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 this year, Eye Love You is quite unique: it’s the very first prime-time Japanese drama to cast a Korean actor as the main lead.
Eye Love You is mainly Motomiya Yuri (Nikaido Fumi)’s tale. After an accident, Yuri develops a telepathic ability: she’s able to read people’s minds when she looks into their eyes. This ability ends up causing her grief, so she decides to keep it a secret from even her closest friends and business partners, Hanaoka Akito (Nakagawa Taishi) and Ikemoto Mahiro (Yamashita Mizuki).
Yuri seems determined not to have any romantic attachments and dedicates her life to her business and her father, who has become quadriplegic due to the same accident that gave Yuri her power. All this starts to change when Yuri meets the bubbly Yoon Tae-oh (Chae Jong-hyeop), a Korean researcher. Besides his cheerful personality, Yuri is fascinated by the fact that she isn’t able to understand what he thinks and feels, since his inner voice speaks in Korean. Yoon Tae-oh falls in love with her at first sight and becomes a constant presence in her life โ the question is, will she open up to him?
This review contains mild spoilers. Read it at your own risk. You can also pin our (spoiler-free) summary at the bottom!
A Plain Script With a Few Hits and Misses
The script is straightforward: this is the story of a girl who needs to open up and a boy who is doing his best to stay with the woman he loves. Actually, when the story focuses on that, it works quite well. I wouldn’t say that Eye Love You is the most exciting, addictive show out there, but it’s relaxing and endearing to witness Tae-Oh’s journey towards Yuri.
Their romance is, first and foremost, a fairy tale. Tae-Oh falls head over heels in love with Yuri almost immediately. For a fantasy show, I wouldn’t say that this goes against the grain. It’s a fanciful, quickly-developed connection that may give you butterflies but doesn’t ooze realism in any way. As the episodes go by and they spend more time together, their bond starts to become more three-dimensional, which makes it a more entertaining watch.
The plot gets a bit convoluted and strange when they try, in episode 8, to include a supernatural background to the story. For a couple of episodes, the characters believe that Yuri’s ability will bring about Tae-Oh’s death. Why? Because a children’s book says so, that’s why. I’m afraid I caught myself rolling my eyes during episodes 8 and 9 because it all seemed so unbelievable. Do you want me to suspend my disbelief to such an extent that I go along with all these researchers making decisions based on a childrenโs book? Really?
Either way, episode 8 gets cookie points thanks to the wonderful scene between Yuri and her father, Makoto (Tatekawa Shiraku). Tatekawa deserves praise as he manages to convey much with just his eyes and his voice throughout the entire show, and this particular scene is incredibly moving. Her father actually provides a door to Yuri’s inner world, and his character is a lovely addition to this cast.
But I digress. The introduction of a legend that makes zero sense in the last few episodes didn’t add anything to the narrative or ignite any significant change in any of the characters. Episodes 8 and 9 shake up an easy script that didn’t really need the underdeveloped background story from a borderline supporting character.
But then, behold! A cinematic miracle happens: after a few minutes of melodrama at the beginning of episode 10, the cast realises that this whole thing is, drum roll please, actually implausible. I still believe that the whole dramatic plot of “they can’t be together because of a curse or something” wasn’t really necessary. But, since the writers decided to go down that path, I’m really glad that it is handled with finesse. They come up with some logical conclusions, characters openly communicate with each other, and they bring the main theme home: it’s okay to be you and to love people for who they are, regardless of who they are, what they do, or where they come from. The finale is very, very satisfying since you get to see some change in both Yuki and Tae-Oh’s characters.
And I rejoiced at the fact that she’s learning Korean. How cute is that!
Is There a Love Triangle?
Everybody knows that we’re fated to have a love triangle somewhere in a romantic J-drama.
However, Eye Love You addresses it with such grace, thanks to a wonderful second lead. Nakagawa Taishi is so charming that it’s shocking to see him as the second lead in anything, but here he plays a mature, kind, and independent man. Hanaoka is never overly dramatic, possessive or competitive. He knows when to give the main couple space, and he very quickly understands Yuri’s feelings. Being the real friend that he is, he works hard to help Yuri out of her shell and encourages her to embrace her feelings towards Tae-Oh.
His relationship with Yuri is incredibly healthy, and he’s the one who, from the very beginning, carries and emphasises the theme of the show. When Mahiro finds out about Yuri’s ability and reacts in a way that isn’t very appropriate, he’s the one who points her in the right direction, reminding her that “regardless of whether you came from the future or not, you’re still Mahiro to me.“
That belief is once again reinforced when Hanaoka himself discovers Yuri’s secret: he simply accepts it, acts normally, and tries to find a way to help her.
Hanaoka is definitely a case of characterisation done right, which is why he’s easily my favourite character in Eye Love You and probably one of my all-time favourite second leads.
Talking About Characterisationโฆ
Hanaoka is pretty much on point, but I do have reservations when it comes to the rest of the cast.
Even though Yuki is in her 30s and is a successful and independent business owner, she can be a bit too meek and immature at times. Nikaido Fumi is a talented and engaging actress, which shows during more intense scenes. Nevertheless, Yuki can be a bit of a weak female lead, especially throughout the first few episodes. You can see change, though. At the end of a bumpy and somewhat inconsistent character arc, she becomes more active and outspoken in the last few episodes.
Chae Jong-hyeop is, as usual, fantastic. He gives Tae-Oh a cute personality, and he knows how to give weight to more dramatic scenes and lightness to romantic ones. The thing with Tae-Oh is that he can also be too immature and pushy at times. You could say that the creators are trying to show that Tae-Oh is younger than Yuri, but, for a 26-year-old, he is definitely too childish. This becomes even more evident when you contrast his character to Hanaoka’s.
His background story is also poorly developed, which leads to a shallow character. His mother and life back in Korea are introduced but not explored in any way. At the end of the day, Tae-Oh seems to have one goal and one goal only: to fall in love with Yuri.
Yamashita Mizuki plays the love-struck Mahito, and her relationship with Tae-Oh’s friend, Onoda Gaku (Shimizu Hiroya), is quite entertaining, albeit a tad underdeveloped. Their interactions in the last episode did make me smile, nonetheless. Mahito creates a good contrast with the protagonist since she’s very determined, talkative, and gregarious. A great addition to this group, for sure.
Iiyama Toshikazu (Sugimoto Tetta), Tae-Oh’s professor and surrogate father, is the strangest of all characters. Iiyama is a researcher who makes fairly dodgy, unscientific decisions and whose traits are exaggerated most of the time. His character doesn’t have any sort of arc, and his actions don’t really bring any sort of change to the narrative. He did, however, get a nice ending just like everyone else.
Eye Love You and the New K-wave in Japan
While watching Eye Love You, I wondered: Is that how the Japanese interpret a K-drama? It does feel like an overly sweet Korean drama, but with a Japanese soul. This is certainly a J-drama, but it’s nice to see this change in perspective. Yuri and Tae-Oh’s willingness to learn a different language and culture, while still engaging with their own, is captivating. It did ignite a new “Korean wave” in Japan, and according to the Chosun Daily, more people in Japan are interested in learning Korean thanks to the show.
That means that the interest in this combo is alive and strong. That might be why Japan and Korea are working together on different dramas in the coming years: Netflix is currently producing Romantic Anonymous with Han Hyo-joo and Oguri Shun, and Coupang Play should release What Comes after Love with Sakaguchi Kentaro and Lee Se-young at some point this year.
CJ ENM (Korea) and TBS Group (Japan) signed a joint production agreement three years ago, and this year, they decided to expand this deal by “producing at least three television series and two films together within the next three years“. So, hopefully, we’ll get to see a lot more Korea-Japan stories in the future.
The Creative Choices Behind Eye Love You
Directed by Fukuda Ryosuke (An Incurable Case of Love), Okamoto Shingo (Pending Train), Kato Akiko (Sashidashinin wa, Daredesuka?), Eye Love You is a more modern J-drama. It looks bright, colourful, and juvenile. The use of close-ups is limited, and the environment plays an active part in the composition. It all matches this “fairy-tale” spirit quite well.
A very intelligent, creative choice was to keep Tae-Oh’s Korean thoughts without subtitles, which effectively places the audience in Yuri’s shoes. Of course, we, K-drama fans, feel like we’re in on a secret since some lines come straight from the standard K-drama. I’d say this is one of the most entertaining sides of the show if you’re both a K- and J-drama fan.
When it comes to sound, it makes use of auditory cues, which become a bit repetitive by the end, to clearly show Yuri’s use of her ability. Meanwhile, Ohmama Takashi’s score is delicate and sweet (you can listen to it on Spotify!). The theme song, Ikuokukonen by Omoinotake, is a cheerful song that pairs well with the show, too.
No time to read the entire review? Looking for the spoiler-free version? So why don’t you pin our summary? Just click it to pin it!
A sweet love story that doesn’t promise much but delivers warmth to colder days. Eye Love You is the perfect companion for Chae Jong-hyeop’s fans. If you aren’t one but you like an uncomplicated romance, I’d say you’ll enjoy it. To any K-drama fan trying to test their Korean, Eye Love You also gives you an entertaining quiz. You can watch it on:
Have you watched Eye Love You? What did you think about it? Let me know in the comments!
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