in the initial episodes I was very troubled about the age difference. This was almost a stumbling block. However, what the young actor brings to his character is super unique- he brings just the right mixture of innocence, youthful insecurities but also a level of deeper maturity well beyond his age. Perhaps that desire to be a mature adult made him look like he was older though he clearly wasn't mature on so many levels. All performances were good but I thought that his acting and character were brilliant. I personally esteem the fact that Japanese filmmakers would often present the intimacy of a relationship honestly and in more intense albeit thankfully not obscene ways. However here the relationship was driven almost purely by passion. Yes, it was an intense passionate relationship but I frankly did not see it as lasting romance. The age difference is definitely a big red flag because our female protagonist is meeting a young boy still in high school. Although I do believe the feelings and passion was mutual, the idea that the young man is potentially a victim was there. It is true that emotions of this scope can derail a young person and make them particularly vulnerable. Keeping his student's ID to get him to come back was manipulative too. Now although there are no absolute standards for falling in love, it's understood in most societies that a young person should be protected. So while I bought into the idea of shared interests, longing for each other and loving passion, I still did not see the protagonists as a real or healthy couple. I'm not sure I fully understood the ending. In spite of several significant issues, the writing was consistently strong, story engaging and acting superb, so I still think this is a strong production. This is the reason for a strong rating.

J-dramas in my experience always mean some sort of cliché-adhering, trope-involving affairs, mixing romantic themes and coming-of-age themes, etc., that moset of the time barely make it above the cut.

This show however really struck me as departing from all of that and honestly presenting a premise of: what if a 30y+ old girl got "stuck" in her relationship that seemed to not go nowhere and met someone who's 15y old and made all her life feelings in question? It's naive and dramatic on so many levels, starting with the age gap, but sadly if you're like me you can relate to the dimension of being older and seemingly all the sparks of life are diluted into nothingness and though you're not even 40 you feel like you're dead... SO... this one premise really moves you.

Together with all this, the cinematography on this show is WAY above average. In many of the multiple 25 min episodes I felt like I was watching a masterpiece movie from a respected cinematographer - this never happens on an american TV show. It's a TV series that feels like a succession of very good quality indie movies with great taste.

It may start as just another japanese romantic show but it's incredibly WAY more deeper than that. So many things nowadays purport to be "feminist", whatever that means. Besides all that I've written above, this show has got to be one of few times I felt something true about that. Highly recommended.

A woman in her 30s going through life and relationship troubles finds answers in the form of an underaged(15-16) boy. The portrayal of the story is simple. No big twists. It's like they filmed a small section of somebody's lives.

The series is top-notch in terms of acting, cinematography, background music, direction and overall social messages perspective.

Wako is shown depressed, selfish, loving, logical, torn, determined, passionate. The journey of her emotional growth is amazing! She navigates through her unhappy relationship, to falling for a 15-year old, then giving up for moral reasons. She comes back strong with a clear mind and direction to achieving everything she wants.

Iko's character is also well written. Its wonderful how they have captured little nuances of the age, the nature of their relationship.

Futa is the underrated character. His basic personality also hides details of reality. How if you do not believe you are part of the problem, you will never improve and go back to same patterns.

The underaged part is morally problematic, but that is the whole point of the series! Most people questioning the plot would be horrified if they find out how casually the same thing in happening around them, and the globe! And there are so many other takeaways from the series too.

Problems of women (especially in Japan/Asian countries) entering their 30s without a partner.

Impact of breaking trust- how all 3 of them were differently affected.

The dirty and the helpless side of Love.

What adolescence feels like: not an adult, not a kid.

How its never too late to make things right, and it only takes the courage to do it.

If anything, what I like most is how human the story is. At no point do I find this story non-fictional. Congrats to the team on the final product.

I found it boring. I saw episode and fadt forwarded through 2 and the beginning of the 3 and i do not want to see any more

I've watched every episode on Netflix & I found this Japanese drama series very interesting when I watched it.Bored of her Lazy Boyfriend,31 year old Wako met Yumeaki which he's 15 years old & she became very interesting to him despite their age difference,the cinematography was wonderful.

Imagine the storyline where the sexes are flipped. In other words, the lead character is a 30-something male, bored with life with a steady girlfriend, who decides to have a fling with a female high schooler. I'm not sure which culture would find this premise acceptable.

But for some reason, as long as the lead character is female, then it's OK and we go into a fantasy storyline.

As depicted in the story, the female lead is just bored of the mundane life she's leading and so goes looking for a hot, underaged pickup. Again, imagine if this was a male lead--any sympathies then?

Then we get into the psychologies of the various characters. I cannot fathom how the 30-something female lead acts like a 30 year old. She's more like a stunted 20 year old. Unhappy with life, she is not able to talk with her boyfriend about their relationship issues and instead decides to have a fling. Doesn't this sound more like what a high schooler or college couple would do?

As with many J-dramas these days, the original story came from a manga series that's geared towards young female audiences. Hence the main female lead feels like a 20 year old.