My Love from the Stars

Here's to the long-distance relationship. Sometimes Love is incompatible. At times, it's downright impossible.

The handsome Fukushi Sota is Toyama Mitsuru, an alien who has been stuck on earth for 400 years. Like The Highlander, he doesn't age, so he has to set up new identities every half generation or so, and he has accumulated enough wealth to live /comfortably/. He actually has enough to live like a movie star, and he lives /exactly/ like one - A popular actress just moved in next door. Together they occupy the entire 30th floor. Sota has many extra-human powers, from spoon-bending to stopping time. He keeps them well hidden - mostly by maintaining a low profile.

Yamamoto Mizuki plays celebrity Sasahara Tsubaki, and she's a universe away from low-profile. Sure she's somewhat spoiled and entitled, but she's actually a decent person, Her mother helps keep her that way. Mom is such a selfish and narcissistic pill that Mizuki doesn't want to be anything like her. Nevertheless, for Sota, who is more like Dr. Spock than not, Mizuki is irritating. She's the type to stumble into his place uninvited, while drunk, and pass out on his couch. He is still drawn to her against his will... She is so like that human girl he was compelled to rescue all those centuries ago. As a college prof, he is NOT drawn enough to her to put up with her stuff, though. When she returns to school to boost her image, he doesn't hesitate to give her a zero for plagiarism. (To think, she paid /good/ money for an originally written paper, too!).

As we get to know them more, we see that their fates may have been intertwined for a long time. Could she really be the reincarnation of that woman he saved so long ago?

MLFTS is a 2022 release that is rated 7.4 on MDL. It is 1 season consisting of 10 40-45-minute episodes. After the credits roll, there's commentary and actor interviews and deleted scenes.

The Bad guy, Imai Tsubasa, is a pop idol IRL. He'd never played a bad guy before. He's almost unrecognizable in his post-show interview; that's some nice acting. The screenwriter is Seki Erika, and this was adapted from Park Ji-eun's original work for the Kdrama, My Love From Another Star, which was released in 2013. Ms Park is also screenwriter for Legend of the Blue Sea-7.2 and Crash Landing On You-9.1. Good stuff. The director is Matsuki Tsukuru, whose most popular piece is the film, Rika: Self-Proclaimed 28 Years Old's Pure Love Monster. Ima plan to watch that. I love the title.

Actresses' lives are loaded with drama. Sota, though he doesn't know why, helps Tsubaki out of a scrape. Then he helps her with another. Now, it's a habit. A rival ends up dead... It looks like a suicide, but the police get involved. Tsubaki is the top suspect. Soon the police are wondering: Who is this strange man appearing and disappearing on the surveillance footage? As part of the investigation, they've examined all the relevant footage. The most suspicious thing they've seen is Sota, because they see him, then they don't see him, and then he appears somewhere else.

A drawback to love is that Sota is allergic to human blood and saliva. Another trifle Is that his ship, after 400 years, is returning with the comet in 3 months. He's headed back home. He's allergic to human blood & saliva, but they make no mention of sweat... it's not optimal, but I think we can work with that. In the anime Fruits Basket, the "men" will transform if a human girl merely hugs them. There's no making that work.

Another obstacle is that he's not very social. "Don't give. Don't receive. And don't expect. That way, you'll never be let down," he muses. She doesn't understand that philosophy. "Isn't that kind of lonely?" She may not be a good student at school, but she's a better student of life than he. Another roadblock to love is her attitude. "I understand why other people turn away from you. You're simplistic and impulsive." He forgot to mention that she is fairly self-involved, as well. Unfortunately (or not) for him, his argument is logical but his heart has already boarded and strapped in for the ride.

This is a simple show meant for turning off the brain and relaxing. It is nicely done for that effect, but such simplicity does lower the degree of difficulty, and thus the top score. It also has its outright shortcomings. They're sloppy with the rules that govern his existence. Human blood and saliva make him sick, but he, otherwise, seems completely human. Springing new ideas and developments on the viewer without laying down sufficient hints, foreshadowing, or other elements that constitute good filmmaking is something they rely on. The effect is that it seems like they are making some of it up as they go. It's not a show where nitpicking will make a difference, as there's little mental exertion required to watch and enjoy. Thinking will actually ruin it. Turn off your brain for this one. Just don't look for thoroughness, clarity, or explanations.

The fun factor outshines any problems. Some of the fashion is wonderful and some is weird. Her jewelry is snazzy. There's an excellent sort of frozen kiss in one of the later episodes. She makes an allusion to Hunter X Hunter, my absolute favorite anime, so I appreciated the show from that point on.

Will these 2 reach the point where they soar? Or will they crash to earth? Sota is a natural problem solver, and he's decided the 30th floor is close enough to heaven (and the heavens) for him. He's lost enough, and he refuses to lose Tsubaki or anything else. He's going to iron out this warped drive.

In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

Modern Day: Mad For Each Other 7.8 ~silly fun; My Secret Romance 7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks); A Witch's Love 7.8; Love to Hate You 8.9; Her Private Life 8; Touch your heart 8.2; Romance is a bonus book 7.9; Boys Over Flowers 8 ~ melodrama to the max; Crash Landing On You 9.1; Oh My Ghost 10; It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9; Love Struck in the City 7.3; Hospital Playlist 9; My Mister 9.5; More Than Friends 8; I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9; Something in the Rain 9

〰🖍 IMHO

📣7 📝6 🎭7.5 💓6.5 🦋5 🌞5 🎨6.3 ⚡4.9 🎵/🔊6 😅4 😭3 😱3 😯3 😖2.5 🤔2 💤0 🔚7

Age 12+ PG language; A pregnant woman dies and the police must investigate whether it's suicide or murder along with other violence

Re-📺? Who knows? I have no strong feelings about it. I do want to see the Kdrama, which is immensely popular. I'm still working through the Prime, Hulu, and Netflix inventory before taking the Viki premium plunge. We're talking months until that happens, not years. I've already got my watchlist stacked up.

An alien from another planet has been stranded on earth for the past 400 years and finally has the opportunity to return home. His travel plans are upended when an attractive but spoiled actress moves into the apartment next door and begins to invade his life physically as well as romantically.

This is a remake of a 2013 Korean series of the same name and having seen both, some comparisons are worth making. Overall, I prefer this version to the Korean version with a couple of qualifiers. First of all, Korean series have a habit of d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g out the plotline to the point that an enjoyable series becomes a bit irritating. The Korean version is definitely guilty of this. Sixteen plus hours of romantic angst punctuated by comedy tries my patience. The Japanese series tells the exact same basic story in 10 episodes of around 45 minutes each. This does make the Japanese version feel a bit "anemic" when compared to the Korean one but at least it doesn't wear out its welcome.

The main actor playing the alien is good in both series. Kim Soo Hyun and Sota Fukushi are both handsome and charismatic and enjoyable to watch. I do feel that the Korean actress (Jun Ji-Hyun) is just a bit more believable as a glamorous television star than Mizuki Yamamoto. The Japanese actress is definitely cute as a bug's ear and hits all the right comic and tragic notes but ultimately lacks the right look in my opinion.

And if you're looking for an enjoyable science fiction program, I would avoid both series. This is strictly a romantic comedy with a male lead that has some interesting powers (freezing time and moving things about mainly). Very little time is dedicated to his alien background (you only get to see his spaceship one time and the special effects involved are underwhelming).

Bottom line: it's an enjoyable way to pass the time. If you want to spend less time and have the same basic experience, avoid the Korean version and stick with the Japanese one.

First let me note this is worth a watch. It is a cute series, with fun characters.

The plot is simple and pretty predictable.

The acting is a bit of all over the place, but the female lead and male lead both did a great job and had good chemistry. Whether their characters are to your liking will vary; they had a role to play and did so very well. I was a bit put off in the first few episodes by the lead actress' apparent over acting, but I think this was just the character she had to play and things settled down by about episode 3.

The leads and the second female lead were beautiful and I hope to find something else to watch that features these actors.

Don't take it too seriously and enjoy!

Oh, and watch until the very end when they show the actors's final takes. It was very cute and heartwarming.