For the cliché lovers – Koi wa Tsuzuku yo Dokomademo

Greetings everybody!

It has officially been a little over two years since I have posted on this site. Many things have unfolded since then, and I swear that I am telling you the truth when I confess that I have tried multiple times to conjure up some sort of review for this site. However, sometimes things just don’t play out, and I am then left with a whole folder of incomplete reviews that I am unfortunately incapable of completing; try as I might.

However, today, as you can clearly gather from the title, I shall be writing a review for the new 2020 Japanese drama—Koi wa Tsuzuku yo Dokomademo (恋はつづくよどこまでも).

This drama is so fresh and new that it hasn’t even finished airing in Japan yet. We are currently only up to episode three, and I am surprisingly so smitten with its entirety that I am re-watching all of its available episodes, in anticipation for the upcoming episodes. It’s insane.

An Incurable Case of Love / Love Lasts Forever

The drama opens with Sakura Nanase (Mone Kamishiraishi) introducing herself as a high school student who travelled to Tokyo for her school trip. She addresses the fact that her family’s always had terrible luck with guys and one morning, she spots an elderly lady as she collapses from an anaphylactic reaction. Innocent, and completely inexperienced as she is with this sort of confronting situation, she panics and frantically screams for help.

Hearing her cries, Kairi Tendo (Takeru Satoh) asks her what’s wrong and she fills him in, as to what had unfolded. Tendo is surprisingly calm about the situation and basically walks Sakura through the step-by-step procedure as to how a situation like this should be dealt. When the ambulance arrives, Tendo reveals that he is actually a doctor. Before he steps into the ambulance, he praises Sakura for screaming so loudly, and thanks her.

Naïve Sakura is—of course—smitten with his supposed charisma, so she makes it her life’s mission to become a nurse so that she can one day be reunited with this captivating doctor. However, once her dreams are unexpectedly realised, Sakura learns that not only does Tendo not remember a thing about her (who can blame him? It’s been five years!), but he is revealed to be nothing but mean!

Cliché, but good

Of course, nothing about the first episode of this drama was ‘unexpected’, ‘surprising’, or ‘original’. But I still have to admit that I pretty much loved every second of it. Sure, it’s cliché and Takeru Satoh’s face consistently looks like he’s constantly turned on by his very own being, but I really can’t fault this drama. It’s funny, there are moments that undeniably tug on the heart strings, and it’s just…good!

While there really isn’t anything obviously outstanding about the drama, every element that forms its entirely just ensures an enjoyable experience for the viewer. And I have to whole-heartedly admit that I did enjoy it. Not just episode one, or episode two, but also episode three! And I can’t even put into words how excited I am for episode four.

Based on a manga

I did try to think long and hard, as to why I found myself loving this drama so much. And after a few Google searches, it was brought to my attention that this drama is actually based on a manga of the same title. However, that wasn’t the surprise—because, of course, a larger majority of Japanese dramas are based off of mangas. No, the surprising element was that the manga was written by one of my favourite manga authors—Maki Enjoji.

She was responsible for other great mangas, such as: Hapi Mari?! And Private Prince. Of course, there are many other titles that I loved from her career, however both of these are definitely my favourites. Unfortunately, a lot of her series are also incomplete online—so falling in love with some of her incomplete series (such as this one) is surely just setting yourself up for heartbreak.

After having loved the drama, I did decide to read the manga. Surprisingly, I found that the drama drastically deviates for its manga, however — unlike Hapi Mari?! — I greatly understand, and mostly agree, with the changes that were made.

It’s similar to Itazura na Kiss

I definitely noticed the similarities between this drama and the legendary series—Itazura na Kiss. Hello? Did anyone call for an airheaded main character who chooses her current field based on her undying love for a cold-hearted doctor? While I do admit that this storyline is anything but original, I can’t say that I hate it.

And I’m sure that all Japanese drama viewers, who are incapable of escaping the grasps of ItaKiss, will whole-heartedly fall in love with this series too.