“This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story.“ I couldn’t help but hear the narrator of Marc Webb’s (500) Days of Summer in my head after watching the first three episodes of Netflix’s Beyond Goodbye. “Ah,” I realised, “this isn’t supposed to be a…
Reviews
Lighthouse (Netflix) Review: Celebrating The Humanity in All of Us
Since last week we talked about music videos and Netflix’s A-List to Playlist, I thought that today, we could talk about Netflix’s Lighthouse, Hoshino Gen and Wakabayashi Masayasu’s 2023 talk show/documentary. Ready? Let’s go! How Did You Discover Hoshino Gen? The first time I learned about the existence of a “Hoshino Gen” was in 2017,…
Koisenu Futari Review: Gathering the Courage to Be Ourselves
โThereโs nobody who canโt fall in love, right?โ Butโฆ what is love exactly? Look around you. You’ll find references to “romantic love” everywhere. Couples, dates, marriage, divorce. Most of it will surely be the standard romantic relationship between two people of opposite sexes. Once you start paying attention to it, you realise it’s everywhere. This…
Extremely Inappropriate!: A Timely And Authentic Take On Appropriateness
Are we living in a better world because women, instead of being dubbed “Ms Oversized Tits” at work, are called by their actual names? Is 2024 a better place to live since younger generations feel like it’s their right to leave work on time? In 2024, is it wrong to say we’re happy to be…
Ishiko and Haneo Review: Sensational Chemistry in a Charming Human Drama
Man, itโs a good time to be a Dorama fan. Netflix’s catalogue of J-d(o)ramas becomes bigger and bigger by the day. Last month, it was Tokyo Swindlers. This month, the newest Netflix original Chastity High is coming out on the 29th. As well as Netflix originals, we also have the good ol’ network J-dramas being…
The JFF 2024 Diary: A Tremendous Month of Japanese Media
The Japanese Film Festival Online (JFF), which started on the 5th of June, came to an end on the 3rd of July. Thanks to the Japan Foundation, it was a month full of Japanese content โ and I fell madly in love with some of the titles they had to offer. [If you want to…
Destiny (J-drama) Review: The Shadows of What Could’ve Been
Destiny is one of the rare instances in which a Japanese drama gets a Netflix international release. A TV Asahi production, Destiny was written by veteran screenwriter Yoshida Noriko (The Hovering Blade) and directed by Hoshino Kazunari (Hitman In Love) and Shinjo Takehiko (From Me to You). It marks the return of Ishihara Satomi to…
Eye Love You Review: A Sweet Mix Of J- And K-drama
Would you like to read people’s minds? How do you think people would react to you if you did? This is the dilemma that Motomiya Yuri, the protagonist of TBS’s Eye Love You, faces. Written by Miura Kisa (Fermat no Ryori), Yamashita Subaru (Minato Shouji Coin Laundry), and Miura Saki (Ikukyu Deka) and released earlier…
Don’t Call It Mystery Review: The Enigma of Who We Are
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a manga will eventually have an anime and live-action adaptation. Some anime adaptations are perfect, while the live-action ones may be a bit disappointing. Some never get their live-action heyday. Don’t Call It Mystery may not have an anime adaptation (yet), but we do have a pearl of…
